How to Resolve ORA-01536 QUOTA EXCEEDED in Oracle

How do I fix ORA-01536: quota exceeded for tablespace?

ORA-01536 appears when a user’s allocated tablespace quota is fully consumed and no additional space can be used for inserts or updates.

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Description

Example H2

Example H3

Why does ORA-01536 “quota exceeded” occur?

The error fires when a session tries to write to a tablespace after hitting its assigned quota. Oracle blocks the write to protect tablespace capacity.

How do I confirm the current quota?

SELECT tablespace_name, bytes/1024/1024 AS mb_used, max_bytes/1024/1024 AS mb_quota FROM dba_ts_quotas WHERE username = 'APP_USER';

This view shows how much space APP_USER has used and the maximum allowed.

How do I increase a user’s quota?

DBAs can extend the quota or make it unlimited.Use ALTER USER with the QUOTA clause.

Grant a larger fixed quota

ALTER USER app_user QUOTA 5G ON userspace;

The user can now consume up to 5 GB in the USERSAPCE tablespace.

Grant unlimited quota

ALTER USER app_user QUOTA UNLIMITED ON userspace;

Choose this only when the tablespace has room and you trust the user.

How can I proactively avoid the error?

Monitor dba_ts_quotas, set alerts on 80 % utilization, and schedule regular purges or partition maintenance.

Best practice recap

Size quotas to match workload plus growth buffer.
Use UNLIMITED only for service accounts or batch users with oversight.
Automate quota reviews as part of capacity planning.

Why How to Resolve ORA-01536 QUOTA EXCEEDED in Oracle is important

How to Resolve ORA-01536 QUOTA EXCEEDED in Oracle Example Usage


-- Customer-facing ecommerce app hits quota on ORDERS_TS
ALTER USER order_service QUOTA 20G ON orders_ts;

-- Verify change
SELECT tablespace_name, bytes, max_bytes
FROM dba_ts_quotas
WHERE username = 'ORDER_SERVICE';

How to Resolve ORA-01536 QUOTA EXCEEDED in Oracle Syntax


ALTER USER <username>
  QUOTA { <size>[K|M|G|T] | UNLIMITED }
  ON <tablespace_name>;

-- Example for ecommerce schema users
ALTER USER order_service QUOTA 10G ON orders_ts;

Common Mistakes

Only expanding datafiles instead of raising user quota. Even if the tablespace has free blocks, the user remains blocked until QUOTA is raised.
Setting QUOTA UNLIMITED on all users. This removes safeguards, allowing runaway sessions to fill tablespace and cause system outages. Grant only when justified.