Java fails to start or create thread unexpectedly when launched through xinetd

Environment

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
• Java
• xinetd

Issue

• We launch multiple JVMs through xinetd. When multiple JVMs are running, additional JVMs fail to launch, crashing during start due to java.lang.OutOfMemoryError "Cannot create GC thread. Out of system resources"
• Our JVm starts throwing java java.lang.OutOfMemoryError "unable to create new native thread" errors. We increase our process ulimit, but it seems to have no impact to allow more threads.

Resolution

• Refer to How do I work around the 1024 file descriptor limit imposed on services launched by xinetd? for guidance on setting ulimits for a process launched through xinetd

Root Cause

• ulimits are not applied as normal to a process launched through xinetd

Diagnostic Steps

• Check the rlimit line provided in any generate hs_err crash files to see if it reflects the expected configured ulimit or not:

    rlimit: STACK 10240k, CORE 0k, NPROC 1024, NOFILE 8192, AS infinity
  

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