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What is the difference between:
a) using the ulimit command to set a limit on a resource?
b) editing the /etc/security/limits.conf file for the same purpose?
e.g. what is the entry that should be placed in /etc/security/limits.conf to account for ulimit -n 8192 ?
Is the limit set by ulimit -n 8192 soft or hard?
For whom is it being set?
For the user running the command?
Or it becomes the default entry as if we were using domain=* in /etc/security/limits.conf
Changes made by ulimit will apply only to the current processes. If you need to make them permanent, you must edit /etc/security/limits.conf
About your 3rd question .. it depends what you run on your server, for certain applications you might need a higher number.
ulimit -n sets soft limit, ulimit -Hn sets hard limit.
