Cloud Compute limits
The limits on instance sizes, snapshots, backups, names and API calls, in one place.
This page lists every fixed limit on a Cloud Compute instance. The plan sets the rest, and the page that covers each feature explains how to work within it.
The size you order sets each instance's vCPU, memory, disk and monthly traffic allowance. The Billing tab shows the plan, and the order page shows what each size includes.
| What | Limit |
|---|---|
| Changing size | Not possible on an existing instance. Move to a new instance of the size you want. |
| Changing plan | Only to another billing period of the same size. |
| Traffic allowance | Counted per calendar month, in both directions. One TB is 1024⁴ bytes. |
Change an instance's plan or cancel it covers plan changes and moving to another size, and How instance traffic is counted covers the allowance.
Snapshots and backups
Section titled Snapshots and backups| What | Limit |
|---|---|
| Snapshots per instance | 8. A snapshot that failed does not count. |
| Snapshot name | Starts with a letter, then letters, digits, hyphens and underscores. Keep it to 37 characters: the form and the API accept 40, but a longer name fails when we take the snapshot. |
| Snapshot description | 255 characters in the dashboard. |
| Backups per instance | 16. |
| Backup note | 255 characters. |
| Backup jobs at once | One per instance: a backup, a restore or a deletion. |
| New backups once the traffic allowance is used up | Blocked until the next month. Restores and deletions still work. |
Take and roll back instance snapshots and Back up and restore an instance explain each one.
Names
Section titled Names| What | Limit |
|---|---|
| Hostname when you order | Letters, digits, hyphens and dots, up to 100 characters. Each part between dots is at most 63 characters. |
| Hostname on the Access and Settings tabs | One label of letters, digits and hyphens, up to 63 characters, with no hyphen at the start or end. |
| Name on the Network tab | A full name in a zone you hold, from 3 to 253 characters. |
| Reverse DNS name | A full name, up to 253 characters. |
Console
Section titled Console| What | Limit |
|---|---|
| Time to connect | 120 seconds from the start of a session. The dashboard asks for a new session each time it connects. |
| Consoles open at once | Limited per account. A console over the limit does not connect, and its socket closes with code 4029. Close a console you no longer use and try again. |
Rate limits
Section titled Rate limitsWe count these actions per account and per instance. Each limit covers a rolling window.
| Action | Most per window | Window |
|---|---|---|
| Power actions: start, stop, shut down and restart | 24 | 60 seconds |
| New backups | 8 | 5 minutes |
| Backup restores | 8 | 5 minutes |
| Rebuilds | 8 | 10 minutes |
A request over the limit fails, and the dashboard shows Too many requests for this action. Please wait and try again. Through the API, the request answers 429:
{
"detail": {
"error": "rate_limited",
"message": "Too many requests for this action. Please wait and try again.",
"action": "vps.power",
"retry_after_seconds": 60
}
}
action is vps.power, vps.backup, vps.backup_restore or vps.rebuild. retry_after_seconds and the Retry-After header give the length of the window. A request refused this way does not count towards the limit.
Every API request also counts towards the limits for your account as a whole, which Rate limits describes.
Queries
Section titled Queries| What | Limit |
|---|---|
| Graph time frame | hour, day, week, month or year. |
| Host tasks per request | 50 by default, 100 at most. |