limits.conf or limits.d

Sometimes you're hitting the limits of the operating system but you're not sure if your changes in limits.conf are picked up, or you are not sure what parameter may be hitting a limit...

Then you find plenty of information in /proc/$pid/limits!

# cat /proc/$(pidof java)/limits
Limit                     Soft Limit           Hard Limit           Units     
Max cpu time              unlimited            unlimited            seconds   
Max file size             unlimited            unlimited            bytes     
Max data size             unlimited            unlimited            bytes     
Max stack size            10485760             unlimited            bytes     
Max core file size        0                    unlimited            bytes     
Max resident set          unlimited            unlimited            bytes     
Max processes             1024                 unlimited            processes 
Max open files            32768                32768                files     
Max locked memory         65536                65536                bytes     
Max address space         unlimited            unlimited            bytes     
Max file locks            unlimited            unlimited            locks     
Max pending signals       15904                15904                signals   
Max msgqueue size         819200               819200               bytes     
Max nice priority         0                    0                    
Max realtime priority     0                    0                    
Max realtime timeout      unlimited            unlimited            us        

/etc/security/limits.d/90-nproc.conf limits nproc to 1024 to prevent fork bombs for all users.  You may need to override it for specific users or groups for high-capacity servers.