Resource limits that throttle instead of cutting off
Any machine that runs more than one app needs limits — the real question is what happens to you when you meet one. This page covers Cresdock's three resource controls: freezing an app you're not using, giving the one that matters priority, and a monthly traffic cap that slows you down rather than cutting you off. It also says plainly what these controls don't do.
1.Three controls, one rule
Home server resource limits are usually enforced the blunt way: reach the line and something goes dark. Cresdock enforces them on one rule instead — a limit slows things down or sets them aside; it never switches anything off, and it never touches your files.
There are three controls. Freeze pauses an app you're not using and frees the slot it occupied, keeping all of its data. Priority marks which of your apps matter most, so they win when the machine is busy. And a monthly traffic cap, once you hit it, slows your transfers rather than stopping them.
Whether the machine underneath is a box in your own cupboard or a seedbox plan someone else looks after, the controls are the same — and all three are on every plan, including the free one. Nothing on this page sits behind a higher tier.
2.Freeze: pause an app without losing anything
Most people have an app they open twice a year but would hate to lose. Freeze it. A frozen app stops running and the slot it occupied is free for something else — but all of its data stays exactly where it is. Unfreeze it whenever you like and it comes back exactly as it was, with nothing to set up again.
Freezing is a pause, not an uninstall — you're never choosing between keeping an app and freeing its slot. If you've ever looked for a way to pause a self-hosted app without losing data, this is that, as a single control rather than a weekend project.
On a plan with a fixed number of slots, that changes how you use them: rotate through the app catalogue with the seasons instead of sacrificing one app to try another.
3.Priority: decide what wins when the machine is busy
Movie night and a batch of downloads don't schedule around each other. Mark the apps that matter most to you — your media server, say — and when the machine is busy, they win. Your media server stays smooth while a download batch runs; the batch still finishes, it just stops being the thing your evening waits on.
You do not have to guess which app that should be. Your dashboard shows which of your apps is using the processor, memory and bandwidth right now, so the app worth prioritising is the one you can see. Be clear about what priority is: it shares what you already have — it is not a way to get more. It works within your own allowance, deciding which of your apps gets first claim when they'd otherwise fight over it. It can't add speed your connection doesn't have, and on a machine you share it never reaches into anyone else's share.
4.Hitting a traffic cap: throttled, never stopped
Ask what happens when you hit a bandwidth cap and most people picture the cliff edge: transfers dead, apps unreachable, everything on hold until next month. On Cresdock, hitting a monthly traffic cap slows transfers down instead of switching anything off. Your apps keep running, your transfers keep moving — slower — and nothing you host disappears. It's a throttle, not a wall.
If you're on a seedbox plan, that changes what a seedbox traffic limit actually means: the end of your monthly allowance is a change of speed, not a switch-off. If you run your own box and set caps for the people on it, their limits behave the same way — someone who hits theirs slows down; they don't lose access, and they don't ring you.
One thing worth knowing up front: traffic that leaves through a VPN counts toward the same allowance. Metering happens where the traffic actually exits, so routing your torrent client through a VPN neither hides usage nor doubles it — and the panel tells you this the first time it meters some VPN traffic, rather than surprising you at the end of the month. More on the routing itself in torrent privacy defaults.
5.Limits that hold
Gentle enforcement is only worth anything if the limits underneath it are real. They are: an app cannot raise its own limit from the inside, and neither can a user. No setting inside an app lifts what was set outside it — the limit holds regardless of what the app, or the person using it, tries.
That's what makes a limit worth setting in the first place. If you share your box, a cap is a promise to everyone else on it, not a suggestion — and on a shared machine, the same rule is what keeps a busy neighbour out of your share.
6.What these controls don't do
Each control has an edge, and you should know where it is before you rely on it.
- Freezing doesn't free disk space. That's deliberate — a frozen app keeps all of its data, which is exactly what lets it come back as it was. If you're short of storage, freezing isn't the tool.
- Priority doesn't add anything. It can't make a slow connection fast or a small machine big. It only decides which of your apps is first in the queue for what you already have.
- A cap is still a cap. Throttling changes what hitting the limit feels like, not whether the limit exists. Throttled transfers are genuinely slower until your allowance resets.
- Nothing here reaches beyond your share. None of these controls grants you more than your plan or your hardware provides — for you, or for anyone else on the machine.
7.Common questions
Can I pause a self-hosted app without losing its data?
Yes. Freeze it: the app stops running, the slot it occupied is free for something else, and all of its data stays exactly where it was. Unfreeze it whenever you like and it comes back exactly as it was — nothing to set up again. The one thing freezing doesn't do is free disk space, because keeping the data is the point.
What happens when you hit a monthly traffic cap?
Your transfers slow down — nothing is switched off, nothing is deleted, and you're not locked out. The cap is a throttle, not a wall: your apps keep running at a reduced speed for the rest of the month. Throttled is genuinely slower, though — the cap is gentler, not gone.
Does VPN traffic count toward my traffic cap?
Yes. Your allowance is metered where traffic actually leaves the box, so apps routed through a VPN count the same as apps that aren't — no hiding, no double-counting. The panel tells you this the first time it meters some VPN traffic.
Does giving an app priority get it more speed or resources?
No. Priority shares out what you already have — it decides which of your apps wins when the machine is busy, within your own allowance. It can't add speed your connection doesn't have, and it never reaches into anyone else's share.