# Limitations

This section covers Cloud GPU VM policies and infrastructure limitations.

## Deployment & availability

* **Frankfurt Data Center:** You can currently access Cloud GPU VMs only in the **Frankfurt** `de/fra/2` data center.
* The availability zone is always set to **Auto** and cannot be changed.

## Instance limits

By default, you can deploy only **1 Cloud GPU VM** using the **H200–S** template. To deploy templates sized **M**, **L**, or **XL**, or to run multiple **S** instances, you must first request a resource limit increase through the [<mark style="color:blue;">IONOS Cloud Support</mark>](https://docs.ionos.com/cloud/support/general-information/contact-information).

## Instance lifecycle policy

* **Maintenance reboots:** While we prioritize planned maintenance windows, critical security patches, urgent stability issues or incidents may require emergency maintenance with extremely short or no notification. Design your applications to handle unexpected restarts and configure services to restart automatically on boot.
* **Maintenance Downtime:** GPU Cloud VMs do not support seamless background transfers during maintenance. Consequently, some planned infrastructure updates will require a temporary shutdown or reboot of your instance.
* **Fixed resource scaling:** Size your servers appropriately at creation time. CPU core and RAM upscaling or downscaling are not currently supported after provisioning.

## Management restrictions

* **Templates:** You cannot create new templates or modify existing templates.
* **Images:** The platform supports [<mark style="color:blue;">IONOS CLOUD Linux images</mark>](/cloud/backup-and-storage/images-snapshots.md) only at start.
* **Boot volume restrictions:** The first connected boot volume has the following restrictions:
  * It cannot be detached from the VM.
  * It cannot be upscaled after deployment.
  * Size must be determined during the initial provisioning.
* **Resource scaling restrictions:** Size servers appropriately at creation time, because CPU core and RAM upscaling or downscaling are not currently supported. Plan your workload requirements carefully during the initial provisioning.
* **Volume Management:** Additional volumes support standard management operations, including scaling, detaching, and attaching, through the <code class="expression">space.vars.ionos\_cloud</code> API, or the DCD.


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