Virtual Memory (Per-User and Per-Process Limits)

Virtual memory is managed using a fixed resource model. The virtual memory limit applies to the sum of the memory sizes of all processes attached to the lnode. In addition, there is a per-process virtual memory limit that restricts the total size of the process's virtual address space size, including all code, data, stack, file mappings, and shared libraries. Both limits are hierarchical. Limiting virtual memory is useful for avoiding virtual memory starvation. For example, Solaris Resource Manager will stop an application that is leaking memory from consuming unwarranted amounts of virtual memory to the detriment of all users. Instead, such a process only starves itself or, at worse, others in its resource group.