OpenStack · Rate Limits

Openstack Rate Limits

OpenStack does not enforce a global rate limit. Each operator configures per-tenant quotas (Nova, Cinder, Neutron) and optional API rate limits via the api-paste.ini middleware (e.g. RateLimit filter). Public-cloud OpenStack providers publish their own per-account API rate limits in their respective documentation.

2 Limits Throttle: 429
Cloud PlatformInfrastructure as a ServiceOpen SourceRate Limiting

Limits

Per-tenant quotas (Nova / Neutron / Cinder) tenant
varies
see operator-configured quotas
Quotas bound resource counts (instances, volumes, networks), not request frequency.
API rate limits (operator-configured) tenant
varies
see api-paste.ini RateLimit middleware
Optional middleware; defaults vary by deployment.

Policies

Operator-controlled
All rate limiting and quota enforcement is set by the cloud operator. Public OpenStack cloud providers (OVH, Rackspace, etc.) publish their own values.
Backoff
Honor 429 / 413 (Over Limit) responses; exponential backoff with jitter is the recommended client behavior.
Quota vs rate
OpenStack quotas (instance count, vCPU count) are admission controls; rate limits are a separate middleware concern.

Sources