The maximum value of fs.nr_open in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

Environment

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

Issue

• What is the maximum value of fs.nr_open?

Resolution

The maximum value of fs.nr_open is limited to sysctl_nr_open_max in kernel, which is 2147483584 on x86_64.

fs/file.c in kernel-3.10.0-957.el7:

Raw

#define __const_min(x, y) ((x) < (y) ? (x) : (y))
int sysctl_nr_open_max = __const_min(INT_MAX, ~(size_t)0/sizeof(void *)) &
                         -BITS_PER_LONG;

Note: The value of "Max open files"(ulimit -n) is limited to fs.nr_open value.

Diagnostic Steps

Raw

# ulimit -n 2147483584
-bash: ulimit: open files: cannot modify limit: Operation not permitted
# sysctl fs.nr_open
fs.nr_open = 1048576
# sysctl -w fs.nr_open=2147483584
fs.nr_open = 2147483584
# ulimit -n 2147483584
# ulimit -n
2147483584
# sysctl -w fs.nr_open=2147483585
sysctl: setting key "fs.nr_open": Invalid argument
fs.nr_open = 2147483585
#