Question

Making ulimit default value permanent without calling ulimit

Asked by: RamusNee

I modified /etc/security/limits.conf. I can manually raise the number of file descriptors using ulimit -n. I can put that command in /etc/profile or similar.

How can I avoid /etc/profile or similar shell modifications and just have ulimit -n show the right limit from the start?

# fgrep nofile /etc/security/limits.conf
*                -       nofile          16384

# egrep '__FD_SETSIZE.*16384' /usr/include/*/*h
/usr/include/bits/typesizes.h:#define   __FD_SETSIZE            16384
/usr/include/linux/posix_types.h:#define __FD_SETSIZE   16384

# fgrep pam_limits /etc/pam.d/*
/etc/pam.d/atd:session    required   pam_limits.so
/etc/pam.d/cron:session    required   pam_limits.so
/etc/pam.d/login:session    required   pam_limits.so
/etc/pam.d/login:session    required   /lib/security/pam_limits.so
/etc/pam.d/ssh:session    required     pam_limits.so
/etc/pam.d/ssh:session    required   /lib/security/pam_limits.so
/etc/pam.d/su:session    required   pam_limits.so

# uname -a
Linux clt 2.6.22-14-generic #1 SMP Tue Feb 12 07:00:00 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

The first two changes above were enough to raise the limit permanently on Ubuntu Dapper, but I cannot find a way to do that (without shell)  on Gutsy.

I login as root via ssh, but that should not matter.

Thank you.

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Asked On
2008-03-07 at 15:37:10ID23224411
Tags

Ubuntu

,

Linux

,

2.6.22-14-generic #1 SMP i686 GNU/Linux

,

Ubuntu Gutsy

Topics

Linux Administration

,

Ubuntu

Participating Experts
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Comments
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Answers

 

by: favorettiPosted on 2008-03-10 at 02:27:54ID: 21084950

You should change your lines into:

* soft nofile 16384
* hard nofile 16384

Otherwise I think it assumes a "top" and doesn't adjust the defaults.

 

by: RamusNeePosted on 2008-03-10 at 07:29:54ID: 21086642

Changing - to soft/hard lines does not make a difference.

The solution appears to be using root instead of "*":

#<domain>      <type>  <item>         <value>
root                 -           nofile           16384

Sounds like a bug somewhere, but at least we have a workaround now.

Thank you for trying to help.

 

by: favorettiPosted on 2008-03-10 at 13:06:43ID: 21089901

One thing that comes to mind... Do you have any other lines that set nofile in limits.conf before the * rule?

 

by: RamusNeePosted on 2008-03-10 at 13:22:50ID: 21090021

No just the pasted line(s). I have no idea why * does not match root.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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