diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index dd22b68142..1a371a97be 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
  * Log message when a full repair operation completes (CASSANDRA-3207)
  * Don't allow any cache loading exceptions to halt startup (CASSANDRA-3218)
  * Fix sstableloader --ignores option (CASSANDRA-3247)
+ * File descriptor limit increased in packaging (CASSANDRA-3206)
 
 
 0.8.6
diff --git a/debian/cassandra.conf b/debian/cassandra.conf
index fa66b6b2c4..987ba6e1ca 100644
--- a/debian/cassandra.conf
+++ b/debian/cassandra.conf
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 # Provided by the cassandra package
 cassandra  -  memlock  unlimited
+cassandra  -  nofile   100000
diff --git a/debian/init b/debian/init
index a3b268781d..50fb6fe434 100644
--- a/debian/init
+++ b/debian/init
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ CONFDIR=/etc/cassandra
 JSVC=/usr/bin/jsvc
 WAIT_FOR_START=10
 CASSANDRA_HOME=/usr/share/cassandra
+FD_LIMIT=100000
 
 # The first existing directory is used for JAVA_HOME if needed.
 JVM_SEARCH_DIRS="/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun"
@@ -127,6 +128,7 @@ do_start()
     is_running && return 1
 
     ulimit -l unlimited
+    ulimit -n "$FD_LIMIT"
 
     cassandra_home=`getent passwd cassandra | awk -F ':' '{ print $6; }'`
     cd /    # jsvc doesn't chdir() for us
diff --git a/redhat/cassandra.conf b/redhat/cassandra.conf
index d8e680a703..2f177c44fd 100644
--- a/redhat/cassandra.conf
+++ b/redhat/cassandra.conf
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 cassandra   -   memlock     unlimited
+cassandra   -   nofile      100000