What is a quota?

Answer 1

In general, a share of something is a quota.

Context matters, however. In some cases a quota refers to a minimum that must be met. Generally, if you have a quote a work then it is a minimum value that must be met. In others it is a maximum value that cannot be exceeded, such as an import quota.

Answer 2

A quota is a predetermined amount of something agreed, usually, by two or more parties. To be delivered or produced within a certain period.

The disk quota is a protocol that is often used by system administrators to ensure that available resources are equitably and reasonably distributed among the users of the operating systems that are used by a home or business network. This process of managing the file system usage of each work station within the network helps to prevent the use of more resources by one user to the detriment of another user in the group. The system administrator normally has the ability to assign disk quotas on both a per work station basis as well as on an individual user basis.