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Currently ulimit -n shows 10000. I want to increase it to 40000. I've edited "/etc/sysctl.conf" and put fs.file-max=40000. I've also edited /etc/security/limits.conf and updated hard and soft values. But still ulimit shows 10000. After making all these changes I rebooted my laptop. I've access to root password.

usr_name@usr_name-lap:/etc$ /sbin/sysctl fs.file-max fs.file-max = 500000

Added following lines in /etc/security/limits.conf -

* soft nofile 40000 * hard nofile 40000

I also added following line in /etc/pam.d/su-

session    required   pam_limits.so

I've tried every possible way as given on other forums, but I can reach up to a maximum limit of 10000, not beyond that. What can be the issue?

I'm making this change because neo4j throws maximum open file limits reached error.

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6
  • You did it right, just reboot the system and all will work: sudo ulimit -n 40000 Commented Feb 2, 2014 at 20:01
  • @0x90 I rebooted the system. But even then it is not getting changed. Commented Feb 2, 2014 at 20:02
  • 6
    Being Ubuntu-specific, it probably actually belongs on askubuntu.com ; a similar question is here: askubuntu.com/questions/162229/… Commented Jun 26, 2014 at 18:17
  • 1
    serverfault.com/questions/610130/… Commented Aug 3, 2015 at 10:06
  • after adding to /etc/security/limits.conf which service is to be restarted to take change into effect ? Commented Dec 22, 2015 at 14:45

10 Answers 10

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83

What you are doing will not work for root user. Maybe you are running your services as root and hence you don't get to see the change.

To increase the ulimit for root user you should replace the * by root. * does not apply for root user. Rest is the same as you did. I will re-quote it here.

Add the following lines to the file: /etc/security/limits.conf

root soft nofile 40000 root hard nofile 40000

And then add following line in the file: /etc/pam.d/common-session

session required pam_limits.so

This will update the ulimit for root user. As mentioned in comments, you may don't even have to reboot to see the change.

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4 Comments

You actually don't need to reboot for the new limit to take effect. The point of editing the /etc/pam.d/common-session file is so that the creation of any new session will cause the limits files to be processed.
This procedure works. No reboot is required. Just logout and log back in to see the result.
In the case of neo4j-service or any other service using start-stop-daemon, the common-session-* trick won't work, because start-stop-daemon doesn't leverage PAM at all. There's no other way than adding an explicit ulimit -n xxx call somewhere in the init script before the service is started.
Worked beautifully on Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS
63

1) Check sysctl file-max limit:

$ cat /proc/sys/fs/file-max

If the limit is lower than your desired value, open the sysctl.conf and add this line at the end of file:

fs.file-max = 65536

Finally, apply sysctl limits:

$ sysctl -p

2) Edit /etc/security/limits.conf and add below the mentioned

* soft nproc 65535 * hard nproc 65535 * soft nofile 65535 * hard nofile 65535

These limits won't apply for root user, if you want to change root limits you have to do that explicitly:

root soft nofile 65535 root hard nofile 65535 ...

3) Reboot system or add following line to the end of /etc/pam.d/common-session:

session required pam_limits.so

Logout and login again.

4) Check soft limits:

$ ulimit -a

and hard limits:

$ ulimit -Ha .... open files (-n) 65535

Reference : http://ithubinfo.blogspot.in/2013/07/how-to-increase-ulimit-open-file-and.html

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2 Comments

Make Sure you logged out and back in so it can reflect your changes, if you are not checking it with root user, for ubuntu you can do this by gnome-session-quit
/proc/sys/fs/file-max IS NOT THE MAX nofile allowed by the system !!! For example on my system by default it's set to 1528702. Setting it to that value for the soft/hard limits in limits.conf does not allow the user to increase the limits from 1024 at all. I had to set limits.conf to something much more conservative, e.g. 256*1024 = 262144, and finally ulimit -a is showing the same for a regular user.
8

I am using Debian but this solution should work fine with Ubuntu.
You have to add a line in the neo4j-service script.
Here is what I have done :

nano /etc/init.d/neo4j-service
Add « ulimit –n 40000 » just before the start-stop-daemon line in the do_start section

Note that I am using version 2.0 Enterprise edition. Hope this will help you.

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5 Comments

FWIW there is no such script on Ubuntu Server 14.04. My solution was found in this question (and lornix's answer): askubuntu.com/questions/162229/… -- in short, you need to edit /etc/security/limits.conf and /etc/pam.d/common-session*
I see that the original questioner mentioned neo4j in passing. It seems like maybe that belongs in the question's subject since it has nothing to do with Ubuntu.
In Ubuntu 14.04, there really is a /etc/init.d/neo4j-service file and Martin Larivière is right, inserting uname -n 40000 solves the issue. I don't know the differences between Ubuntu Server and Ubuntu, so maybe you're right too, I'm adding this just to clarify that what Martin wrote solves the problem with plain Ubuntu 14.04.
@Lambart, in the case of neo4j-service, the common-session-* trick won't work, because neo4j-service is based on start-stop-daemon and start-stop-daemon doesn't leverage PAM at all. The only solution is indeed to add an explicit ulimit -n xxx call in the init script.
This is not a solution, this is a bandaid.
3

I was having the same issue, and got it to work by adding entries to /etc/security/limits.d/90-somefile.conf. Note that in order to see the limits working, I had to log out completely from the ssh session, and then log back in.

I wanted to set the limit for a specific user that runs a service, but it seems that I was getting the limit that was set for the user I was logging in as. Here's an example to show how the ulimit is set based on authenticated user, and not the effective user:

$ sudo cat /etc/security/limits.d/90-nofiles.conf loginuser soft nofile 10240 loginuser hard nofile 10240 root soft nofile 10241 root hard nofile 10241 serviceuser soft nofile 10242 serviceuser hard nofile 10242 $ whoami loginuser $ ulimit -n 10240 $ sudo -i # ulimit -n 10240 # loginuser's limit # su - serviceuser $ ulimit -n 10240 # still loginuser's limit.

You can use an * to specify an increase for all users. If I restart the service as the user I logged in, and add ulimit -n to the init script, I see that the initial login user's limits are in place. I have not had a chance to verify which user's limits are used during a system boot or of determining what the actual nofile limit is of the service I am running (which is started with start-stop-daemon).

There's 2 approaches that are working for now:

  1. add a ulimit adjustment to the init script, just before start-stop-daemon.
  2. wildcard or more extensive ulimit settings in the security file.
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3 Comments

when I do what you did (starting from whoami) I first get 1024, then 65536 (for root), then 65536 for user. But the first was the same user. Do you have an explanation for this, I'm baffled
That sounds bizarre. How do you switch from user to root and back to user? Did you log out completely after setting the file? you may be in a cached session initially, and then using a new session depending on how you get back to the user.
I keep rebooting, just to be sure. Also tried setting /etc/sysctl.conf -> fs.file-max = 1000000 should fix it globally for all users, also no result. It's like a process is ignoring me. I switch from user to root to user, like you described, from root -> user using su - my_user_name. Which indicates the system knows what it should use for that user, but it doesn't...
2

You could alter the init script for neo4j to do a ulimit -n 40000 before running neo4j.

However, I can't help but feel you are barking up the wrong tree. Does neo4j legitimately need more than 10,000 open file descriptors? This sounds very much like a bug in neo4j or the way you are using it. I would try to address that.

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2 Comments

I start neo4j using neo4j start. Where can I find the init script for it?
try typing ulimit -n 40000 before neo4j start
2

I have lots of trouble getting this to work.

Using the following allows you to update it regardless of your user permission.

sudo sysctl -w fs.inotify.max_user_watches=100000

Edit

Just saw this from another user also on another stackexchange site (both work, but this version permanently updates the system setting, rather than temporarily):

echo fs.inotify.max_user_watches=100000 | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf; sudo sysctl -p
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2

Try run this command it will create a *_limits.conf file under /etc/security/limits.d

echo "* soft nofile 102400" > /etc/security/limits.d/*_limits.conf && echo "* hard nofile 102400" >> /etc/security/limits.d/*_limits.conf

Just exit from terminal and login again and verify by ulimit -n it will set for * users

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1 Comment

Easy and helpful answer.
2

tl;dr set both the soft and hard limits

I'm sure it's working as intended but I'll add it here just in case. For completeness the limit is set here (see below for syntax): /etc/security/limits.conf

some_user soft nofile 60000 some_user hard nofile 60000

and activated with the following in /etc/pam.d/common-session:

session required pam_limits.so

If you set only the hard limit, ulimit -a will show the default (1024): If you set only the soft the limit ulimit -a will show (4096)

If you set them both ulimit -a will show the soft limit (up to the hard limit of course)

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2

I did it like this

echo "NEO4J_ULIMIT_NOFILE=50000" >> neo4j mv neo4j /etc/default/
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1

ULIMIT configuration:

  1. Login by root
  2. vi security/limits.conf

  3. Make Below entry

    Ulimit configuration start for website user

    website soft nofile 8192 website hard nofile 8192 website soft nproc 4096 website hard nproc 8192 website soft core unlimited website hard core unlimited

  4. Make Below entry for ALL USER

    Ulimit configuration for every user

    * soft nofile 8192 * hard nofile 8192 * soft nproc 4096 * hard nproc 8192 * soft core unlimited * hard core unlimited

  5. After modifying the file, user need to logoff and login again to see the new values.

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