Chapter 14. Quotas and Limit Ranges

You can view usage statistics related to any hard limits defined in a project’s quota by navigating in the web console to the project’s Quota page.

You can also use the CLI to view quota details:

Full quota definitions can be viewed by running oc get --export on the object. The following show some sample quota definitions:

apiVersion: v1
kind: ResourceQuota
metadata:
  name: core-object-counts
spec:
  hard:
    configmaps: "10" 1
    persistentvolumeclaims: "4" 2
    replicationcontrollers: "20" 3
    secrets: "10" 4
    services: "10" 5

apiVersion: v1
kind: ResourceQuota
metadata:
  name: openshift-object-counts
spec:
  hard:
    openshift.io/imagestreams: "10" 1

apiVersion: v1
kind: ResourceQuota
metadata:
  name: compute-resources
spec:
  hard:
    pods: "4" 1
    requests.cpu: "1" 2
    requests.memory: 1Gi 3
    requests.ephemeral-storage: 2Gi 4
    limits.cpu: "2" 5
    limits.memory: 2Gi 6
    limits.ephemeral-storage: 4Gi 7

apiVersion: v1
kind: ResourceQuota
metadata:
  name: besteffort
spec:
  hard:
    pods: "1" 1
  scopes:
  - BestEffort 2

apiVersion: v1
kind: ResourceQuota
metadata:
  name: compute-resources-long-running
spec:
  hard:
    pods: "4" 1
    limits.cpu: "4" 2
    limits.memory: "2Gi" 3
    limits.ephemeral-storage: "4Gi" 4
  scopes:
  - NotTerminating 5

apiVersion: v1
kind: ResourceQuota
metadata:
  name: compute-resources-time-bound
spec:
  hard:
    pods: "2" 1
    limits.cpu: "1" 2
    limits.memory: "1Gi" 3
    limits.ephemeral-storage: "1Gi" 4
  scopes:
  - Terminating 5

apiVersion: v1
kind: ResourceQuota
metadata:
  name: storage-consumption
spec:
  hard:
    persistentvolumeclaims: "10" 1
    requests.storage: "50Gi" 2
    gold.storageclass.storage.k8s.io/requests.storage: "10Gi" 3
    silver.storageclass.storage.k8s.io/requests.storage: "20Gi" 4
    silver.storageclass.storage.k8s.io/persistentvolumeclaims: "5" 5
    bronze.storageclass.storage.k8s.io/requests.storage: "0" 6
    bronze.storageclass.storage.k8s.io/persistentvolumeclaims: "0" 7

The following describes the set of compute resources and object types that may be managed by a quota.

Each quota can have an associated set of scopes. A quota will only measure usage for a resource if it matches the intersection of enumerated scopes.

Adding a scope to a quota restricts the set of resources to which that quota can apply. Specifying a resource outside of the allowed set results in a validation error.

A BestEffort scope restricts a quota to limiting the following resources:

A Terminating, NotTerminating, and NotBestEffort scope restricts a quota to tracking the following resources:

After a resource quota for a project is first created, the project restricts the ability to create any new resources that may violate a quota constraint until it has calculated updated usage statistics.

After a quota is created and usage statistics are updated, the project accepts the creation of new content. When you create or modify resources, your quota usage is incremented immediately upon the request to create or modify the resource.

When you delete a resource, your quota use is decremented during the next full recalculation of quota statistics for the project. If project modifications exceed a quota usage limit, the server denies the action. An appropriate error message is returned explaining the quota constraint violated, and what your currently observed usage stats are in the system.

When allocating compute resources, each container may specify a request and a limit value each for CPU, memory, and ephemeral storage. Quotas can restrict any of these values.

If the quota has a value specified for requests.cpu or requests.memory, then it requires that every incoming container make an explicit request for those resources. If the quota has a value specified for limits.cpu or limits.memory, then it requires that every incoming container specify an explicit limit for those resources.

See Compute Resources for more on setting requests and limits in pods and containers.

You can view any limit ranges that are defined in a project by navigating in the web console to the Quota page for the project.

You can also use the CLI to view limit range details by performing the following steps:

Full limit range definitions can be viewed by running oc get --export on the object. The following shows an example limit range definition:

apiVersion: "v1"
kind: "LimitRange"
metadata:
  name: "core-resource-limits" 1
spec:
  limits:
    - type: "Pod"
      max:
        cpu: "2" 2
        memory: "1Gi" 3
      min:
        cpu: "200m" 4
        memory: "6Mi" 5
    - type: "Container"
      max:
        cpu: "2" 6
        memory: "1Gi" 7
      min:
        cpu: "100m" 8
        memory: "4Mi" 9
      default:
        cpu: "300m" 10
        memory: "200Mi" 11
      defaultRequest:
        cpu: "200m" 12
        memory: "100Mi" 13
      maxLimitRequestRatio:
        cpu: "10" 14

For more information on how CPU and memory are measured, see Compute Resources.

Supported Resources:

Supported Constraints:

Per container, the following must hold true if specified:

Supported Defaults:

Supported Resources:

Supported Constraints:

Across all containers in a pod, the following must hold true:

Each container in a pod can specify the amount of CPU it requests on a node. The scheduler uses CPU requests to find a node with an appropriate fit for a container.

The CPU request represents a minimum amount of CPU that your container may consume, but if there is no contention for CPU, it can use all available CPU on the node. If there is CPU contention on the node, CPU requests provide a relative weight across all containers on the system for how much CPU time the container may use.

On the node, CPU requests map to Kernel CFS shares to enforce this behavior.

To view compute resources for a pod:

$ oc describe pod ruby-hello-world-tfjxt
Name:       ruby-hello-world-tfjxt
Namespace:      default
Image(s):     ruby-hello-world
Node:       /
Labels:       run=ruby-hello-world
Status:       Pending
Reason:
Message:
IP:
Replication Controllers:  ruby-hello-world (1/1 replicas created)
Containers:
  ruby-hello-world:
    Container ID:
    Image ID:
    Image:    ruby-hello-world
    QoS Tier:
      cpu:  Burstable
      memory: Burstable
    Limits:
      cpu:  200m
      memory: 400Mi
      ephemeral-storage: 1Gi
    Requests:
      cpu:    100m
      memory:   200Mi
      ephemeral-storage: 2Gi
    State:    Waiting
    Ready:    False
    Restart Count:  0
    Environment Variables:

Each container in a pod can specify the amount of CPU it is limited to use on a node. CPU limits control the maximum amount of CPU that your container may use independent of contention on the node. If a container attempts to exceed the specified limit, the system will throttle the container. This allows the container to have a consistent level of service independent of the number of pods scheduled to the node.

By default, a container is able to consume as much memory on the node as possible. In order to improve placement of pods in the cluster, specify the amount of memory required for a container to run. The scheduler will then take available node memory capacity into account prior to binding your pod to a node. A container is still able to consume as much memory on the node as possible even when specifying a request.

By default, a container is able to consume as much local ephemeral storage on the node as is available. In order to improve placement of pods in the cluster, specify the amount of required local ephemeral storage for a container to run. The scheduler will then take available node local storage capacity into account prior to binding your pod to a node. A container is still able to consume as much local ephemeral storage on the node as possible even when specifying a request.

If you specify a memory limit, you can constrain the amount of memory the container can use. For example, if you specify a limit of 200Mi, a container will be limited to using that amount of memory on the node. If the container exceeds the specified memory limit, it will be terminated and potentially restarted dependent upon the container restart policy.

If you specify an ephemeral storage limit, you can constrain the amount of ephemeral storage the container can use. For example, if you specify a limit of 2Gi, a container will be limited to using that amount of ephemeral storage on the node. If the container exceeds the specified memory limit, it will be terminated and potentially restarted dependent upon the container restart policy.

When created, a compute resource is classified with a quality of service (QoS). There are three tiers, and each is based on the request and limit value specified for each resource:

If a container has requests and limits set that would result in a different quality of service for each compute resource, it will be classified as Burstable.

The quality of service has different impacts on different resources, depending on whether the resource is compressible or not. CPU is a compressible resource, whereas memory is an incompressible resource.

To specify compute resources via the CLI:

$ oc run ruby-hello-world --image=ruby-hello-world --limits=cpu=200m,memory=400Mi --requests=cpu=100m,memory=200Mi

Ephemeral storage applies only if your administrator enabled the ephemeral storage technology preview.