permission deinied caused by too many open files?

[Jeff Bearer <jbearer pittsburghlive com>]

I've been getting intermittent "Forbidden" errors on our webserver for a
while, never could figure out what was causing it. Today I've been
running a few recursive greps (evil laugh), and twice I've had it
started giving me "Permisison Denied" errors.  So now I'm figuring I'm
running up against a limit of open files or something similar.

So now I ask you what should I look at, to see what that limit is, and
how to adjust it?

If you don't think it's a problem with too many open files and that it's
something else I'd be glad to hear your suggestions.


-- 
Jeff Bearer, RHCE
Webmaster, PittsburghLIVE.com
2002 EPpy Award Winner, Best Newspaper Website