Configuring the sysctl.conf file

There are some significant differences between the default configurations of Ubuntu and CentOS/AlmaLinux. They all use the /etc/sysctl.conf file, but on CentOS and AlmaLinux, that file doesn’t have anything except for some explanatory comments. Ubuntu and CentOS/AlmaLinux all have files with default settings in the /usr/lib/sysctl.d/ directory, but there are more for CentOS and AlmaLinux than there are for Ubuntu. On Ubuntu, you’ll find other files with default values in the /etc/sysctl.d/ directory. On CentOS and AlmaLinux, that directory only contains a symbolic link that points back to the /etc/sysctl.conf file. Also, you’ll find that some things are hardcoded into the Linux kernel and aren’t mentioned in any of the configuration files. In true Linux fashion, every distro has a different way of configuring all this, just to ensure that users remain thoroughly confused. One thing that’s consistent is that on any...