diff --git a/cluster/ubuntu/master/init_conf/etcd.conf b/cluster/ubuntu/master/init_conf/etcd.conf
index a1caaf36165..053253c1b64 100644
--- a/cluster/ubuntu/master/init_conf/etcd.conf
+++ b/cluster/ubuntu/master/init_conf/etcd.conf
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@ start on (net-device-up
 
 respawn
 
+# set max open files
+limit nofile 2048 4096
+
 pre-start script
 	# see also https://github.com/jainvipin/kubernetes-ubuntu-start
 	ETCD=/opt/bin/$UPSTART_JOB