path: root/modules/pam_limits/limits.conf.5.xml

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<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.3//EN"
        "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.3/docbookx.dtd">

<refentry id="limits.conf">

  <refmeta>
    <refentrytitle>limits.conf</refentrytitle>
    <manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
    <refmiscinfo class="sectdesc">Linux-PAM Manual</refmiscinfo>
  </refmeta>

  <refnamediv>
    <refname>limits.conf</refname>
    <refpurpose>configuration file for the pam_limits module</refpurpose>
  </refnamediv>

  <refsect1 id='limits.conf-description'>
    <title>DESCRIPTION</title>
    <para>
      The <emphasis>pam_limits.so</emphasis> module applies ulimit limits,
      nice priority and number of simultaneous login sessions limit to user
      login sessions. This description of the configuration file syntax
      applies to the <filename>/etc/security/limits.conf</filename> file and
      <filename>*.conf</filename> files in the
      <filename>/etc/security/limits.d</filename> directory.
    </para>
    <para>
      The syntax of the lines is as follows:
    </para>
    <para>
      <replaceable>&lt;domain&gt;</replaceable> <replaceable>&lt;type&gt;</replaceable>
      <replaceable>&lt;item&gt;</replaceable> <replaceable>&lt;value&gt;</replaceable>
    </para>
    <para>
      The fields listed above should be filled as follows:
    </para>
    <variablelist>
      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <option>&lt;domain&gt;</option>
        </term>
        <listitem>
          <itemizedlist>
            <listitem>
              <para>
                a username
              </para>
            </listitem>
            <listitem>
              <para>
                a groupname, with <emphasis remap='B'>@group</emphasis> syntax.
                This should not be confused with netgroups.
              </para>
            </listitem>
            <listitem>
              <para>
                the wildcard <emphasis remap='B'>*</emphasis>, for default entry.
              </para>
            </listitem>
            <listitem>
              <para>
                the wildcard <emphasis remap='B'>%</emphasis>, for maxlogins limit only,
                can also be used with <emphasis remap='B'>%group</emphasis> syntax. If the
                <emphasis remap='B'>%</emphasis> wildcard is used alone it is identical
                to using <emphasis remap='B'>*</emphasis> with maxsyslogins limit. With
                a group specified after <emphasis remap='B'>%</emphasis> it limits the total
                number of logins of all users that are member of the group.
              </para>
            </listitem>
            <listitem>
              <para>
                an uid range specified as <replaceable>&lt;min_uid&gt;</replaceable><emphasis
                remap='B'>:</emphasis><replaceable>&lt;max_uid&gt;</replaceable>. If min_uid
                is omitted, the match is exact for the max_uid. If max_uid is omitted, all
                uids greater than or equal min_uid match.
              </para>
            </listitem>
            <listitem>
              <para>
                a gid range specified as <emphasis
                remap='B'>@</emphasis><replaceable>&lt;min_gid&gt;</replaceable><emphasis
                remap='B'>:</emphasis><replaceable>&lt;max_gid&gt;</replaceable>. If min_gid
                is omitted, the match is exact for the max_gid. If max_gid is omitted, all
                gids greater than or equal min_gid match. For the exact match all groups including
                the user's supplementary groups are examined. For the range matches only
                the user's primary group is examined.
              </para>
            </listitem>
            <listitem>
              <para>
                a gid specified as <emphasis
                remap='B'>%:</emphasis><replaceable>&lt;gid&gt;</replaceable> applicable
                to maxlogins limit only. It limits the total number of logins of all users
                that are member of the group with the specified gid.
              </para>
            </listitem>
          </itemizedlist>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <option>&lt;type&gt;</option>
        </term>
        <listitem>
          <variablelist>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>hard</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>
                  for enforcing <emphasis remap='B'>hard</emphasis> 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.
                </para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>soft</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>
                  for enforcing <emphasis remap='B'>soft</emphasis> resource limits.
                  These limits are ones that the user can move up or down within the
                  permitted range by any pre-existing <emphasis remap='B'>hard</emphasis>
                  limits. The values specified with this token can be thought of as
                  <emphasis>default</emphasis> values, for normal system usage.
                </para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>-</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>
                  for enforcing both <emphasis remap='B'>soft</emphasis> and
                  <emphasis remap='B'>hard</emphasis> resource limits together.
                </para>
                <para>
                  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. .
                </para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
          </variablelist>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <option>&lt;item&gt;</option>
        </term>
        <listitem>
          <variablelist>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>core</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>limits the core file size (KB)</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>data</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>maximum data size (KB)</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>fsize</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>maximum filesize (KB)</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>memlock</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>maximum locked-in-memory address space (KB)</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>nofile</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>maximum number of open file descriptors</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>rss</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>maximum resident set size (KB) (Ignored in Linux 2.4.30 and higher)</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>stack</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>maximum stack size (KB)</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>cpu</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>maximum CPU time (minutes)</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>nproc</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>maximum number of processes</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>as</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>address space limit (KB)</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>maxlogins</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>maximum number of logins for this user (this limit does
                  not apply to user with <emphasis>uid=0</emphasis>)</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>maxsyslogins</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>maximum number of all logins on system; user is not
                  allowed to log-in if total number of all user logins is
                  greater than specified number (this limit does not apply to
                  user with <emphasis>uid=0</emphasis>)</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>priority</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>the priority to run user process with (negative
                  values boost process priority)</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>locks</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>maximum locked files (Linux 2.4 and higher)</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>sigpending</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>maximum number of pending signals (Linux 2.6 and higher)</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>msgqueue</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>maximum memory used by POSIX message queues (bytes)
                  (Linux 2.6 and higher)</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>nice</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>maximum nice priority allowed to raise to (Linux 2.6.12 and higher) values: [-20,19]</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry>
              <term><option>rtprio</option></term>
              <listitem>
                <para>maximum realtime priority allowed for non-privileged processes
                  (Linux 2.6.12 and higher)</para>
              </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
          </variablelist>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

    </variablelist>
    <para>
      All items support the values <emphasis>-1</emphasis>,
      <emphasis>unlimited</emphasis> or <emphasis>infinity</emphasis> indicating no limit,
      except for <emphasis remap='B'>priority</emphasis> and <emphasis remap='B'>nice</emphasis>.
    </para>
    <para>
      If a hard limit or soft limit of a resource is set to a valid value,
      but outside of the supported range of the local system, the system
      may reject the new limit or unexpected behavior may occur. If the
      control value <emphasis>required</emphasis>  is used, the module will
      reject the login if a limit could not be set.
    </para>
    <para>
      In general, individual limits have priority over group limits, so if
      you impose no limits for <emphasis>admin</emphasis> group, but one of
      the members in this group have a limits line, the user will have its
      limits set according to this line.
    </para>
    <para>
      Also, please note that all limit settings are set
      <emphasis>per login</emphasis>. They are not global, nor are they
      permanent; existing only for the duration of the session.
      One exception is the <emphasis>maxlogin</emphasis> option, this one
      is system wide. But there is a race, concurrent logins at the same
      time will not always be detect as such but only counted as one.
    </para>
    <para>
      In the <emphasis>limits</emphasis> configuration file, the
      '<emphasis remap='B'>#</emphasis>' character introduces a comment
      - after which the rest of the line is ignored.
    </para>
    <para>
      The pam_limits module does report configuration problems
      found in its configuration file and errors via <citerefentry>
      <refentrytitle>syslog</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
    </para>
  </refsect1>

  <refsect1 id="limits.conf-examples">
    <title>EXAMPLES</title>
    <para>
      These are some example lines which might be specified in
      <filename>/etc/security/limits.conf</filename>.
    </para>
    <programlisting>
*               soft    core            0
*               hard    nofile          512
@student        hard    nproc           20
@faculty        soft    nproc           20
@faculty        hard    nproc           50
ftp             hard    nproc           0
@student        -       maxlogins       4
:123            hard    cpu             5000
@500:           soft    cpu             10000
600:700         hard    locks           10
    </programlisting>
  </refsect1>

  <refsect1 id="limits.conf-see_also">
    <title>SEE ALSO</title>
    <para>
      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>pam_limits</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>pam.d</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>pam</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>getrlimit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>
      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>getrlimit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3p</manvolnum></citerefentry>
    </para>
  </refsect1>

  <refsect1 id="limits.conf-author">
    <title>AUTHOR</title>
    <para>
      pam_limits was initially written by Cristian Gafton &lt;gafton@redhat.com&gt;
    </para>
  </refsect1>
</refentry>