Skip to main content

Resource Quotas: Section Capacity Limits

Resource Quotas are like section capacity limits. Maximum rooms per section. Maximum resources per section. That's Resource Quotas.

🎯 The Big Picture​

Think of Resource Quotas like section capacity limits. Production section can have maximum 50 rooms (pods). Maximum 100 CPU. Maximum 200Gi memory. That's Resource Quotas.

Resource Quotas limit resources per namespace. CPU. Memory. Pods. Storage. Essential for resource management.

The Section Capacity Analogy​

Think of Resource Quotas like section capacity limits:

Quota: Section capacity

  • Maximum rooms (pods)
  • Maximum resources
  • Section limits

CPU quota: Processing capacity

  • Maximum CPU
  • Per section
  • Limit

Memory quota: Storage capacity

  • Maximum memory
  • Per section
  • Limit

Once you see it this way, Resource Quotas make perfect sense.

What is a Resource Quota?​

ResourceQuota definition:

  • Limits resources per namespace
  • CPU, memory, pods
  • Storage, objects
  • Hard limits

Think of it as: Section capacity. Limits. Hard limits.

Why Resource Quotas?​

Problems without quotas:

  • Resource exhaustion
  • One namespace uses all
  • No limits
  • Cluster issues

Solutions with quotas:

  • Resource limits
  • Fair distribution
  • Prevent exhaustion
  • Cluster stability

Real example: I once had no quotas. Dev namespace used all resources. Production affected. With quotas, limits. Fair. Never going back.

Resource Quotas aren't optional. They're essential.

Creating Resource Quota​

Basic quota:

apiVersion: v1
kind: ResourceQuota
metadata:
  name: production-quota
  namespace: production
spec:
  hard:
    requests.cpu: "10"
    requests.memory: 20Gi
    limits.cpu: "20"
    limits.memory: 40Gi
    pods: "50"
    persistentvolumeclaims: "10"
    services: "10"

What this does:

  • Limits CPU requests to 10
  • Limits memory requests to 20Gi
  • Limits pods to 50
  • Hard limits

Think of it as: Section capacity. Maximum resources. Hard limits.

Complete Production Quota​

Production-ready quota:

apiVersion: v1
kind: ResourceQuota
metadata:
  name: production-quota
  namespace: production
spec:
  hard:
    # Compute resources
    requests.cpu: "20"
    requests.memory: 40Gi
    limits.cpu: "40"
    limits.memory: 80Gi
    
    # Object counts
    pods: "100"
    services: "20"
    persistentvolumeclaims: "20"
    secrets: "50"
    configmaps: "50"
    
    # Storage
    requests.storage: 500Gi
    persistentvolumeclaims: "20"

What this provides:

  • Complete resource limits
  • Object count limits
  • Storage limits
  • Production-ready

That's a complete quota. Production-ready.

Real-World Example: Complete Quota Setup​

Step 1: Create namespace:

kubectl create namespace production

Step 2: Create quota:

apiVersion: v1
kind: ResourceQuota
metadata:
  name: prod-quota
  namespace: production
spec:
  hard:
    requests.cpu: "10"
    requests.memory: 20Gi
    limits.cpu: "20"
    limits.memory: 40Gi
    pods: "50"

Step 3: Verify:

kubectl get resourcequota -n production
kubectl describe resourcequota prod-quota -n production

Step 4: Test:

# Try to create pod exceeding quota
kubectl run test --image=nginx -n production --requests=cpu=100
# Error: exceeded quota

That's complete quota setup. Working. Enforced.

My Take: Quota Strategy​

Here's what I do:

Production:

  • Higher quotas
  • More resources
  • Essential services

Development:

  • Lower quotas
  • Limited resources
  • Cost-effective

Testing:

  • Minimal quotas
  • Basic resources
  • Cost-effective

The key: Set appropriate quotas. Production higher. Dev lower. Monitor usage.

Memory Tip: The Section Capacity Analogy​

Resource Quotas = Section capacity limits

Quota: Section capacity CPU quota: Processing limit Memory quota: Storage limit

Once you see it this way, quotas make perfect sense.

Common Mistakes​

  1. No quotas: Resource exhaustion
  2. Too restrictive: Can't deploy
  3. Not monitoring: Don't know usage
  4. Wrong limits: Over or under
  5. Not adjusting: Stale quotas

Key Takeaways​

  1. Resource Quotas limit resources - Per namespace
  2. Hard limits - Can't exceed
  3. Set appropriately - Production higher, dev lower
  4. Monitor usage - Know consumption
  5. Essential for multi-tenant - Fair distribution

What's Next?​

Now that you understand Resource Quotas, you've completed the Namespaces module. Next: Understanding RBAC.

Remember: Resource Quotas are like section capacity limits. Maximum resources per section. Hard limits. Set appropriately. Monitor usage. Essential for resource management.