diff --git a/kaspad/src/daemon.rs b/kaspad/src/daemon.rs
index 26d8442b4..3dbaff978 100644
--- a/kaspad/src/daemon.rs
+++ b/kaspad/src/daemon.rs
@@ -30,6 +30,15 @@ use kaspa_perf_monitor::builder::Builder as PerfMonitorBuilder;
 use kaspa_utxoindex::{api::UtxoIndexProxy, UtxoIndex};
 use kaspa_wrpc_server::service::{Options as WrpcServerOptions, ServerCounters as WrpcServerCounters, WrpcEncoding, WrpcService};
 
+/// Desired soft FD limit that needs to be configured
+/// for the kaspad process.
+pub const DESIRED_DAEMON_SOFT_FD_LIMIT: u64 = 16 * 1024;
+/// Minimum acceptable soft FD limit for the kaspad
+/// process. (Rusty Kaspa will operate with the minimal
+/// acceptable limit of `4096`, but a setting below
+/// this value may impact the database performance).
+pub const MINIMUM_DAEMON_SOFT_FD_LIMIT: u64 = 4 * 1024;
+
 use crate::args::Args;
 
 const DEFAULT_DATA_DIR: &str = "datadir";
diff --git a/kaspad/src/main.rs b/kaspad/src/main.rs
index e7cdc94c0..04b2d2b11 100644
--- a/kaspad/src/main.rs
+++ b/kaspad/src/main.rs
@@ -6,7 +6,10 @@ use std::sync::Arc;
 
 use kaspa_core::{info, signals::Signals};
 use kaspa_utils::fd_budget;
-use kaspad_lib::{args::parse_args, daemon::create_core};
+use kaspad_lib::{
+    args::parse_args,
+    daemon::{create_core, DESIRED_DAEMON_SOFT_FD_LIMIT, MINIMUM_DAEMON_SOFT_FD_LIMIT},
+};
 
 #[cfg(feature = "heap")]
 #[global_allocator]
@@ -17,6 +20,22 @@ pub fn main() {
     let _profiler = dhat::Profiler::builder().file_name("kaspad-heap.json").build();
 
     let args = parse_args();
+
+    match fd_budget::try_set_fd_limit(DESIRED_DAEMON_SOFT_FD_LIMIT) {
+        Ok(limit) => {
+            if limit < MINIMUM_DAEMON_SOFT_FD_LIMIT {
+                println!("Current OS file descriptor limit (soft FD limit) is set to {limit}");
+                println!("The kaspad node requires a setting of at least {DESIRED_DAEMON_SOFT_FD_LIMIT} to operate properly.");
+                println!("Please increase the limits using the following command:");
+                println!("ulimit -n {DESIRED_DAEMON_SOFT_FD_LIMIT}");
+            }
+        }
+        Err(err) => {
+            println!("Unable to initialize the necessary OS file descriptor limit (soft FD limit) to: {}", err);
+            println!("The kaspad node requires a setting of at least {DESIRED_DAEMON_SOFT_FD_LIMIT} to operate properly.");
+        }
+    }
+
     let fd_total_budget = fd_budget::limit() - args.rpc_max_clients as i32 - args.inbound_limit as i32 - args.outbound_target as i32;
     let (core, _) = create_core(args, fd_total_budget);
 
diff --git a/utils/src/fd_budget.rs b/utils/src/fd_budget.rs
index b853ffb28..b9b6e811d 100644
--- a/utils/src/fd_budget.rs
+++ b/utils/src/fd_budget.rs
@@ -50,6 +50,17 @@ pub fn acquire_guard(value: i32) -> Result<FDGuard, Error> {
     }
 }
 
+#[cfg(not(target_arch = "wasm32"))]
+pub fn try_set_fd_limit(limit: u64) -> std::io::Result<u64> {
+    cfg_if::cfg_if! {
+        if #[cfg(target_os = "windows")] {
+            Ok(rlimit::setmaxstdio(limit as u32)?.map(|v| v as u64))
+        } else if #[cfg(unix)] {
+            rlimit::increase_nofile_limit(limit)
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 pub fn limit() -> i32 {
     cfg_if::cfg_if! {
         if #[cfg(test)] {
@@ -58,7 +69,7 @@ pub fn limit() -> i32 {
         else if #[cfg(target_os = "windows")] {
             rlimit::getmaxstdio() as i32
         }
-        else if #[cfg(any(target_os = "macos", target_os = "linux"))] {
+        else if #[cfg(unix)] {
             rlimit::getrlimit(rlimit::Resource::NOFILE).unwrap().0 as i32
         }
         else {