Red Hat Summit5.4. Using the sysctl Command
The
/sbin/sysctl command is used to view, set, and automate kernel settings in the /proc/sys/ directory.
For a quick overview of all settings configurable in the
/proc/sys/ directory, type the /sbin/sysctl -a command as root. This creates a large, comprehensive list, a small portion of which looks something like the following:
net.ipv4.route.min_delay = 2 kernel.sysrq = 0 kernel.sem = 250 32000 32 128
net.ipv4.route.min_delay = 2 kernel.sysrq = 0 kernel.sem = 250 32000 32 128
This is the same information seen if each of the files were viewed individually. The only difference is the file location. For example, the
/proc/sys/net/ipv4/route/min_delay file is listed as net.ipv4.route.min_delay, with the directory slashes replaced by dots and the proc.sys portion assumed.
The
sysctl command can be used in place of echo to assign values to writable files in the /proc/sys/ directory. For example, instead of using the command
echo 1 > /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq
echo 1 > /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq
use the equivalent
sysctl command as follows:
sysctl -w kernel.sysrq="1"
~]# sysctl -w kernel.sysrq="1"
kernel.sysrq = 1
While quickly setting single values like this in
/proc/sys/ is helpful during testing, this method does not work as well on a production system as special settings within /proc/sys/ are lost when the machine is rebooted. To preserve custom settings, add them to the /etc/sysctl.conf file.
Each time the system boots, the
init program runs the /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit script. This script contains a command to execute sysctl using /etc/sysctl.conf to determine the values passed to the kernel. Any values added to /etc/sysctl.conf therefore take effect each time the system boots.
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