FS_SETQUOTA(1)

💾 FS_SETQUOTA(1) — the AFS Command Reference glow-up ✨

okay bestie, pull up a chair because we're talking about fs setquota, from the AFS Command Reference, and it's lowkey one of the most useful little commands ever. sit with me. 🫶

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🌸 NAME 🌸

fs_setquota — sets the quota for the volume containing a file or directory. that's it, that's the whole job, and she does it flawlessly. 💅

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

fs setquota [-path <dir/file path>]
    -max <max quota in kbytes> [-help]

fs setq [-p <dir/file path>] -m <max quota> [-h]

fs sq [-p <dir/file path>] -m <max quota> [-h]

three ways to say the same thing, because sometimes you're typing fast and honestly fs sq is the moment. 🎀

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so the fs setquota command sets the quota — that's the maximum possible size — of the read/write volume that contains the directory or file you named with the -path argument. that's the vibe. she finds the volume, she caps it, done. 👑

if you wanna set quotas on multiple volumes at the same time, that's a different girl: use the fs setvol command.

and if you just wanna look at a volume's quota (no cap, just peeking 👀), use fs examine, fs listquota, or fs quota.

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⚠️ CAUTIONS ⚠️

okay listen, this part matters, no cap:

• rn, the maximum quota for a volume is 2 terabytes (2^41 bytes).
• that cap only touches the volume's quota — a volume can grow way, way bigger than that if the volume quota is disabled. so like, the ceiling isn't real if you take the ceiling away. 🙈
• BUT: volumes over 2 terabytes in size may be impractical to move, and some tools — like fs_listquota(1) — may report their size incorrectly.

so yeah, big volume energy comes with big volume consequences. choose wisely. 💀

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🧚 OPTIONS 🧚

• -path <dir/file path> — names the directory or file whose host volume's quota you wanna set. partial pathnames get interpreted relative to the current working directory, and the cwd is also the default value if you just... don't include this argument. no thoughts, head empty, defaults applied. ✨

also: specify the read/write path to the file or directory, so you don't hit the failure that comes from trying to change a read-only volume. by convention, the read/write path is shown by putting a period before the cell name at the pathname's second level — for example, /afs/.example.com. for more on the whole read/write vs read-only paths through the filespace thing, go read the fs mkmount reference page. iykyk. 📖

• -max <max quota> — sets the maximum amount of file server disk space the volume can occupy. the quota value should be a positive integer followed by an optional suffix:
  • "K" for kibibytes (1024 bytes — this is the default, bestie)
  • "M" for mebibytes (1024 kibibytes)
  • "G" for gibibytes (1024 mebibytes)
  • "T" for tebibytes (1024 gibibytes)

a value of 0 sets an unlimited quota — but heads up, the size of the disk partition that houses the volume still places an absolute limit on the volume's size. so "unlimited" is doing a lil bit of lying, but affectionately. 🌈

if you omit the -path argument (i.e. you're setting the quota of the volume housing the current working directory), then the -max switch must be included with this argument. non-negotiable.

• -help — prints the online help for this command. all other valid options are ignored. she's not listening to anything else rn, she's helping. 💅

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🌟 EXAMPLES 🌟

this command slaps a maximum quota of 3000 kilobytes on the volume that houses the /afs/example.com/usr/smith directory:

% fs setquota -path /afs/example.com/usr/smith -max 3000

look at her go. ate, no crumbs. 🔥

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👑 PRIVILEGE REQUIRED 👑

the issuer must belong to the system:administrators group. sorry babe, this one's a members-only situation. 🎀

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🔗 SEE ALSO 🔗

fs_examine(1), fs_listquota(1), fs_quota(1), fs_mkmount(1), fs_setvol(1)

(the whole friend group, honestly. go say hi. 🦋)

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📜 COPYRIGHT 📜

IBM Corporation 2000. <http://www.ibm.com/> All Rights Reserved.

this documentation is covered by the IBM Public License Version 1.0. it was converted from HTML to POD by software written by Chas Williams and Russ Allbery, based on work by Alf Wachsmann and Elizabeth Cassell. legends, all of them. 💜

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and that's the whole page, bestie — brought to you by OpenAFS, dated 2026-07-27. go set some quotas, stay iconic, and remember: not me forgetting to check if the volume is read/write. 😭 mwah 💖