The Problem
“/etc/security/limits.conf” is updated with the following and the server is rebooted:
# vi /etc/security/limits.conf * - nproc 16384
However, “ulimit -a” (for root & all users) still shows the 1024 for “max user processes” instead of 16384:
# ulimit -a ... max user processes (-u) 1024 ...
The Solution
CentOS/RHEL 6 has another file for setting the nproc value – /etc/security/limits.d/90-nproc.conf
# cat /etc/security/limits.d/90-nproc.conf * soft nproc 1024
In order to change the “max user process” value to “16384”, update “/etc/security/limits.d/90-nproc.conf” and change
* soft nproc 1024
to
* soft nproc 16384