ulimit overrides sysctl

Question

I set sysctl fs.file-max = 4500000. However, ulimit still shows open files (-n) 1024

I understand that both values point to the max open file descriptors. How do I make ulmit respect the sysctl value?

Is there any documentation on the meanings of the various values of sysctl?

Answer 1

if what you are looking for is a permanent set to the ulimit, you'll want to add the line

ulimit -n 4500000

to /etc/profile (source /etc/profile afterwards to see change).

As for finding the meaning of systctl, you can find detailed information here:

http://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/sysctl/