Quotas
Understand subscription quotas and how they're shared between projects, check your usage, allocate quota to a project, and request a higher limit.
Quotas cap how much of each resource you can use. They're set for each subscription and shared between the subscription's projects: each project can use only the share that's allocated to it.
How quotas work
- The subscription's quota. Each quota has a value for the whole subscription. You can request a higher value; a platform operator reviews the request.
- The project's allocation. The subscription's quota is divided between its projects. A project can use only its own allocation, even when other projects leave room. Together, the allocations of a subscription's projects never exceed the subscription's quota.
- New projects. A new project receives the starter allocation of each quota that's listed in Quotas by category, as far as the subscription's quota has room left.
- Moving and deleting projects. A project that moves to another subscription releases its allocation and receives a new one from the target subscription. Deleting a project frees its allocation.
- Enforcement. The cloud enforces each project's allocation, so a create that would exceed it fails. When you create instances, networks, security groups, Floating IPs, or volumes, the platform also checks the subscription's quota first, and refuses the request if it would be exceeded.
An owner of the subscription moves allocation between projects. When an operator raises the subscription's quota, the extra room stays unallocated until an owner allocates it to a project.
Quotas by category
These are the quotas that the products in this documentation use. The quota ID appears in the platform's quota-exceeded message. The starter allocation is what a new project receives.
| Category | Quota | Quota ID | Unit | Starter allocation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compute | Instances | q-instances | Instances | 10 |
| Compute | vCPUs | q-vcpus | Cores | 8 |
| Compute | RAM | q-ram | MB | 16,384 |
| Compute | Key Pairs | q-key-pairs | Key pairs | 20 |
| Networking | Networks | q-networks | Networks | 5 |
| Networking | Subnets | q-subnets | Subnets | 10 |
| Networking | Ports | q-ports | Ports | 50 |
| Networking | Routers | q-routers | Routers | 2 |
| Networking | Floating IPs | q-floating-ips | Addresses | 2 |
| Networking | Security Groups | q-security-groups | Groups | 10 |
| Networking | Security Group Rules | q-security-group-rules | Rules | 100 |
| Block Storage | Volumes | q-volumes | Volumes | 10 |
| Block Storage | Volume Storage | q-gigabytes | GB | 200 |
| Block Storage | Volume Snapshots | q-snapshots | Snapshots | 10 |
| Block Storage | Volume Backups | q-backups | Backups | 10 |
| Block Storage | Backup Storage | q-backup-gigabytes | GB | 200 |
| Load Balancing | Load Balancers | q-load-balancers | Load balancers | 1 |
| Load Balancing | LB Listeners | q-lb-listeners | Listeners | 5 |
| Load Balancing | LB Pools | q-lb-pools | Pools | 5 |
| Load Balancing | LB Members | q-lb-members | Members | 20 |
| Load Balancing | LB Health Monitors | q-lb-health-monitors | Monitors | 5 |
| Object Storage | Object Storage | q-object-storage-gb | GB | 100 |
For what one resource consumes, see the limits page of each product, for example Virtual Machines limits.
Check your quotas
In the console, go to BillingQuota. Under Resource quotas, each quota shows its Usage, its Limit for the subscription, and the Utilization. You can filter the list by category, or search for a resource.
Note
The Usage column counts usage across the subscription for these quotas: Instances, vCPUs, RAM, Networks, Routers, Floating IPs, Security Groups, Volumes, Volume Storage, Volume Snapshots, and Load Balancers. For the other quotas, check what you use on the pages of the product.
The project dashboard also has a Quota usage panel. It lists up to five quotas that have used 70% of their limit or more.
Allocate quota to a project
The Project allocation section of the quota page shows, for each quota, the Subscription limit, the Total allocated, the share of This project, and what's Unallocated.
To change a project's allocation, you need the Owner role granted on the subscription.
In the top bar, switch to the project whose allocation you want to change.
Go to BillingQuota.
Under Project allocation, select Allocate on the quota's row.
Enter the project's new allocation, and select Save allocation.
The new allocation can be at most the project's current share plus the unallocated amount. To give one project more, lower another project's allocation first, or request an increase of the subscription's quota.
Request a quota increase
You need the Owner or Billing Operator role, or a custom role with Manage access to Billing & Cost, on the subscription or on the project.
In the console, go to BillingQuota.
On the quota's row, select Request increase.
Enter the new limit, a whole number higher than the current limit. Optionally, enter a business justification for the reviewer.
Select Submit request.
An operator reviews the request. Follow it under Request history, which lists the requests filed in your organization:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Pending | The request is waiting for review. |
| Approved | The limit was raised to the value you asked for. |
| Partially approved | The limit was raised, but less than you asked for. The granted limit is shown next to the request. |
| Rejected | The limit wasn't changed. |
The decision is also sent to the requester by email. An approval raises the subscription's quota. To let a project use the extra room, allocate it to the project. See Allocate quota to a project.