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Description of problem: Neither manual page for pam_limits nor comments in /etc/security/limits.conf explain the difference between 'maxlogins' and 'maxsyslogins'. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): pam-1.1.1-13.el6.x86_64 Additional info: May be that some explanatory comment in limits.conf would be enough.
The current limits.conf(5) man page on Fedora, RHEL-7 says: maxlogins maximum number of logins for this user except for this with uid=0 maxsyslogins maximum number of all logins on system I think this is clear that the maxsyslogins counts all the logins and maxlogins counts only the logins of the user being logged in. RHEL-6 is different in the the word 'all' is missing in the maxsyslogins description.
Soo... @students - maxsyslogins 4 implicates that users from group "students" can open no more than 4 sessions in total but @students - maxlogins 4 means that each user from group "students" can open 4 separate sessions? I don't think that the description is man page is very clear. It would be great if you could improve it somehow, even with examples above (if they are correct :-).
(In reply to Petr Spacek from comment #3) > Soo... > @students - maxsyslogins 4 > implicates that users from group "students" can open no more than 4 sessions > in total but Yes, but also counting any other login sessions on the system to the total count. > @students - maxlogins 4 > means that each user from group "students" can open 4 separate sessions? Yes, exactly. > I don't think that the description is man page is very clear. It would be > great if you could improve it somehow, even with examples above (if they are > correct :-).
My proposal: maxsyslogins - maximum number of all logins on the system; user is not allowed to log-in if total number of all logins is greater than specified number (root account does not count)
Since the problem described in this bug report should be resolved in a recent advisory, it has been closed with a resolution of ERRATA. For information on the advisory, and where to find the updated files, follow the link below. If the solution does not work for you, open a new bug report. http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2014-1579.html