nproc

[Kenny Lussier]

Hi all,

I have some questions about kernel calculations and number of
processes. First, the specs: Rhel 5 running 2.6.18-238.el5

My first question is, does anyone know how nproc is calculated?  I
have seen some issues lately where the limits.conf hard limit is
imposed, but the user hasn't exceeded the number of processes. The
number of processes on the box is also reported as being abnormally
high in newer kernels because every kernel processes is run on a
per-core basis:

root       669  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   07:28   0:00 [kblockd/0]
root       670  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   07:28   0:00 [kblockd/1]
root       671  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   07:28   0:00 [kblockd/2]
root       672  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   07:28   0:00 [kblockd/3]
root       673  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   07:28   0:00 [kblockd/4]
root       674  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   07:28   0:00 [kblockd/5]
root       675  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   07:28   0:00 [kblockd/6]
root       676  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   07:28   0:00 [kblockd/7]
root       677  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   07:28   0:00 [kblockd/8]
root       678  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   07:28   0:00 [kblockd/9]
root       679  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   07:28   0:00 [kblockd/10]
root       680  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   07:28   0:00 [kblockd/11]
root       681  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   07:28   0:00 [kblockd/12]
root       682  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   07:28   0:00 [kblockd/13]
root       683  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   07:28   0:00 [kblockd/14]
root       684  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   07:28   0:00 [kblockd/15]


Second, why can't I set a per user limit in limits.conf that is higher
than the default (*) limit value?

Thanks,
Kenny