linux configure ulimit

Java applications in production frequently hit the default file descriptor limits, causing cryptic ‘too many open files’ errors. The fix is setting higher limits in /etc/security/limits.conf for the user running the JVM. This is a day-one config for any serious Java deployment on Linux.

• Create file called limits.conf

$ touch limits.conf

• Add limits configuration to the limits.conf

Assuming user that you want to increase limits for is called ‘java’

$ echo "java soft nofile 8196" > limits.conf
$ echo "java hard nofile 65536" >> limits.conf

• Move file to /etc/security

$ sudo mv limits.conf /etc/security

• if file already exists in /etc/security

Then directly append contents to the file

$ sudo echo "java soft nofile 8196" >> limits.conf
$ sudo echo "java hard nofile 65536" >> limits.conf

• Verify that limits have been applied correctly

$ ulimit -Hn
unlimited

$ ulimit -Sn
8196