Not applicable in Mac OS X Server v10.8 (Mountain Lion)?

Question

This chart seems not applicable in Mac OS X Server v10.8.4 (Mountain Lion) [Server v2.1.1].I have 32GB of RAM but the maxproc limit is still 2500, no matter setting via launchctl (the new way), sysctl (the old way), ulimit (the soft way), or both of them.Commands applied:$ sudo launchctl limit maxproc 2501$ sudo launchctl limit          cpu         unlimited      unlimited               filesize    unlimited      unlimited               data        unlimited      unlimited               stack       8388608        67104768                core        0              unlimited               rss         unlimited      unlimited               memlock     unlimited      unlimited               maxproc     2500           2500                    maxfiles    1048576        1048576$ sudo sysctl -w kern.maxproc&#x3D;2500kern.maxproc: 2500 -&gt; 2500$ sudo sysctl -w kern.maxproc&#x3D;2501kern.maxproc: 2500Files also created / modified accordingly:/etc/launchd.conf/etc/sysctl.confWhen I see the source code of the Darwin kernel (unix_startup.c), it works like it is specified here. But I still cannot I wonder whether the kernel calls srv_setup() and bsd_srv_setup() properly. I would like to find a way (via systemsetup command, modifying com.apple.Boot.plist, applying NVRAM parameter, etc.) so that bsd_srv_setup() would be called with a larger "scale" parameter. Or perhaps is there any way to compile a custom kernel from source and replace the system one?

boyonwheels · Answer

According to Apple, as is stated in the KB article you linked to, the OS dynamically scales the maximums for you. However, it&#x27;s not clear if it scales up/down based on installed memory or memory currently in use on the system.Have you tried running some tests against the system to see if the maxproc the system returns increases when your system&#x27;s use of memory increases?At this low level in the system I think you&#x27;ll get the best answer from filing a radar with Apple through your Developer Account.I have a system here with 96GB of RAM. I&#x27;ll try to take a look at it later to see what it&#x27;s doing.Gil

asukakenji · Answer

Would you please explain what you mean by "currently used on the system"?If you refer to "the sum of the amount of memory used by all applications", I think the behaviour would be ridiculous. That means if I want to increase the value of "maxproc", I am going to create a dummy process that "eats" sufficient memory? Besides, the documentation states "installed memory", not "used memory".By the way, here is what "top" (the "top" command) says:Processes: 124 total, 4 running, 2 stuck, 118 sleeping, 577 threadsLoad Avg: 0.45, 0.31, 0.26  CPU usage: 0.23% user, 1.6% sys, 98.69% idleSharedLibs: 15M resident, 12M data, 0B linkedit.MemRegions: 24353 total, 1816M resident, 62M private, 436M shared.PhysMem: 2172M wired, 3219M active, 1097M inactive, 6488M used, 26G free.VM: 319G vsize, 1062M framework vsize, 325423(0) pageins, 0(0) pageouts.Networks: packets: 6925013/7909M in, 5238935/2270M out.Disks: 138964/2538M read, 676309/24G written.Thanks for helping! And please tell me if you need more information / command results.KenjiMessage was edited by: asukakenji (adjusted the font size of the "top" output)

boyonwheels · Answer

I didn&#x27;t mean to imply that you should start processes to eat memory on your system to increase limits as a solution. I was curious from a "test it and see what happens" perspective.Anyhow, reviewing your original question I think you&#x27;re running into the issue because your syntax is wrong. Your command was:sudo launchctl limit maxproc 2501But, the syntax for that command requires that you specify both a soft limit and a hard limit. So, for example, it should look something like this:sudo launchctl limit maxproc 1501 2501On my system this appeared to work correctly. Hopefully that puts you on the right path!Gil

boyonwheels · Answer

D&#x27;oh. Hit reply a little too soon and had to run to a meeting. Here&#x27;s what I did and saw in terminal:% sudo launchctl limit          cpu         unlimited      unlimited          filesize    unlimited      unlimited          data        unlimited      unlimited          stack       8388608        67104768          core        0              unlimited          rss         unlimited      unlimited          memlock     unlimited      unlimited          maxproc     709            1064          maxfiles    256            unlimited% sysctl kern.maxprockern.maxproc: 1064% sudo launchctl limit maxproc 709 1000% sudo launchctl limit          cpu         unlimited      unlimited          filesize    unlimited      unlimited          data        unlimited      unlimited          stack       8388608        67104768          core        0              unlimited          rss         unlimited      unlimited          memlock     unlimited      unlimited          maxproc     709            1000          maxfiles    256            unlimited% sysctl kern.maxprockern.maxproc: 1000Note that use of sudo matters. If I run sysctl limit without sudo the results returned are different:% launchctl limit          cpu         unlimited      unlimited          filesize    unlimited      unlimited          data        unlimited      unlimited          stack       8388608        67104768          core        0              unlimited          rss         unlimited      unlimited          memlock     unlimited      unlimited          maxproc     709            1064          maxfiles    256            unlimitedSo, it looks like Mac OS X is user-process focused when making these changes. As you probably already know, most processes on the system have launchd as a parent. If you change the limits on launchd then all of it&#x27;s children will inherit those limits. But, the man pages lead me to think that they will only inherit the limits of launchd at the time they are sqawned.

asukakenji · Answer

Gil,The command with one parameter (known as "both" in manpage) is the same as the one with two parameters (known as "soft" and "hard" respectively in manpage) - it will be treated like supplying two parameters using the same value:$ sudo launchctl limitPassword:        cpu         unlimited      unlimited        filesize    unlimited      unlimited        data        unlimited      unlimited        stack       8388608        67104768        core        0              unlimited        rss         unlimited      unlimited        memlock     unlimited      unlimited        maxproc     2500           2500        maxfiles    1048576        1048576$ sudo launchctl limit maxproc 1000$ sudo launchctl limit        cpu         unlimited      unlimited        filesize    unlimited      unlimited        data        unlimited      unlimited        stack       8388608        67104768        core        0              unlimited        rss         unlimited      unlimited        memlock     unlimited      unlimited        maxproc     1000           1000        maxfiles    1048576        1048576$ sudo launchctl limit maxproc 2500$ sudo launchctl limit        cpu         unlimited      unlimited        filesize    unlimited      unlimited        data        unlimited      unlimited        stack       8388608        67104768        core        0              unlimited        rss         unlimited      unlimited        memlock     unlimited      unlimited        maxproc     2500           2500        maxfiles    1048576        1048576$ sudo launchctl limit maxproc 2501$ sudo launchctl limit        cpu         unlimited      unlimited        filesize    unlimited      unlimited        data        unlimited      unlimited        stack       8388608        67104768        core        0              unlimited        rss         unlimited      unlimited        memlock     unlimited      unlimited        maxproc     2500           2500        maxfiles    1048576        1048576By the way, my iMac is running Mac OS X 10.8.4 and the manpage is dated "1 May, 2009" in case if it matters.

asukakenji · Answer

Gil,I have tried your command:$ sudo launchctl limit maxproc 1501 2501The result is:$ sudo launchctl limit        cpu         unlimited      unlimited        filesize    unlimited      unlimited        data        unlimited      unlimited        stack       8388608        67104768        core        0              unlimited        rss         unlimited      unlimited        memlock     unlimited      unlimited        maxproc     1501           2500        maxfiles    1048576        1048576You can see that the "hard" limit is still 2500, not 2501. I don&#x27;t really care about if there exists both a "root" limit and a "user" limit, but I DO care about the hard limit is being "clipped" at 2500. The support page (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3854) told me that I can go beyond that (because I have 32GB RAM installed), but I couldn&#x27;t, and that&#x27;s why I&#x27;m asking this question here.Kenji

boyonwheels · Answer

Ah, now I see it. It looks like you can freely configure the limits... as long as you stay under 2500. Not even changing the settings through the /etc config files will make it go above 2500.The issue is that we&#x27;re both running OS X client (edit: I was running client, my bad!) To fix it you have to install set Server.app and set it to run in performance mode (serverinfo -setperfmode BOOL).This returns the following on my 16GB system:% sysctl kern.maxprockern.maxproc: 5000% sysctl kern.maxvnodeskern.maxvnodes: 300000% launchctl limit          cpu         unlimited      unlimited          filesize    unlimited      unlimited          data        unlimited      unlimited          stack       8388608        67104768          core        0              unlimited          rss         unlimited      unlimited          memlock     unlimited      unlimited          maxproc     3750           5000          maxfiles    256            unlimitedTurning off performance mode and rebooting returns settings to the hard client default settings we&#x27;ve been struggling over.% sysctl kern.maxprockern.maxproc: 1064% sysctl kern.maxvnodeskern.maxvnodes: 263168% launchctl limit          cpu         unlimited      unlimited          filesize    unlimited      unlimited          data        unlimited      unlimited          stack       8388608        67104768          core        0              unlimited          rss         unlimited      unlimited          memlock     unlimited      unlimited          maxproc     709            1064          maxfiles    256            unlimitedThe clue turned out to be in unix_startup.c, afterall. See the bsd_scale_setup() function for the guilty conditional.Message was edited by: boyonwheels

asukakenji · Answer

Thank you so much!Now I can set my maxproc to 10000 as stated in the support page (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3854).$ sudo serverinfo --setperfmode true$ sudo reboot$ sudo launchctl limit maxproc 10000$ sudo launchctl limit cpu         unlimited      unlimited filesize    unlimited      unlimited data        unlimited      unlimited stack       8388608        67104768 core        0              unlimited rss         unlimited      unlimited memlock     unlimited      unlimited maxproc     10000          10000 maxfiles    1048576        1048576

boyonwheels · Answer

You&#x27;re welcome! Sorry about the initial back-and-forth confusion. Between a rushed schedule, some bad assumptions, misreading your post, and an assumption that Apple&#x27;s manpage was inaccurate (which has burned me before) I got a little ahead of myself.Gil