limits.conf

limits.conf - configuration file for the pam_limits module,

/etc/security/limits.conf

The syntax of the lines:

<domain> <type> <item> <value>

The fields listed above should be filled as follows:

<domain>

* A username

* A groupname, with @group syntax. This should not be confused with netgroups.

* The wildcard * , for default entry.

* The wildcard % , for maxlogins limit only, can also be used with %group syntax.

<type>

hard

for enforcing hard resource limits. These limits are set by the superuser and enforced by the Kernel. The user cannot raise his requirement of system resources above such values.

soft

for enforcing soft resource limits. These limits are ones that the user can move up or down within the permitted range by any pre-exisiting hard limits. The values specified with this token can be thought of as default values, for normal system usage.

-

for enforcing both soft and hard resource limits together.

Note, if you specify a type of '-' but neglect to supply the item and value fields then the module will never enforce any limits on the specified user/group etc. .

<item>

core

limits the core file size (KB)

data

maximum data size (KB)

fsize

maximum filesize (KB)

memlock

maximum locked-in-memory address space (KB)

nofile

maximum number of open files

rss

maximum resident set size (KB)

stack

maximum stack size (KB)

cpu

maximum CPU time (minutes)

nproc

maximum number of processes as address space limit

maxlogins

maximum number of logins for this user

maxsyslogins

maximum number of logins on system

priority

the priority to run user process with (negative values boost process priority)

locks

maximum locked files (Linux 2.4 and higher)

sigpending

maximum number of pending signals (Linux 2.6 and higher)

msqqueue

maximum memory used by POSIX message queues (bytes) (Linux 2.6 and higher)

nice

maximum nice priority allowed to raise to (Linux 2.6.12 and higher)

rtprio

maximum realtime priority allowed for non-privileged processes (Linux 2.6.12 and higher)

In general, individual limits have priority over group limits, so if you impose no limits for admin group, but one of the members in this group have a limits line, the user will have its limits set according to this line.

Also, please note that all limit settings are set per login . They are not global, nor are they permanent; existing only for the duration of the session.

In the limits configuration file, the '# ' character introduces a comment - after which the rest of the line is ignored.

The pam_limits module does its best to report configuration problems found in its configuration file via syslog (3).

Examples

Example lines which might be specified in /etc/security/limits.conf .

*               soft    core            0
*               hard    rss             10000
@student        hard    nproc           20
@faculty        soft    nproc           20
@faculty        hard    nproc           50
ftp             hard    nproc           0
@student        -       maxlogins       

# Feel the city breakin and everybody shakin, and we're stayin alive, stayin alive # - The Bee Gees

Related :

quota - Display disk usage and limits
ulimit - Control the resources available to a process
Fork bomb - Wikipedia
pam_limits(8), pam.d(5), pam(8)

<!-- #BeginLibraryItem "/Library/foot_bash.lbi" -->