Debian – apache2ctl: 87: ulimit: error setting limit (Operation not permitted)

The apache wiki at wiki.apache.org has the answer for me. My main concern was not clobbering files in my current version of apache2 when creating a new apache2, and I had not seen a configuration option before to control where apache2ctl is copied to. However, it's there, and this page leads me to believe that all apache2 files are accounted for and that config.layout allows one to direct where all of them go. http://wiki.apache.org/httpd/DistrosDefaultLayout#Apache_httpd_2.2_default_layout_.28apache.org_source_package.29:

Try edit Apache mpm configuration.

$apache2 -V | grep MPM Server MPM: Prefork

<IfModule mpm_prefork_module>
    StartServers          1
    MinSpareServers       1
    MaxSpareServers       5
    MaxClients            30
    ServerLimit           30
    MaxRequestsPerChild   5000
</IfModule>

$apache2 -V | grep MPM Server MPM: Worker

<IfModule mpm_worker_module>
    StartServers           2
    MaxClients            30
    MinSpareThreads       15
    MaxSpareThreads       20
    ThreadsPerChild       10
    MaxRequestsPerChild  5000
</IfModule>