Additional Resources; Installed Documentation; Useful Websites - Red Hat ENTERPRISE LINUX 5 - DEPLOYMENT Deployment Manual

Chapter 3. The proc File System
net.ipv4.route.min_delay, with the directory slashes replaced by dots and the proc.sys
portion assumed.
The sysctl command can be used in place of echo to assign values to writable files in the /proc/
sys/ directory. For example, instead of using the command
echo 1 > /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq
use the equivalent sysctl command as follows:
sysctl -w kernel.sysrq="1"
kernel.sysrq = 1
While quickly setting single values like this in /proc/sys/ is helpful during testing, this method does
not work as well on a production system as special settings within /proc/sys/ are lost when the
machine is rebooted. To preserve custom settings, add them to the /etc/sysctl.conf file.
Each time the system boots, the init program runs the /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit script. This script
contains a command to execute sysctl using /etc/sysctl.conf to determine the values passed
to the kernel. Any values added to /etc/sysctl.conf therefore take effect each time the system
boots.

3.5. Additional Resources

Below are additional sources of information about proc file system.

3.5.1. Installed Documentation

Some of the best documentation about the proc file system is installed on the system by default.
• /usr/share/doc/kernel-doc-<version>/Documentation/filesystems/proc.txt —
Contains assorted, but limited, information about all aspects of the /proc/ directory.
• /usr/share/doc/kernel-doc-<version>/Documentation/sysrq.txt — An overview of
System Request Key options.
• /usr/share/doc/kernel-doc-<version>/Documentation/sysctl/ — A directory
containing a variety of sysctl tips, including modifying values that concern the kernel
(kernel.txt), accessing file systems (fs.txt), and virtual memory use (vm.txt).
• /usr/share/doc/kernel-doc-<version>/Documentation/networking/ip-
sysctl.txt — A detailed overview of IP networking options.

3.5.2. Useful Websites

http://www.linuxhq.com/
•
documentation for various versions of the Linux kernel.
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— This website maintains a complete database of source, patches, and