Increasing ssh Open Files Limit

Note: This will increase the limit of the number of concurrent open files for RedHat System 8 and above, plus Redhat Enterprise ES version 3 and various flavors of Linux.

Sign on as root and perform the following: 

  1. # vi /etc/security/limits.conf
    Add:
        *   soft   nofile   32768
    *   hard   nofile   32768
  2. NOTE: Skip this step if you are running CentOS or Fedora. 
    # vi /etc/pam.d/login
    Add the line:
        session required /lib/security/pam_limits.so
  3. NOTE: Skip this step if you are running CentOS or Fedora. 
    # vi /etc/pam.d/sshd
    Add the line:
        session required /lib/security/pam_limits.so
  4. # vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config
    Enable:
        UsePrivilegeSeparation no
  5. # service sshd restart