Understand Alibaba Cloud service quotas and limits
Service quotas and limits are rules that Alibaba Cloud sets to ensure fair resource allocation, system stability, and service quality. A quota is usually the maximum number of resources you can create in a specific region, Alibaba Cloud account, or service instance. Examples include the number of ECS instances, storage capacity, and API call frequency. A limit covers broader constraints, such as technical boundaries (for example, product capability ceilings), security policies (such as access control), and Terms of Service clauses. Together, quotas and limits form the core of cloud resource management.
Priority
High
Not recommended
Deploy workloads without first checking service quotas and resource constraints. Do not assume that Alibaba Cloud services have no limits or that quotas increase automatically.
Assume that default quotas for a service apply to all regions. For example, when deploying Cloud Enterprise Network (CEN), do not assume that inter-region connection traffic peaks are uniform across all regions. Uneven traffic may cause packet loss in some regions and hurt business stability.
A workload deployment fails if it exceeds the default quota. For example, ignoring the limit on the number of security group rules during design may prevent you from configuring all required rules, thereby compromising your overall business security protection.
Ignore API rate limits and harm your business. For example, when calling Alibaba Cloud APIs, do not ignore API rate limits. Exceeding those limits disrupts your business.
Fail to monitor quota usage or set up alerting.
Implementation guide
1. Service quotas
Review the quota documentation for each Alibaba Cloud service to identify its quotas and limits.
Use the Quota Center to check quotas for each cloud service or adjust them online as needed.
Monitor quota usage. Use Cloud Monitor to set alerts.
Define a quota request process with clear approval and execution steps.
For non-adjustable quotas, design architecture optimizations such as sharding or multi-region deployment.
Assess quota needs before deploying new services or scaling existing ones.
2. Resource constraints
Build a monitoring system for resource usage metrics.
Set alert thresholds for resource utilization.
Trigger a resource type change process when usage nears a limit.
Use Resource Orchestration Service to automate resource replacement.
Validate resource types against performance needs during load testing.