Limits Cookbook

This cookbook is used to configure limits for the pam_limits module. By default, the configuration file is located at /etc/security/limits.conf. It can also configure limits in any arbitrary path such as files in the directory /etc/security/limit.d. It is available on the Chef Supermarket or GitHub.

Usage

This cookbook does not provide any recipes. Instead, it should be added as a dependency of another cookbook. This will make the custom resources provided by the limits cookbook available to be used in another cookbook's recipes.

Here is an example of managing the system's limit.conf file, adding two limits, managing a limits.d file, deleting any manually-added limits, and adding one limit:

# System limits.conf example

limits_file '/etc/security/limits.conf' do
  action :create
end

limit 'example-1' do
  domain '*'
  type 'hard'
  item 'nofile'
  value 512
end

limit 'example-2' do
  domain '@student'
  type 'soft'
  item 'nproc'
  value 20
end

# Separate limits.d example

limits_file '/etc/security/limits.d/001_vader.conf' do
  action [:create, :purge]
end

limit 'example-3' do
  path '/etc/security/limits.d/001_vader.conf'
  domain 'vader'
  type 'hard'
  item 'nofile'
  value 1000
end

Custom Resource: limits_file

This resource is used to manage a limits file. It is not required in order to use the limit resource, but it is required to purge limits that were not set via Chef. It can also be used without any limit resources to just maintain the formatting of a limits file.

Action: create (default)

This action will create the desired limits file. The file will be formatted to a known style. Any comments not attached to limits or lines that are not limits will be removed from the file. Existing limits and attached comments will remain. File owner, group, and mode will be maintained by Chef.

Action: purge

This action will remove any limits in the limits file that were not configured via Chef. This is useful if you want to ensure that a limits file is completely managed by Chef and any manually-added limits are removed.

Action: delete

This action will delete the desired limits file.

Examples

limits_file '/etc/security/limits.conf' do
  action :create
end

limits_file '/etc/security/limits.d/001_vader.conf' do
  action [:create, :purge]
end

limits_file '/etc/security/limits.d/002_anakin.conf' do
  action :delete
end

Custom Resource: limit

This resource is used to manage a specific limit in a limits file. The limits_file resource is not required to be used in conjunction with this resource, but they do compliment each other.

Please see libraries/constants.rb for valid types and limits. More documentation on domain, type, item, and value can be found at the following man page.

Action: create (default)

This action will create the desired limit inside the limits file. This will also have the affect of reformatting the limits file. Any comments not attached to limits or lines that are not limits will be removed from the file. Existing limits and attached comments will remain.

If the limit already exists in the file, any out-of-sync properties will be updated. A limit is identified by the combination of domain, type, and item.

Action: delete

This action will delete the desired limit inside the limits file. A limit is identified by the combination of domain, type, and item.

Examples

limit 'create example' do
  domain 'ftp'
  type 'hard'
  item 'nproc'
  value 0
  action :create
end

limit 'delete example' do
  path '/etc/security/limits.d/001_vader.conf'
  domain 'vader'
  type 'hard'
  item 'nofile'
  action :delete
end

Testing

Testing was performed using Chef Workstation 20.6.62.

$ chef --version
Chef Workstation version: 20.6.62
Chef Infra Client version: 16.1.16
Chef InSpec version: 4.19.0
Chef CLI version: 3.0.4
Test Kitchen version: 2.5.1
Cookstyle version: 6.7.3

Perform tests using the following commands:

chef exec foodcritic .    # linting for common issues
chef exec cookstyle       # linting based on RuboCop
chef exec rspec           # spec tests
chef exec kitchen test    # integration tests