TechTips - How to Create a Sharepoint 2007 Site Quota Template

SharePoint sites in 2007 are a great way to share documents, information, and various other data. The data on these websites can quickly grow to use a very large amount of storage space on a SQL server or a SAN. Often times you might want to limit a website's storage limits so that you keep their website in check and it won't get too big for your storage capabilities. There is a simple way to do this using the SharePoint 2007 Central Administration Webpage and, this guide will walk you through the steps to create a Quota template.

In SharePoint 2007 there is a simple to use tool called Quota Templates located within the SharePoint Central Administration webpage, when once you simply fill out all of the necessary information, you will have built a Quota template that can later be applied to a single SharePoint site or many SharePoint sites.

These quotas are very simple to build and apply and can help you to really monitor and maintain the size of each of your SharePoint 2007 websites. Often times you will want to limit the websites so they don't grow too large for your storage solution, or maybe they are only paying for a limited amount of space, whatever the case these quota templates help you to regulate how much space each site gets.

To build your first Quota Template follow these steps:

Open Central Administration Webpage

Click on Application Management Tab

Click on Quota Templates (SharePoint Site Management Section)

Now you are in the GUI (Graphical user interface) section where you will want to build your quota. You have a few sections and a few options that I will explain to you.

Edit template option - click radio button >> Select template you want to edit >> change options in Storage Limit Values >> Click OK

This will save your changes to the template you choose to modify. It will take you back to the Central Admin Application Management Tab home page. You are done modifying the template you can now apply it to whatever website you would like.

Create New quota template - click radio button >> Select new blank template >>Name your template >> change options in Storage Limit Values (Set this as you please, size is of course how much space the content DB can take up on the SQL server. The warning email will be sent to the Site collection admin of the site when the DB reaches the limit you set in this box, I usually give it 50MB difference) >> Click OK

This will create your template and will take you back to the Central Admin Application Management Tab home page. To verify that the template was successfully built you will want to click the Quota Templates Link again. Your template should be listed in the drop down for Edit existing templates.

That is the quick and easy method to creating a Quota template that will allow you to limit how big a site can get. Make sure when setting your Storage Limit Values you set the amount high enough so the site is functional, otherwise you might get some angry calls from your customers. I would also recommend telling your customers about the limits that will be put in place on their websites so they are aware of how big their site can get.

I hope this guide helps you to build or modify your quota templates for websites so you can limit how big each site can get on your SharePoint 2007 instance.