diff --git a/deps/rabbit/scripts/rabbitmq-server b/deps/rabbit/scripts/rabbitmq-server
index 07f5c04dae..f2952f3fa7 100755
--- a/deps/rabbit/scripts/rabbitmq-server
+++ b/deps/rabbit/scripts/rabbitmq-server
@@ -39,6 +39,13 @@ start_rabbitmq_server() {
 
     _rmq_env_set_erl_libs
 
+    if [ -n "$RABBITMQ_MAX_OPEN_FILES" ]; then
+        if ! ulimit -n ${RABBITMQ_MAX_OPEN_FILES}; then
+            echo "Error: Failed to set maximum number of open files to ${RABBITMQ_MAX_OPEN_FILES}" >&2
+            exit 1
+        fi
+    fi
+
     RABBITMQ_START_RABBIT=
     [ "x" = "x$RABBITMQ_ALLOW_INPUT" ] && RABBITMQ_START_RABBIT=" -noinput"
     if test -z "$RABBITMQ_NODE_ONLY"; then