---
title: Managing Cluster Connections
description: By means of the REST API, the maximum permitted numbers of
  connections can be established and retrieved for memcached connections, and
  for system-user connections, for the cluster.
pubDate: 2026-08-17T09:53:44.266Z
antora:
  editUrl: https://github.com/couchbase/docs-server/edit/release/7.6/modules/rest-api/pages/rest-manage-cluster-connections.adoc
  xref: xref:7.6@server:rest-api:rest-manage-cluster-connections.adoc[]
---

[Consult the llms.txt file for a full list of contents](/llms.txt)
[View original HTML](/server/7.6/rest-api/rest-manage-cluster-connections.html)

# Managing Cluster Connections

> By means of the REST API, the maximum permitted numbers of connections can be established and retrieved for memcached connections, and for system-user connections, for the cluster. 

## [](#http-methods-and-uris)HTTP Methods and URIs

POST /pools/default/settings/memcached/global

GET /pools/default/settings/memcached/global

## [](#description)Description

A Couchbase-Server cluster allows connections to be established, both for memcached and for authenticated system-users. In each case, a maximum permitted number of connections can be established for the cluster, and can be retrieved.

The Full Admin or Cluster Admin role is required.

## [](#curl-syntax)Curl Syntax

curl -u <username>:<password> -X POST
  <ip-address-or-domain-name>:8091/pools/default/settings/memcached/global
  -d max_connections=<integer>
  -d system_connections=<integer>

curl -u <username>:<password> -X GET
  <ip-address-or-domain-name>:8091/pools/default/settings/memcached/global

The `integer` specified as the value for `max_connections` determines the maximum number of connections that can be established by memcached for the cluster. The `integer` specified as the value for `system_connections` determines the maximum number of connections that can be established by authenticated system-users for the cluster.

## [](#responses)Responses

Successful use of GET returns `200 OK`, and an object containing a key-value pair for each established setting.

Successful use of POST returns `202 Accepted`, and an object containing a key-value pair for any established setting.

A malformed URI returns `404 Object Not Found`.

Failure to authenticate returns `401 Unauthorized`. Successful authentication with an inappropriate role returns `403 Forbidden`, and an object such as the following: `{"message":"Forbidden. User needs the following permissions","permissions":["cluster.admin.memcached!read"]}`.

Specifying, in a POST, an `integer` whose size is excessive for the environment returns `400 Bad Request`, and an object such as the following: `{"system_connections":"too_large"}`.

## [](#examples)Examples

The following example sets the maximum number of connections for authenticated system-users to `50000`:

curl -u Administrator:password -v -X POST \
localhost:8091/pools/default/settings/memcached/global \
-d system_connections=50000

If successful, the call returns an object such as the following:

{"system_connections":50000}

The following example sets the maximum number of connections for memcached to `650000`:

curl -u Administrator:password -X POST \
localhost:8091/pools/default/settings/memcached/global \
-d  max_connections=650000

If successful, the call returns an object such as the following:

{"max_connections":650000,"system_connections":50000}

The returned object thus indicates that both `max_connections` and `system_connections` have now been set.

The following example returns the current settings for the cluster:

curl -u Administrator:password -v -X GET \
localhost:8091/pools/default/settings/memcached/global

If successful, the call returns an object such as the following:

{"max_connections":650000,"system_connections":50000}

## [](#see-also)See Also

A summary of Couchbase-Server size limits is provided in [Size Limits](../learn/clusters-and-availability/size-limitations.md).