setting ulimit for a user

Linux and Unix-Like Red Hat
1

The root user runs the following

  ulimit -a | grep open

and gets a result of

  open files                      \(-n\) 8162

A user runs the same command and gets a result of

  open files                      \(-n\) 2500

How can you set the ulimit of the user to 8162?

Regards, JIm

2

Where is ulimit set for the user? /etc/profile ~/.profile?
Do you source some universal .profile - like code for every user?

3

/etc/security/limits.conf
set the limits hard and soft .
_http://linux.die.net/man/5/limits.conf>