Azure Quotas - Service Limits & Capacity Management

AUTHORITATIVE GUIDANCE — Follow these instructions exactly for quota management and capacity validation.

Overview

What are Azure Quotas?

Azure quotas (also called service limits) are the maximum number of resources you can deploy in a subscription. Quotas:

• Prevent accidental over-provisioning

• Ensure fair resource distribution across Azure

• Represent available capacity in each region

• Can be increased (adjustable quotas) or are fixed (non-adjustable)

Key Concept: Quotas = Resource Availability

If you don't have quota, you cannot deploy resources. Always check quotas when planning deployments or selecting regions.

When to Use This Skill

Invoke this skill when:

• Planning a new deployment - Validate capacity before deployment

• Selecting an Azure region - Compare quota availability across regions

• Troubleshooting quota exceeded errors - Check current usage vs limits

• Requesting quota increases - Submit increase requests via CLI or Portal

• Comparing regional capacity - Find regions with available quota

• Validating provisioning limits - Ensure deployment won't exceed quotas

Quick Reference

Property Details

Primary Tool Azure CLI (az quota ) - USE THIS FIRST, ALWAYS

Extension Required az extension add --name quota (MUST install first)

Key Commands az quota list , az quota show , az quota usage list , az quota usage show

Complete CLI Reference commands.md

Azure Portal My quotas - Use only as fallback

REST API Microsoft.Quota provider - Unreliable, do NOT use first

Required Permission Reader (view) or Quota Request Operator (manage)

⚠️ CRITICAL: ALWAYS USE CLI FIRST

Azure CLI (az quota ) is the ONLY reliable method for checking quotas. Use CLI FIRST, always.

DO NOT use REST API or Portal as your first approach. They are unreliable and misleading.

Why you must use CLI first:

• REST API is unreliable and shows misleading results

• REST API "No Limit" or "Unlimited" values DO NOT mean unlimited capacity

• "No Limit" typically means the resource doesn't support quota API (not unlimited!)

• CLI provides clear BadRequest errors when providers aren't supported

• CLI has consistent output format and better error messages

• Portal may show incomplete or cached data

Mandatory workflow:

• FIRST: Try az quota list / az quota show / az quota usage show

• If CLI returns BadRequest : Then use Azure service limits docs

• Never start with REST API or Portal - only use as last resort

If you see "No Limit" in REST API/Portal: This is NOT unlimited capacity. It means:

• The quota API doesn't support that resource type, OR

• The quota isn't enforced via the API, OR

• Service-specific limits still apply (check documentation)

For complete CLI command reference and examples, see commands.md.

Quota Types

Type Adjustability Approval Examples

Adjustable Can increase via Portal/CLI/API Usually auto-approved VM vCPUs, Public IPs, Storage accounts

Non-adjustable Fixed limits Cannot be changed Subscription-wide hard limits

Important: Requesting quota increases is free. You only pay for resources you actually use, not for quota allocation.

Understanding Resource Name Mapping

⚠️ CRITICAL: There is NO 1:1 mapping between ARM resource types and quota resource names.

Example Mappings

ARM Resource Type Quota Resource Name

Microsoft.App/managedEnvironments

ManagedEnvironmentCount

Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines

standardDSv3Family , cores , virtualMachines

Microsoft.Network/publicIPAddresses

PublicIPAddresses , IPv4StandardSkuPublicIpAddresses

Discovery Workflow

Never assume the quota resource name from the ARM type. Always use this workflow:

List all quotas for the resource provider:

az quota list --scope /subscriptions/<id>/providers/<ProviderNamespace>/locations/<region>

Match by localizedValue (human-readable description) to find the relevant quota

Use the name field (not ARM resource type) in subsequent commands:

az quota show --resource-name ManagedEnvironmentCount --scope ... az quota usage show --resource-name ManagedEnvironmentCount --scope ...

📖 Detailed mapping examples and workflow: See commands.md - Understanding Resource Name Mapping

Core Workflows

Workflow 1: Check Quota for a Specific Resource

Scenario: Verify quota limit and current usage before deployment

1. Install quota extension (if not already installed)

az extension add --name quota

2. List all quotas for the provider to find the quota resource name

az quota list
--scope /subscriptions/<subscription-id>/providers/Microsoft.Compute/locations/eastus

3. Show quota limit for a specific resource

az quota show
--resource-name standardDSv3Family
--scope /subscriptions/<subscription-id>/providers/Microsoft.Compute/locations/eastus

4. Show current usage

az quota usage show
--resource-name standardDSv3Family
--scope /subscriptions/<subscription-id>/providers/Microsoft.Compute/locations/eastus

Example Output Analysis:

• Quota limit: 350 vCPUs

• Current usage: 50 vCPUs

• Available capacity: 300 vCPUs (350 - 50)

📖 See also: az quota show, az quota usage show

Workflow 2: Compare Quotas Across Regions

Scenario: Find the best region for deployment based on available capacity

Define candidate regions

REGIONS=("eastus" "eastus2" "westus2" "centralus") VM_FAMILY="standardDSv3Family" SUBSCRIPTION_ID="<subscription-id>"

Check quota availability across regions

for region in "${REGIONS[@]}"; do echo "=== Checking $region ==="

Get limit

LIMIT=$(az quota show
--resource-name $VM_FAMILY
--scope "/subscriptions/$SUBSCRIPTION_ID/providers/Microsoft.Compute/locations/$region"
--query "properties.limit.value" -o tsv)

Get current usage

USAGE=$(az quota usage show
--resource-name $VM_FAMILY
--scope "/subscriptions/$SUBSCRIPTION_ID/providers/Microsoft.Compute/locations/$region"
--query "properties.usages.value" -o tsv)

Calculate available

AVAILABLE=$((LIMIT - USAGE))

echo "Region: $region | Limit: $LIMIT | Usage: $USAGE | Available: $AVAILABLE" done

📖 See also: Multi-region comparison scripts (Bash & PowerShell)

Workflow 3: Request Quota Increase

Scenario: Current quota is insufficient for deployment

Request increase for VM quota

az quota update
--resource-name standardDSv3Family
--scope /subscriptions/<subscription-id>/providers/Microsoft.Compute/locations/eastus
--limit-object value=500
--resource-type dedicated

Check request status

az quota request status list
--scope /subscriptions/<subscription-id>/providers/Microsoft.Compute/locations/eastus

Approval Process:

• Most adjustable quotas are auto-approved within minutes

• Some requests require manual review (hours to days)

• Non-adjustable quotas require Azure Support ticket

📖 See also: az quota update, az quota request status

Workflow 4: List All Quotas for Planning

Scenario: Understand all quotas for a resource provider in a region

List all compute quotas in East US (table format)

az quota list
--scope /subscriptions/<subscription-id>/providers/Microsoft.Compute/locations/eastus
--output table

List all network quotas

az quota list
--scope /subscriptions/<subscription-id>/providers/Microsoft.Network/locations/eastus
--output table

List all Container Apps quotas

az quota list
--scope /subscriptions/<subscription-id>/providers/Microsoft.App/locations/eastus
--output table

📖 See also: az quota list

Troubleshooting

Common Errors

Error Cause Solution

REST API "No Limit" REST API showing misleading "unlimited" values CRITICAL: "No Limit" ≠ unlimited! Use CLI instead. See warning above. Check service limits docs

REST API failures REST API unreliable and misleading Always use Azure CLI - See commands.md for complete CLI reference

ExtensionNotFound

Quota extension not installed az extension add --name quota

BadRequest

Resource provider not supported by quota API Use CLI (preferred) or service limits docs

MissingRegistration

Microsoft.Quota provider not registered az provider register --namespace Microsoft.Quota

QuotaExceeded

Deployment would exceed quota Request increase or choose different region

InvalidScope

Incorrect scope format Use pattern: /subscriptions/<id>/providers/<namespace>/locations/<region>

Unsupported Resource Providers

Known unsupported providers:

• ❌ Microsoft.DocumentDB (Cosmos DB) - Use Portal or Cosmos DB limits docs

Confirmed working providers:

• ✅ Microsoft.Compute (VMs, disks, cores)

• ✅ Microsoft.Network (VNets, IPs, load balancers)

• ✅ Microsoft.App (Container Apps)

• ✅ Microsoft.Storage (storage accounts)

• ✅ Microsoft.MachineLearningServices (ML compute)

📖 See also: Troubleshooting Guide

Additional Resources

Resource Link

CLI Commands Reference commands.md - Complete syntax, parameters, examples

Azure Quotas Overview Microsoft Learn

Service Limits Documentation Azure subscription limits

Azure Portal - My Quotas Portal Link

Request Quota Increases How to request increases

Best Practices

• ✅ Always check quotas before deployment - Prevent quota exceeded errors

• ✅ Run az quota list first - Discover correct quota resource names

• ✅ Compare regions - Find regions with available capacity

• ✅ Account for growth - Request 20% buffer above immediate needs

• ✅ Use table output for overview - --output table for quick scanning

• ✅ Document quota sources - Track whether from quota API or official docs

• ✅ Monitor usage trends - Set up alerts at 80% threshold (via Portal)

Workflow Summary

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 1. Install quota extension │ │ az extension add --name quota │ └─────────────────┬───────────────────────┘ │ ▼ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 2. Discover quota resource names │ │ az quota list --scope ... │ │ (Match by localizedValue) │ └─────────────────┬───────────────────────┘ │ ▼ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 3. Check current usage │ │ az quota usage show │ │ --resource-name <name> │ └─────────────────┬───────────────────────┘ │ ▼ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 4. Check quota limit │ │ az quota show │ │ --resource-name <name> │ └─────────────────┬───────────────────────┘ │ ▼ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 5. Validate capacity │ │ Available = Limit - (Usage + Need) │ └─────────────────┬───────────────────────┘ │ ▼ ┌────────┴────────┐ │ │ ✅ Sufficient ❌ Insufficient │ │ ▼ ▼ Proceed Request increase or change region