Quota Management (CloudStack)
CloudStack has its own quota management system at domain, account, and project levels. CMP also has a separate quota engine — and the two systems do not share state.
| System | Scope | Managed in |
|---|---|---|
| CMP quotas | Per customer account, project, and global defaults | Global Resource Quotas, Account-Level Quotas |
| CloudStack quotas | Per domain, account, and project in CloudStack | CloudStack Global Settings (max.* keys) |
CMP supports multiple orchestrators (CloudStack, OpenStack, VMware, and others). Because of this, CMP does not use CloudStack's quota management APIs as its quota engine. CMP enforces limits in the CMP portal; CloudStack enforces its own limits independently at the orchestrator layer.
Why CloudStack quotas still matter
CloudStack's quota system cannot be disabled. It is always active. When a customer exceeds a CloudStack limit, provisioning fails with a CloudStack quota error returned directly to CMP — even if the customer still has available quota in CMP.
The mismatch problem
This is the most common source of customer confusion:
CMP quota: Primary Storage = 1024 GB ✅ (customer sees quota available)
CloudStack: max.account.primary.storage = 200 GB ❌ (actual enforcement limit)
Customer creates a 200 GB VM → CloudStack rejects → quota error in CMP portal
Customer expectation: "I have 1024 GB quota — why did this fail?"
The customer sees CMP quota as sufficient, but CloudStack blocked the operation first. This is difficult to explain without aligning both systems.
Set CloudStack quota global settings to higher values than your CMP quotas, or to -1 (unlimited) where supported. CloudStack limits should never be lower than the CMP limits you assign to customers.
Rule of thumb: CloudStack limit ≥ CMP limit for every resource type you sell.
Default CloudStack quota behaviour
On most CloudStack installations:
| Level | Typical default |
|---|---|
| Domain | Unlimited (-1) for most resource types |
| Project | Limited — for example, 20 VMs, 200 GB primary storage |
| Account | Limited — for example, 20 VMs, 40 vCPUs, 40960 MiB memory, 200 GB primary storage |
Account-level defaults are often too low for a production CMP deployment. Domain and project limits can also block provisioning if left at factory defaults.
Configuring CloudStack quotas
Step 1 — Open Global Settings
- Log in to the CloudStack UI as root admin
- Navigate to Configuration → Global Settings
- Search for
max - Set pagination to 200 rows to see all quota-related settings
Step 2 — Update account, domain, and project limits
For each max.account.*, max.domain.*, and max.project.* setting relevant to your CMP services, set the value to -1 (unlimited) or a number greater than your highest CMP quota for that resource.
In CloudStack Global Settings, -1 means unlimited for most max.* quota keys.
Step 3 — Verify after CMP quota changes
When you approve a quota increase request in CMP, also verify the customer's CloudStack account and project limits still exceed the new CMP values. CMP does not update CloudStack quotas automatically.
Account-level quota settings
These factory defaults apply to every account in CloudStack unless overridden. They are too low for CMP — change them.
-1For CMP, set each max.account.* setting below to -1 (unlimited) in CloudStack Global Settings.
The Default column is CloudStack’s factory value only — do not leave those defaults for a production CMP deployment. Leaving 20 VMs / 40 CPUs / 200 GiB storage (and similar) causes provisioning failures even when CMP quota still has capacity.
| Global setting | Description | Default (factory) | Set to (for CMP) |
|---|---|---|---|
max.account.user.vms | Maximum user VMs per account | 20 | -1 |
max.account.cpus | Maximum vCPU cores per account | 40 | -1 |
max.account.memory | Maximum memory per account (MiB) | 40960 | -1 |
max.account.primary.storage | Maximum primary storage per account (GiB) | 200 | -1 |
max.account.secondary.storage | Maximum secondary storage per account (GiB) | 400 | -1 |
max.account.volumes | Maximum volumes per account | 20 | -1 |
max.account.snapshots | Maximum snapshots per account | 20 | -1 |
max.account.templates | Maximum templates per account | 20 | -1 |
max.account.public.ips | Maximum public IPs per account | 20 | -1 |
max.account.networks | Maximum networks per account | 20 | -1 |
max.account.vpcs | Maximum VPCs per account | 20 | -1 |
max.account.projects | Maximum projects per account | 10 | -1 |
max.account.backups | Maximum backups per account | 20 | -1 |
max.account.backup.storage | Maximum backup storage per account (GiB) | — | -1 |
Domain-level quota settings
Domain limits apply across all accounts within a domain. On most setups these already default to unlimited (-1). Keep them at -1, or ensure they stay above your CMP limits.
| Global setting | Description | Default | Set to (for CMP) |
|---|---|---|---|
max.domain.user.vms | Maximum user VMs per domain | -1 | -1 |
max.domain.cpus | Maximum vCPU cores per domain | -1 | -1 |
max.domain.memory | Maximum memory per domain (MiB) | -1 | -1 |
max.domain.primary.storage | Maximum primary storage per domain (GiB) | -1 | -1 |
max.domain.secondary.storage | Maximum secondary storage per domain (GiB) | -1 | -1 |
max.domain.volumes | Maximum volumes per domain | -1 | -1 |
max.domain.snapshots | Maximum snapshots per domain | -1 | -1 |
max.domain.templates | Maximum templates per domain | -1 | -1 |
max.domain.public.ips | Maximum public IPs per domain | -1 | -1 |
max.domain.networks | Maximum networks per domain | -1 | -1 |
max.domain.vpcs | Maximum VPCs per domain | -1 | -1 |
max.domain.projects | Maximum projects per domain | 50 | -1 |
max.domain.backups | Maximum backups per domain | 40 | -1 |
max.domain.backup.storage | Maximum backup storage per domain (GiB) | 800 | -1 |
Project-level quota settings
Project limits apply within CloudStack projects. CMP maps customers to CloudStack projects — low project defaults can block provisioning even when account and CMP quotas allow it.
-1For CMP, set each max.project.* setting below to -1 (unlimited).
The Default column is CloudStack’s factory value only — do not leave those defaults. They match the same low account-style limits (for example 20 VMs, 40 CPUs, 200 GiB primary storage).
| Global setting | Description | Default (factory) | Set to (for CMP) |
|---|---|---|---|
max.project.user.vms | Maximum user VMs per project | 20 | -1 |
max.project.cpus | Maximum vCPU cores per project | 40 | -1 |
max.project.memory | Maximum memory per project (MiB) | 40960 | -1 |
max.project.primary.storage | Maximum primary storage per project (GiB) | 200 | -1 |
max.project.secondary.storage | Maximum secondary storage per project (GiB) | 400 | -1 |
max.project.volumes | Maximum volumes per project | 20 | -1 |
max.project.snapshots | Maximum snapshots per project | 20 | -1 |
max.project.templates | Maximum templates per project | 20 | -1 |
max.project.public.ips | Maximum public IPs per project | 20 | -1 |
max.project.networks | Maximum networks per project | 20 | -1 |
max.project.vpcs | Maximum VPCs per project | 20 | -1 |
max.project.backups | Maximum backups per project | 20 | -1 |
max.project.backup.storage | Maximum backup storage per project (GiB) | 400 | -1 |
Mapping CMP quotas to CloudStack settings
When configuring CMP Global Resource Quotas or Account-Level Quotas, ensure the matching CloudStack settings are at least as high:
| CMP quota resource | CloudStack account setting | CloudStack project setting | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| VM Instances | max.account.user.vms | max.project.user.vms | |
| vCPU | max.account.cpus | max.project.cpus | |
| RAM (GB) | max.account.memory | max.project.memory | CloudStack uses MiB — multiply CMP GB × 1024 |
| Primary / block storage (GB) | max.account.primary.storage | max.project.primary.storage | CloudStack uses GiB |
| Snapshots | max.account.snapshots | max.project.snapshots | |
| Public IPs | max.account.public.ips | max.project.public.ips | |
| VPCs / Networks | max.account.vpcs, max.account.networks | max.project.vpcs, max.project.networks | |
| Volumes | max.account.volumes | max.project.volumes | |
| VM Backups | max.account.backups | max.project.backups | |
| Templates | max.account.templates | max.project.templates |
Other CloudStack max.* settings
These settings are not CMP quota mappings but can affect provisioning:
| Global setting | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
max.template.iso.size | Maximum template or ISO download size (GB) | 50 |
max.data.migration.wait.time | Max wait time (minutes) for data migration before spawning new SSVM | 15 |
max.ssvm.count | Additional SSVMs for concurrent data object migration | 5 |
max.number.managed.clustered.file.systems | Max managed SRs/datastores per cluster (XenServer/VMware) | 200 |
network.loadbalancer.haproxy.max.conn | HAProxy max concurrent connections (global) | 4096 |
network.ipv6.search.retry.max | Max retries searching for available IPv6 address | 10000 |
CMP quota settings
CMP quota configuration is managed separately in the CMP admin panel:
- Global Resource Quotas — defaults for new accounts
- Account-Level Quotas — per-customer overrides
- Project-Level Quotas — within-account project limits
- Quota Requests & Approvals — customer increase workflow
See also Orchestrator-Side Quota Sync for cross-orchestrator guidance.
Validation checklist
Before going live with customer provisioning:
- CloudStack
max.account.*settings are set to-1or values ≥ your highest CMP account quotas - CloudStack
max.project.*settings are set to-1or values ≥ your highest CMP project quotas - CloudStack
max.domain.*settings are-1or sufficiently high (most default to unlimited) - CMP Global Resource Quotas are configured for your intended service catalogue
- Process defined to update CloudStack limits when quota increase requests are approved in CMP
- Test provisioning at/near quota limits — confirm errors reference the correct system when limits are hit