User profiles

User profiles allow you to set resource limits for users in Memgraph Enterprise. You can define limits on the number of sessions and memory usage to control resource consumption and prevent abuse.

User profiles provide a way to:

• Set resource limits for individual users
• Control the number of concurrent sessions per user
• Limit query memory usage over all active
• Monitor resource consumption in real-time
• Enforce resource quotas to prevent system abuse

Prerequisites

To use user profiles, you need:

• Memgraph Enterprise Edition
• The PROFILE_RESTRICTION privilege to manage profiles.

Creating profiles

You can create a profile with default unlimited limits:

CREATE PROFILE profile_name;

Or create a profile with specific limits:

CREATE PROFILE profile_name LIMIT sessions 10, transactions_memory 100MB;

Available limits

• sessions: Maximum number of concurrent sessions (default: unlimited)
• transactions_memory: Maximum memory usage over all active transactions (default: unlimited)

Limit values

You can specify limits in different formats:

• Unlimited: UNLIMITED (default)
• Quantity: A positive number (e.g., 10)
• Memory: A number with unit MB/KB (e.g., 100MB, 512KB)

Examples

-- Create a profile with session limit only
CREATE PROFILE session_limited LIMIT sessions 5;
 
-- Create a profile with memory limit only
CREATE PROFILE memory_limited LIMIT transactions_memory 50MB;
 
-- Create a profile with both limits
CREATE PROFILE strict_profile LIMIT sessions 3, transactions_memory 25MB;
 
-- Create a profile with different memory units
CREATE PROFILE small_profile LIMIT transactions_memory 1KB;

Managing profiles

Update a profile

UPDATE PROFILE profile_name LIMIT sessions 5, transactions_memory 50MB;

Drop a profile

DROP PROFILE profile_name;

Note: When you drop a profile, all users assigned to that profile will have their limits reset and profile assignment cleared.

Clear a profile assignment

CLEAR PROFILE FOR username;

This removes the profile assignment, returning the user to unlimited resources.

Viewing profile assignments

Show profile for a user

SHOW PROFILE FOR username;

Show users assigned to a profile

SHOW USERS FOR PROFILE profile_name;

Monitoring resource usage

Show resource usage for a user

SHOW RESOURCE USAGE FOR username;

This command shows the current resource consumption and imposed limits for the specified user, including:

• Number of active sessions
• Current memory usage over all active transactions

Profile management

User profiles are assigned directly to users and provide resource limits for those specific users. Each user can have one profile assigned at a time.

Profile assignment behavior

Important: Profile assignment is a simple mapping between profile names and usernames. This means:

• Users don’t need to exist when you assign a profile to them
• You can assign a profile to a username that hasn’t been created yet
• You can assign a profile to a SSO user that will never exist in Memgraph
• The profile will be automatically applied when that user connects to the database
• Dropping a profile does remove the mapping

Error handling

The system provides clear error messages for invalid operations:

• Duplicate profile creation: Error when trying to create a profile with an existing name
• Non-existent profile operations: Error when trying to show, update, or drop non-existent profiles
• Invalid limit values: Error for negative numbers or invalid memory units
• Invalid limit names: Error for unsupported limit types

Note: Assigning a profile to a non-existent user will not cause an error. The assignment will be stored and applied when the user connects to the database.

Best practices

1. Start with unlimited profiles: Create profiles without limits first, then gradually add restrictions
2. Monitor usage: Regularly check resource usage to understand actual consumption patterns

Examples

Complete workflow example

-- 1. Create users
CREATE USER developer1;
CREATE USER developer2;
 
-- 2. Create profiles with different restrictions
CREATE PROFILE basic_profile LIMIT sessions 10;
CREATE PROFILE strict_profile LIMIT sessions 3, transactions_memory 50MB;
 
-- 3. Assign profiles
SET PROFILE FOR developer1 TO basic_profile;
SET PROFILE FOR developer2 TO strict_profile;
 
-- 4. Verify assignments
SHOW PROFILE FOR developer1;
SHOW USERS FOR PROFILE basic_profile;
 
-- 5. Monitor usage
SHOW RESOURCE USAGE FOR developer1;
 
-- 6. Update limits based on usage patterns
UPDATE PROFILE strict_profile LIMIT sessions 5, transactions_memory 25MB;
 
-- 7. Verify limits
SHOW RESOURCE USAGE FOR developer2;

Syntax reference

Limit syntax

limit_list: limit_item [, limit_item]*
limit_item: sessions number | transactions_memory memory_value
memory_value: number (MB | KB)
number: positive integer