> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs-xcor.paloaltonetworks.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Licensing and system limits

> Learn about licensing and system limits and how they differ.

Palo Alto Networks Cortex XCOR enforces two categories of limits that govern
how telemetry data flows through the system: license limits and system limits.

To stay within defined limits, [control your telemetry data](/control) to manage data
volume.

## License limits

License limits are defined in your contract and track telemetry usage against your
purchased capacity. Licensing applies across metrics, traces, logs, and change
events, and is measured by using dimensions such as persisted writes, matched writes,
and persisted cardinality. Organizations that purchase credits can spend a single
pool of capacity across any telemetry type.

Track consumption against your budgets using the
[License Overview](/administer/limits-licensing/licensing), which surfaces snapshot
and trend views per telemetry type. Refer to these pages for terminology about
licensing in Cortex XCOR:

* [Concepts](/administer/limits-licensing/concepts) describe licensing concepts
  across telemetry types.
* [Definitions](/administer/limits-licensing/definitions) provide formal definitions
  of units like credits, persistence, and resolution.

## System limits

System limits are technical constraints that protect Cortex XCOR from
instability caused by abnormal traffic patterns. For organizations that use
consumption pricing, consumption system limits restrict rapid
increases in metrics, logs, and traces volume. View the thresholds, utilization,
and dropped data for your tenant in the
[Consumption System Limits dashboard](/observe/dashboards/managed-dashboards#consumption-system-limits).

Consumption system limits apply separately from contract credit consumption and
customer-configured budgets. Contact [Cortex XCOR Support](/support) to request an
adjustment to these limits.

Cortex XCOR also applies data validation, ingestion, and query
protections for each telemetry type. See
[system limits](/administer/limits-licensing/limits) for details.


## Related topics

- [Cortex XCOR system limits](/administer/limits-licensing/limits.md)
- [Tracing ingest limits](/administer/limits-licensing/limits/trace-limits.md)
- [Cortex XCOR-managed dashboards](/observe/dashboards/managed-dashboards.md)
- [Licensing concepts](/administer/limits-licensing/concepts.md)
- [Cortex XCOR licensing](/administer/limits-licensing/licensing.md)


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