What is the most correct way to set limits of number of files on Linux?

Question

There are 3 ways to set limits of number of files and sockets on Linux:

echo "100000" > /proc/sys/fs/file-max
ulimit -n 100000
sysctl -w fs.file-max=100000

What is the difference?

Offtopic but a good question. SO should allow easy migrating of such. — Ondra Žižka, Jul 18 '17 at 17:42

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 14 '17 at 13:22

0

sysctl is an interface for writing to /proc/sys and so does the same as echoing directly to the files. Whereas sysctl applies across the whole filesystem, ulimit only applies to writes from the shell and processes started by the shell.

edited Jul 14 '17 at 13:22

Mouneer

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answered Jul 14 '17 at 10:19

Raman Sailopal

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What is the most correct way to set limits of number of files on Linux?

1 Answers1