MacOS – More than 2500 systemwide processes on OSX 10.9

macbook promacos

Attempts to raise the maximum number of systemwide processes above 2500 fail.

$ sudo sysctl -w kern.maxproc=2500
kern.maxproc: 2500 -> 2500
$ sudo sysctl -w kern.maxproc=2501
kern.maxproc: 2500
sysctl: kern.maxproc: Invalid argument

In an archived Apple article, it's mentioned that as of OSX Server 10.6, maxproc was 2500 for each 8 GB of installed RAM.

I'm running OSX 10.9 (non-Server), with 16 GB of RAM, on a 2012 MacBook Pro.

By comparison, the ubuntu linux VM running under OSX supports over 30 000 processes without any special configuration.

Is it possible to raise this limit above 2500? I've already run up against the default limit of 1000 without a great deal of effort.

Best Answer

Unfortunately it seems like maxproc is limited to 2500 with OS X unless you install OS X Server. With Server installed you can run the serverinfo tool to set high performance mode.

Just tried this myself and it seems to work.

$ sudo serverinfo --setperfmode YES
Server performance mode was enabled.

Rebooted.

$ sudo sysctl kern.maxproc
kern.maxproc: 5000

I didn't even need to change maxproc, after rebooting it was already set to 5000.

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