diff --git a/cmd/utils/fdlimit_freebsd.go b/cmd/utils/fdlimit_freebsd.go
index 4cb5013c84cd6dd270c8c146f211821db0744524..f9ed8937ee9d477f775a7371452ab677b4f37528 100644
--- a/cmd/utils/fdlimit_freebsd.go
+++ b/cmd/utils/fdlimit_freebsd.go
@@ -52,3 +52,13 @@ func getFdLimit() (int, error) {
 	}
 	return int(limit.Cur), nil
 }
+
+// getFdMaxLimit retrieves the maximum number of file descriptors this process is
+// allowed to request for itself.
+func getFdMaxLimit() (int, error) {
+	var limit syscall.Rlimit
+	if err := syscall.Getrlimit(syscall.RLIMIT_NOFILE, &limit); err != nil {
+		return 0, err
+	}
+	return int(limit.Max), nil
+}
diff --git a/cmd/utils/fdlimit_test.go b/cmd/utils/fdlimit_test.go
index 0a950a6c9dc2cd968f804fa052d6c28d8ac7932b..48489cf4c71fc2cb4676bd22efba437403490e3f 100644
--- a/cmd/utils/fdlimit_test.go
+++ b/cmd/utils/fdlimit_test.go
@@ -16,12 +16,22 @@
 
 package utils
 
-import "testing"
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"testing"
+)
 
 // TestFileDescriptorLimits simply tests whether the file descriptor allowance
 // per this process can be retrieved.
 func TestFileDescriptorLimits(t *testing.T) {
 	target := 4096
+	hardlimit, err := getFdMaxLimit()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if hardlimit < target {
+		t.Skip(fmt.Sprintf("system limit is less than desired test target: %d < %d", hardlimit, target))
+	}
 
 	if limit, err := getFdLimit(); err != nil || limit <= 0 {
 		t.Fatalf("failed to retrieve file descriptor limit (%d): %v", limit, err)
diff --git a/cmd/utils/fdlimit_unix.go b/cmd/utils/fdlimit_unix.go
index 08e153bbd499e00bccfc545160705be7ec94095f..c08d1fab08cfc1d92de5ffa7e4fbcd9c915f966a 100644
--- a/cmd/utils/fdlimit_unix.go
+++ b/cmd/utils/fdlimit_unix.go
@@ -48,3 +48,13 @@ func getFdLimit() (int, error) {
 	}
 	return int(limit.Cur), nil
 }
+
+// getFdMaxLimit retrieves the maximum number of file descriptors this process is
+// allowed to request for itself.
+func getFdMaxLimit() (int, error) {
+	var limit syscall.Rlimit
+	if err := syscall.Getrlimit(syscall.RLIMIT_NOFILE, &limit); err != nil {
+		return 0, err
+	}
+	return int(limit.Max), nil
+}
diff --git a/cmd/utils/fdlimit_windows.go b/cmd/utils/fdlimit_windows.go
index 53aad3d7a55da1739abe7cac9e558fb486aee66f..f239683d2adb76a37d52ba88fde04fc886f1ba88 100644
--- a/cmd/utils/fdlimit_windows.go
+++ b/cmd/utils/fdlimit_windows.go
@@ -39,3 +39,9 @@ func getFdLimit() (int, error) {
 	// Please see raiseFdLimit for the reason why we use hard coded 16K as the limit
 	return 16384, nil
 }
+
+// getFdMaxLimit retrieves the maximum number of file descriptors this process is
+// allowed to request for itself.
+func getFdMaxLimit() (int, error) {
+	return getFdLimit()
+}