diff --git a/doc/rippled-example.cfg b/doc/rippled-example.cfg
index 41bfa51cf..db0280a8d 100644
--- a/doc/rippled-example.cfg
+++ b/doc/rippled-example.cfg
@@ -373,6 +373,15 @@
 #       Peers will use this information to reject attempt to proxy
 #       connections to or from this server.
 #
+#   ip_limit = <number>
+#
+#       The maximum number of incoming peer connections allowed by a single
+#       IP that isn't classified as "private" in RFC1918. The implementation
+#       imposes some hard and soft upper limits on this value to prevent a
+#       single host from consuming all inbound slots. If the value is not
+#       present the server will autoconfigure an appropriate limit.
+#
+#
 #
 # [transaction_queue] EXPERIMENTAL
 #
diff --git a/src/ripple/core/Config.h b/src/ripple/core/Config.h
index f71868e94..64392fed3 100644
--- a/src/ripple/core/Config.h
+++ b/src/ripple/core/Config.h
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ public:
 
     // Peer networking parameters
     bool                        PEER_PRIVATE = false;           // True to ask peers not to relay current IP.
-    unsigned int                PEERS_MAX = 0;
+    int                         PEERS_MAX = 0;
 
     int                         WEBSOCKET_PING_FREQ = 5 * 60;
 
diff --git a/src/ripple/core/impl/Config.cpp b/src/ripple/core/impl/Config.cpp
index 8735344f8..cb98cacc9 100644
--- a/src/ripple/core/impl/Config.cpp
+++ b/src/ripple/core/impl/Config.cpp
@@ -371,11 +371,12 @@ void Config::loadFromString (std::string const& fileContents)
     (void) getSingleSection (secConfig, SECTION_VALIDATORS_SITE, VALIDATORS_SITE, j_);
 
     std::string strTemp;
+
     if (getSingleSection (secConfig, SECTION_PEER_PRIVATE, strTemp, j_))
         PEER_PRIVATE        = beast::lexicalCastThrow <bool> (strTemp);
 
     if (getSingleSection (secConfig, SECTION_PEERS_MAX, strTemp, j_))
-        PEERS_MAX           = beast::lexicalCastThrow <int> (strTemp);
+        PEERS_MAX = std::max (0, beast::lexicalCastThrow <int> (strTemp));
 
     if (getSingleSection (secConfig, SECTION_NODE_SIZE, strTemp, j_))
     {
diff --git a/src/ripple/overlay/Overlay.h b/src/ripple/overlay/Overlay.h
index bfb7564b5..673079999 100644
--- a/src/ripple/overlay/Overlay.h
+++ b/src/ripple/overlay/Overlay.h
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ public:
         std::shared_ptr<boost::asio::ssl::context> context;
         bool expire = false;
         beast::IP::Address public_ip;
+        int ipLimit = 0;
     };
 
     using PeerSequence = std::vector <Peer::ptr>;
diff --git a/src/ripple/overlay/impl/OverlayImpl.cpp b/src/ripple/overlay/impl/OverlayImpl.cpp
index 803d7339f..d0aac43fd 100644
--- a/src/ripple/overlay/impl/OverlayImpl.cpp
+++ b/src/ripple/overlay/impl/OverlayImpl.cpp
@@ -506,6 +506,7 @@ OverlayImpl::onPrepare()
         !app_.config().PEER_PRIVATE;
     config.listeningPort = port;
     config.features = "";
+    config.ipLimit = setup_.ipLimit;
 
     // Enforce business rules
     config.applyTuning();
@@ -1056,6 +1057,10 @@ setup_Overlay (BasicConfig const& config)
     setup.context = make_SSLContext();
     setup.expire = get<bool>(section, "expire", false);
 
+    set (setup.ipLimit, "ip_limit", section);
+    if (setup.ipLimit < 0)
+        throw std::runtime_error ("Configured IP limit is invalid");
+
     std::string ip;
     set (ip, "public_ip", section);
     if (! ip.empty ())
diff --git a/src/ripple/peerfinder/PeerfinderManager.h b/src/ripple/peerfinder/PeerfinderManager.h
index df72df8f6..261cdcd5c 100644
--- a/src/ripple/peerfinder/PeerfinderManager.h
+++ b/src/ripple/peerfinder/PeerfinderManager.h
@@ -73,6 +73,9 @@ struct Config
     /** The set of features we advertise. */
     std::string features;
 
+    /** Limit how many incoming connections we allow per IP */
+    int ipLimit;
+
     //--------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     /** Create a configuration with default values. */
diff --git a/src/ripple/peerfinder/impl/Logic.h b/src/ripple/peerfinder/impl/Logic.h
index 80a2255ee..5524b00be 100644
--- a/src/ripple/peerfinder/impl/Logic.h
+++ b/src/ripple/peerfinder/impl/Logic.h
@@ -263,13 +263,13 @@ public:
         // Check for duplicate connection
         if (is_public (remote_endpoint))
         {
-            auto const iter = connectedAddresses_.find (
+            auto const count = connectedAddresses_.count (
                 remote_endpoint.address());
-            if (iter != connectedAddresses_.end())
+            if (count > config_.ipLimit)
             {
                 if (m_journal.debug) m_journal.debug << beast::leftw (18) <<
                     "Logic dropping inbound " << remote_endpoint <<
-                    " as duplicate";
+                    " because of ip limits.";
                 return SlotImp::ptr();
             }
         }
diff --git a/src/ripple/peerfinder/impl/PeerfinderConfig.cpp b/src/ripple/peerfinder/impl/PeerfinderConfig.cpp
index 7831cd04c..d05aafb00 100644
--- a/src/ripple/peerfinder/impl/PeerfinderConfig.cpp
+++ b/src/ripple/peerfinder/impl/PeerfinderConfig.cpp
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ Config::Config()
     , wantIncoming (true)
     , autoConnect (true)
     , listeningPort (0)
+    , ipLimit (0)
 {
 }
 
@@ -45,6 +46,25 @@ void Config::applyTuning ()
     if (maxPeers < Tuning::minOutCount)
         maxPeers = Tuning::minOutCount;
     outPeers = calcOutPeers ();
+
+    auto const inPeers = maxPeers - outPeers;
+
+    if (ipLimit == 0)
+    {
+        // Unless a limit is explicitly set, we allow between
+        // 2 and 5 connections from non RFC-1918 "private"
+        // IP addresses.
+        ipLimit = 2;
+
+        if (inPeers > Tuning::defaultMaxPeers)
+            ipLimit += std::min(5,
+                static_cast<int>(inPeers / Tuning::defaultMaxPeers));
+    }
+
+    // We don't allow a single IP to consume all incoming slots,
+    // unless we only have one incoming slot available.
+    ipLimit = std::max(1,
+        std::min(ipLimit, static_cast<int>(inPeers / 2)));
 }
 
 void Config::onWrite (beast::PropertyStream::Map &map)
@@ -55,6 +75,7 @@ void Config::onWrite (beast::PropertyStream::Map &map)
     map ["auto_connect"]    = autoConnect;
     map ["port"]            = listeningPort;
     map ["features"]        = features;
+    map ["ip_limit"]        = ipLimit;
 }
 
 }