# Docs: nofile or nproc?

**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/docs-nofile-or-nproc/142049
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [July 28, 2018, 11:25pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/docs-nofile-or-nproc/142049 "2018-07-28T23:25:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![jasontedor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/jasontedor/32/66992_2.png) [@jasontedor](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/jasontedor)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2018, 12:17am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/docs-nofile-or-nproc/142049/2 "2018-07-29T00:17:14Z")

</div>

Hi! In the thread that you reference, the reporter is having trouble with the number of threads that the `elasticsearch` user can create:

> [@After adding "elasticsearch - nofile 65536" still not enough threads are allocated](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/after-adding-elasticsearch-nofile-65536-still-not-enough-threads-are-allocated/74796/1):
>
> I am getting an error "max number of threads [1024] for user [elasticsearch] is too low, increase to at least [2048]"

This message is arising from the [maximum number of threads bootstrap check](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/5.6/max-number-threads-check.html). For Elasticsearch not running under `systemd` as a service, this limit is controlled by the `nproc` limit. This is why I refer the user to `nproc` there.

However, the page that you refer to regarding `nofile` is referring to a different issue. Namely the fact that the `elasticsearch` user also needs the ability to have a lot of file descriptors open. This is covered in the [file descriptor bootstrap check](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/5.6/_file_descriptor_check.html). For Elasticsearch not running under `systemd` as a service, this limit is controlled by the `nofile` limit.

In short: the issue the user is running into is different than the situation covered by the docs that you link to.

I hope that helps!

---

_[View the full topic](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/docs-nofile-or-nproc/142049)._