Tuning /etc/system and Using Resource Controls

In Solaris 8, System V and file descriptor limits are tuned by modifying /etc/system and rebooting the machine to have the modifications take effect. In Solaris 10, these limits can be tuned dynamically through resource controls.

For a solaris8 branded zone, the contents of /etc/system are used to set project and process resource controls when the zone boots. If /etc/system is not tuned, the default file descriptor and System V limits from Solaris 8 are used.

The effective limits within the zone will be the lower of the zone's /etc/system or the zone's zonecfg settings. To view the effective limits, run the sysdef command described in the sysdef(1M) in the zone.

You must be the zone administrator to modify /etc/system within the solaris8 branded zone. and reboot it to have the changes take effect. Because /etc/system can be modified within the zone, the global administrator can use the zonecfg command from the global zone to set limits for the zone.

Use the prctl command from the global zone to view the default resource control settings. The example shows that the default settings on the init process restrict the System V limits.

Example 7-1 View Default Settings on the init Process in a solaris8 Zone

global# prctl `pgrep -x init -z s8zone`
...
process.max-msg-messages
        privileged         40       -   deny                          -
        system          4.29G     max   deny                          -
process.max-msg-qbytes
        privileged      4.00KB      -   deny                          -
        system          16.0EB    max   deny                          -
process.max-sem-ops
        privileged         10       -   deny                          -
        system          2.15G     max   deny                          -
process.max-sem-nsems
        privileged         25       -   deny                          -
        system          32.8K     max   deny                          -
process.max-file-descriptor
        basic             256       -   deny                      10485
        privileged      1.02K       -   deny                          -
        system          2.15G     max   deny                          -
...
project.max-shm-memory
        privileged       100MB      -   deny                          -
        system          16.0EB    max   deny                          -
project.max-shm-ids
        privileged        100       -   deny                          -
        system          16.8M     max   deny                          -
project.max-msg-ids
        privileged         50       -   deny                          -
        system          16.8M     max   deny                          -
project.max-sem-ids
        privileged         10       -   deny                          -
        system          16.8M     max   deny                          -
...

Modifying /etc/system

For applications that require these tunings to be increased, the zone administrator can modify /etc/system within the solaris8 branded zone, and reboot it. This procedure is identical to that used to increase tunings on a native Solaris 8 system.

Using zonecfg to Set Resource Controls

The zonecfg command can be used from the global zone to restrict the System V limits within the zone.

Example 7-2 Setting Resource Controls From the Global Zone

You must be the global administrator in the global zone to perform these procedures.

global# zonecfg -z mys8zone set max-shm-memory=100m

If you use zonecfg after initial zone creation, reboot the zone to have the change take effect.

global# zoneadm -z mys8zone reboot