Linux Increase The Maximum Number Of Open Files / File Descriptors (FD) (by nixCraft on April 18, 2006 · 44 comments · last updated at May 6, 2010) How do I increase the maximum number of open files under CentOS Linux? How do I open more file descriptors under Linux? The ulimit command provides control over the resources available to the shell and/or to processes started by it, on systems that allow such control. The maximum number of open file descriptors displayed with following command (login as the root user). Command To List Number Of Open File Descriptors Use the following command command to display maximum number of open file descriptors: cat /proc/sys/fs/file-max Output: 75000 75000 files normal user can have open in single login session. To see the hard and soft values, issue the command as follows: # ulimit -Hn # ulimit -Sn To see the hard and soft values for httpd or oracle user, issue the command as follows: # su - username In this example, su to o...