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Accepted
yildizabdullah
Asked: 2018-08-07 00:37:25 +0800 CST

Unable to start VNC server: configured resource limit was exceeded

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VNC service was working fine until a recent power outage.

When I try to run

systemctl start vncserver@:1.service

it gives a message as

Job for vncserver@:1.service failed because a configured resource limit was exceeded. See "systemctl status vncserver@:1.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.

and when I run

systemctl status vncserver@:1.service

it gives the following output

● vncserver@:1.service - Remote desktop service (VNC)
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/vncserver@:1.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Mon 2018-08-06 11:48:03 +03; 50s ago
  Process: 1238 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/runuser -l abdullah -c /usr/bin/vncserver %i -geometry 1920x1080 (code=exited, status=255)
  Process: 1224 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c /usr/bin/vncserver -kill %i > /dev/null 2>&1 || : (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

Aug 06 11:47:56 RESysLab-Server_Machine systemd[1]: Starting Remote desktop s...
Aug 06 11:48:03 RESysLab-Server_Machine systemd[1]: vncserver@:1.service: con...
Aug 06 11:48:03 RESysLab-Server_Machine systemd[1]: Failed to start Remote de...
Aug 06 11:48:03 RESysLab-Server_Machine systemd[1]: Unit vncserver@:1.service...
Aug 06 11:48:03 RESysLab-Server_Machine systemd[1]: vncserver@:1.service failed.
Hint: Some lines were ellipsized, use -l to show in full.

journal -xe

includes the following messages:

Aug 06 11:58:32 RESysLab-Server_Machine runuser[4805]: pam_unix(runuser-l:session): session opened for user abdullah by (uid=0)
Aug 06 11:58:32 RESysLab-Server_Machine runuser[4805]: Warning: RESysLab-Server_Machine:1 is taken because of /tmp/.X11-unix/X1
Aug 06 11:58:32 RESysLab-Server_Machine runuser[4805]: Remove this file if there is no X server RESysLab-Server_Machine:1
Aug 06 11:58:32 RESysLab-Server_Machine runuser[4805]: A VNC server is already running as :1
Aug 06 11:58:32 RESysLab-Server_Machine runuser[4805]: Warning: RESysLab-Server_Machine:1 is taken because of /tmp/.X11-unix/X1
Aug 06 11:58:32 RESysLab-Server_Machine runuser[4805]: Remove this file if there is no X server RESysLab-Server_Machine:1
Aug 06 11:58:32 RESysLab-Server_Machine runuser[4805]: Warning: RESysLab-Server_Machine:2 is taken because of /tmp/.X11-unix/X2
Aug 06 11:58:32 RESysLab-Server_Machine runuser[4805]: Remove this file if there is no X server RESysLab-Server_Machine:2
Aug 06 11:58:32 RESysLab-Server_Machine runuser[4805]: Warning: RESysLab-Server_Machine:3 is taken because of /tmp/.X11-unix/X3
Aug 06 11:58:32 RESysLab-Server_Machine runuser[4805]: Remove this file if there is no X server RESysLab-Server_Machine:3
Aug 06 11:58:35 RESysLab-Server_Machine runuser[4805]: New 'RESysLab-Server_Machine:6 (abdullah)' desktop is RESysLab-Server_Machine:6
Aug 06 11:58:35 RESysLab-Server_Machine runuser[4805]: Starting applications specified in /home/abdullah/.vnc/xstartup
Aug 06 11:58:35 RESysLab-Server_Machine runuser[4805]: Log file is /home/abdullah/.vnc/RESysLab-Server_Machine:6.log
Aug 06 11:58:35 RESysLab-Server_Machine runuser[4805]: pam_unix(runuser-l:session): session closed for user abdullah
Aug 06 11:58:35 RESysLab-Server_Machine systemd[1]: PID file /home/abdullah/.vnc/RESysLab-Server_Machine:1.pid not readable (yet?) after start.
Aug 06 11:58:35 RESysLab-Server_Machine systemd[1]: Failed to start Remote desktop service (VNC).

What should I do to solve this problem?

centos7

2 Answers

  1. To automate removing of the remnant socket files, as mentioned in the accepted answer, I ended up with this /etc/systemd/system/[email protected] file:

    [Unit]
Description=Remote desktop service (VNC)
After=syslog.target network.target

[Service]
Type=forking

# Clean any existing files in /tmp/.X11-unix environment
Environment="display_temp=%i"
ExecStartPre=-/bin/sh -c "/usr/bin/vncserver -kill %i > /dev/null 2>&1"
ExecStartPre=-/bin/sh -c "/bin/rm -f /tmp/.X11-unix/X$${display_temp:1} /tmp/.X$${display_temp:1}-lock"
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/runuser -l usr1cv8 -c "/usr/bin/vncserver %i"
PIDFile=/home/usr1cv8/.vnc/%H%i.pid
ExecStop=/bin/sh -c '/usr/bin/vncserver -kill %i > /dev/null 2>&1'

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

    Main differences from the original config:

    • save value of the systemd specifier %i as an environmental variable display_temp, since we need to get rid of a colon on the next step (:1 -> 1)
    • after vncserver -kill we remove socket under /tmp/.X11-unix/ directory and lock file in /tmp/. In order to use environment variable substitution, we need to escape dollar sign like this: $$ (see that answer for more details: https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/216786)
    • 1
  2. Best Answer

    I found the solution: removing the file X1 via rm -f /tmp/.X11-unix/X1 and restarting VNC server worked.

    • 0