How to fix Kubelet file descriptor limit in Kubernetes

KubernetesINTERMEDIATEMEDIUM

This error occurs when the kubelet reaches its file descriptor limit, preventing new connections and pod operations.

What this error means

The "Kubelet file descriptor limit" error indicates that the kubelet has exhausted available file descriptors.

1Check FD limit

ulimit -n

2Check kubelet FD usage

cat /proc/<kubelet-pid>/limits | grep files

3Increase system limit

echo "* soft nofile 65536" >> /etc/security/limits.conf

4Check container FD usage

lsof -p <container-pid> | wc -l

Restart kubelet

Default Linux FD limit usually 1024 per process. For Kubernetes, increase to 65536+.