CIFS file handle increased from 65k to 600k

  • 7011319
  • 07-Nov-2012
  • 12-Nov-2012

Environment

Novell Open Enterprise Server 11 (OES 11) Linux

Situation

CIFS runs out of File ID and gives following error:
CIFS[11542]: ERROR: CODIR: TABLE: No free index!
CIFS[11542]: WARNING: CODIR: FID: Invalid index

Resolution

Two CLI commands are provided to track file handle statistics as below. Second command "novcifs -d fp" displays too much implementation stats which should be used only once a while.

After updating CIFS the following procedure has to be followed:
  1. On commandline execute: set command novcifs --dynamic-fid-pool=yes
  2. After restarting CIFS it will have the capability of "file handle limit" 600k and "file ID limit" unlimited.
Fix is planned for the January 2013 Patch.

Cause

CIFS file ID (protocol handle) : This is the ID which CIFS uses to identify a file and along with some operations for a file. In fact windows client can open more than one file ID for a file during a instance. On this moment there is a limit of 65k (2 byte) per client as per protocol. The total limit on the of CIFS server for file ID limit has been increased from 65k to unlimited.

Additional Information

CLI Commands :
novcifs --help
-d fh Print file-handle statistics
-d fp Print file-handle statistics in verbose (use sparingly)
--dynamic-fid-pool={yes|no} Enables or disables dynamic file-handle pool

"smbstatus" command shows files opened through either NCP or CIFS protocol from client. Use sparingly as it might display too many files which are open.