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Nov 18, 2025
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Add rate limits for ECH #488

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Add rate limits for ECH
theletterf Nov 13, 2025
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Add applies to
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Update motlp.md
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45 changes: 31 additions & 14 deletions docs/reference/motlp.md
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ applies_to:
observability:
security:
deployment:
ess:
stack: preview 9.2
ess: preview
self: unavailable
products:
- id: cloud-serverless
- id: observability
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -129,17 +129,25 @@ For more information on billing, refer to [Elastic Cloud pricing](https://www.el

## Rate limiting

Requests to the {{motlp}} are subject to rate limiting and throttling. If you exceed your {{es}} capacity in {{ech}}, or send data at a rate that exceeds the limits, your requests might be rejected.
Requests to the {{motlp}} are subject to rate limiting and throttling. If you send data at a rate that exceeds the limits, your requests might be rejected.

The following rate limits and burst limits apply:

| Deployment type | Rate limit | Burst limit |
|----------------|------------|-------------|
| Serverless | 15 MB/s | 30 MB/s |
% | ECH | MB/s | MB/s |
| Deployment type | Rate limit | Burst limit | Dynamic scaling |
|----------------|------------|-------------|-----------------|
| Serverless | 15 MB/s | 30 MB/s | Not available |
| ECH | 1 MB/s (initial) | 2 MB/s (initial) | Yes |

As long as your data ingestion rate stays at or below the rate limit and burst limit, your requests are accepted.

### Dynamic rate scaling for {{ech}}
```{applies_to}
ess:
stack: preview 9.2
```

For {{ech}} deployments, rate limits can scale up or down dynamically based on backpressure from {{es}}. Every deployment starts with a 1 MB/s rate limit and 2 MB/s burst limit. The system automatically adjusts these limits based on your {{es}} capacity and load patterns. Scaling requires time, so sudden load spikes might still result in temporary rate limiting.

### Exceeding the rate limit

If you send data that exceeds the available limits, the {{motlp}} responds with an HTTP `429` Too Many Requests status code. A log message similar to this appears in the OpenTelemetry Collector's output:
Expand All @@ -151,22 +159,31 @@ If you send data that exceeds the available limits, the {{motlp}} responds with
}
```

After your sending rate goes back to the allowed limit, the system automatically begins accepting requests again.
The causes of rate limiting differ by deployment type:

- **{{serverless-full}}**: You exceed the 15 MB/s rate limit or 30 MB/s burst limit.
- **{{ech}}**: You send load spikes that exceed current limits (temporary `429`s) or your {{es}} cluster can't keep up with the load (consistent `429`s).

After your sending rate goes back to the allowed limit, or after the system scales up the rate limit for {{ech}}, requests are automatically accepted again.

### Solutions to rate limiting

Depending on the reason for the rate limiting, you can either increase your {{es}} capacity or request higher limits.
The solutions to rate limiting depend on your deployment type:

#### {{ech}} deployments

#### Increase your {{es}} capacity
For {{ech}} deployments, if you're experiencing consistent `429` errors, the primary solution is to increase your {{es}} capacity. Because rate limits are affected by {{es}} backpressure, scaling up your {{es}} cluster reduces backpressure and, over time, increases the ingestion rate for your deployment.

If data intake exceeds the capacity of {{es}} in your {{ech}} deployment, you might get rate limiting errors. To solve this issue, scale or resize your deployment:
To scale your deployment:

- [Scaling considerations](docs-content://deploy-manage/production-guidance/scaling-considerations.md)
- [Resize deployment](docs-content://deploy-manage/deploy/cloud-enterprise/resize-deployment.md)
- [Autoscaling in ECE and ECH](docs-content://deploy-manage/autoscaling/autoscaling-in-ece-and-ech.md)

#### Request higher limits
Temporary `429`s from load spikes typically resolve on their own as the system scales up, as long as your {{es}} cluster has sufficient capacity.

#### {{serverless-full}} deployments

If rate limiting is not caused by {{es}} capacity or you're on {{serverless-full}}, you can either decrease data volume or request higher limits.
For {{serverless-full}} projects, you can either decrease data volume or request higher limits.

To increase the rate limit, [reach out to Elastic Support](docs-content://troubleshoot/ingest/opentelemetry/contact-support.md).
To increase the rate limit, [contact Elastic Support](docs-content://troubleshoot/ingest/opentelemetry/contact-support.md).
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