[net.unix-wizards] system problem

reece@nadc@sri-unix.UUCP (07/27/83)

Our 11/780 running vanilla 4.1BSD with BBN TCP/IP is getting an error which
is unusual since nothing important has been changed lately. The console
starts printing "proc: table is full" and when you login on a dz terminal
you get "fork: no processes" when you try to do something. I feel that
someone out there has probably seen this before--if so please give me some
clues as to what might be wrong. I tried to do a process status but couldn't.
Jim Reece
REECE@NADC

drockwel%bbn-vax@sri-unix.UUCP (07/28/83)

From:  Dennis Rockwell <drockwel@bbn-vax>

Just like it says, you are running out of proc table slots (a proc
table slot is required for each process in the system).  There are two
possibilities here:  1) you may be running a kernel that isn't
configured for enough users; you should increase the "maxusers"
parameter in your configuration file.  2) you have a process which is
forking uncontrollably.  In this case, all you have to do is track it
down and stop it (preferably at the source; usually a student either
playing with multi-processing or trying to crash the system).  The very
last proc table slot is reserved for root;  log in as root and run ps
to find the culprit.