How to set or change the default soft or hard limit for the number of user's processes?

Solution Verified - Updated -

Issue

  • The system wide configuration file /etc/security/limits.d/90-nproc.conf (RHEL5, RHEL6), /etc/security/limits.d/20-nproc.conf (RHEL7) specifies the default nproc limits as:

    *            soft    nproc     1024
    root       soft    nproc     unlimited
    
  • However, when logged in as root, the ulimit shows a different value:

    $ ulimit -u
    1024
    
  • Why it is not unlimited in this case?

  • How to set or change the default soft or hard limit for the number of user's processes?

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

Subscriber exclusive content

A Red Hat subscription provides unlimited access to our knowledgebase of over 48,000 articles and solutions.

Current Customers and Partners

Log in for full access

Log In
Close

Welcome! Check out the Getting Started with Red Hat page for quick tours and guides for common tasks.