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How to configure usage quotas

With Comet, it is possible to manage usage by setting a quota on the amount of storage space that can be used, as well as on the number of devices and instances of some Protected Items.

This guide walks you through the different quota options and the steps to configure each option.

Available quota settings

Quotas can only be configured by administrators on the Comet Server, and they are applied per user. Limitations can be applied on the following:

  • The Storage Vault and Protected Item size, or
  • The number of devices, or
  • The number of instances for some Protected Items

Storage Vault quota

Storage Vault quotas are applied to the total amount of data that all users of a Storage Vault are allowed to store in the storage location. Similar to Protected Item quota, where possible, Storage Vault quotas are checked at the time of each backup attempt.

You can set this property on a per-Storage Vault basis. For example, you could use this feature to limit the amount of data stored on an expensive network storage account, but still allow any amount of data to be stored on a local hard drive.

When a backup job is performed, the total size of the Storage Vault is measured and checked against this quota limit. As the job proceeds, the amount of uploaded data is compared against the remaining available size, and the backup job will emit an error once reaching this limit.

How to apply Storage Vault quota

A quota on the amount of space that can be stored in a Storage Vault can be configured within the individual Storage Vault, or as part of the Storage Template to be assigned to Storage Vaults requested from it.

Here is how to adjust the quota on a Storage Template and on a Storage Vault:

Do note changes made to the quota on a Storage Template does not retroactively apply to existing Storage Vaults, only to new ones. The quota on existing Storage Vaults will have to be adjusted on the individual Storage Vaults.

After a quota has been exceeded

A backup job that is abandoned for reaching its Storage Vault quota does not remove the chunks that were uploaded to the Storage Vault. Future backup jobs will almost certainly fail immediately. In this situation, you have the following options:

  • Raise the Storage Vault quota and retrying the backup. This will cause any existing chunks in the vault to be re-used, accelerating the backup quickly up to the point where it was interrupted; or

  • Using the "Apply retention rules now" feature to clear unused chunks from the Storage Vault. This will reduce the data size within the Storage Vault and allow future backups to proceed.

Neither action is taken automatically - you should choose one action to take depending on the situation.

All Protected Items quota

Protected Item quotas are applied to the total amount of data that a user is allowed to try to protect. The user will be unable to run a backup job that protects more data on disk than the quota level.

You can set a limit on the maximum size of all Protected Items in the user's account. If possible, the quota limits are checked before starting the backup. When a backup job is performed, the backup job will stop if it will exceed the quota.

How to apply Protected Item size quota

The Protected Item quota is the size-total of ALL the user-profile's Protected Items added together. This is configured in the Profile tab of the user.

Device quota

You can set a limit on the number of devices that may be registered into the user's account. If a user tries to log in to this account using a new device, the registration will fail with an error message.

How to apply device quota

The device quota is configured in the Profile tab of the user, same as with the Protected Item size quota.

Protected Item instances quota

Quotas can be applied on the following Protected Items:

  • MS 365 protected accounts
  • Hyper-V guests
  • VMware guests

These are all configured in the Profile tab of the user, along with the Protected Item size and device count:

MS 365 protected accounts quota

Office 365 Protected Accounts quotas are applied to the total number of accounts that a user is allowed to try to protect. This quota is the total number of ALL the user-profile's Office 365 Protected Accounts.

You can set a limit on the maximum number of Office 365 Protected Accounts in the user's account. If possible, the quota limits are checked before starting the backup. If the quota is exceeded, the backup will stop.

Hyper-V Guests Quota

Hyper-V Guests quotas are applied to the total number of guests that a user is allowed to try to protect. This quota is the total number of ALL the user-profile's Hyper-V guests.

You can set a limit on the maximum number of Hyper-V Guests in the user's account. If possible, the quota limits are checked before starting the backup. If the quota is exceeded, the backup will result in a Quota Exceeded error.

VMware Guests Quota

VMware Guests quotas are applied to the total number of guest that a user is allowed to try to protect. This quota is the total number of ALL the user-profile's VMware guests.

You can set a limit on the maximum number of VMware Guests in the user's account. If possible, the quota limits are checked before starting the backup. If the quota is exceeded, the backup will result in a Quota Exceeded error.