# Questions about gaps in configuration documentation **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [August 25, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/questions-about-gaps-in-configuration-documentation/58960 "2016-08-25T16:51:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![styler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@styler](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/styler)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/questions-about-gaps-in-configuration-documentation/58960/1 "2016-08-25T16:51:19Z")
I'm setting up Elasticsearch for the first time and the configuration documentation has left me with way more questions than answers. Here they are in order: > Most times it is better to leave the default JAVA\_OPTS as they are, and use the ES\_JAVA\_OPTS environment variable in order to set / change JVM settings or arguments. How do I do this? > It is recommended to set the min and max memory to the same value, and enable mlockall. How do I set the min/max memory? > In order to test how many open files the process can open, start it with -Des.max-open-files set to true. Which process, and is this a command, or do I need to edit a config file? If it's a config file, which config file? > Alternatively, you can retrieve the max\_file\_descriptors for each node using the Nodes Info API, with: > curl localhost:9200/\_nodes/stats/process?pretty I receive "failed to connect to localhost port 9200" on this command. What configuration needs to be done to get this to work? ---
**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 9:25pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/questions-about-gaps-in-configuration-documentation/58960/2 "2016-08-25T21:25:30Z")
[Directory layout | Elasticsearch Guide [8.11] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/setup-dir-layout.html) might help answer a lot of these. > [@styler](#): > > I receive "failed to connect to localhost port 9200" on this command. Is ES running? If you can link to the page you are reading, we will review it and see if we can make it clearer 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![styler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@styler](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/styler)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2016, 1:31pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/questions-about-gaps-in-configuration-documentation/58960/3 "2016-08-26T13:31:50Z")
Thanks Mark. I'm using this page: > **[Configuring Elasticsearch | Elasticsearch Guide \[8.11\] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/settings.html)** ES was not running, because when I tried to start per the instructions on this page: > **[Installation | Elasticsearch Guide \[8.11\] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/_installation.html)** I get the error that I posted on this page: > [@"Failed to load logging configuration" when running ES script](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/failed-to-load-logging-configuration-when-running-es-script/58975): > > Any time I try to call the elastic search script (like to change my node name) I get the following error: Exception in thread "main" ElasticsearchException(Failed to load logging configuration]; nested: NoSuchFileException[/usr/share/elasticsearch/config]; Likely root cause: java.no.file.NoSuchFileException:[/usr/share/elasticsearch/config]; at sun.nio.fs.UnixException.translateToI0Exception(UnixException.java:86) at sun.nio.fs.UnixException.rethrowAsIOException(UnixException.java:102) at … ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 10:24pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/questions-about-gaps-in-configuration-documentation/58960/4 "2017-07-05T22:24:51Z")