diff --git a/defaults/main.yml b/defaults/main.yml
index e522617c..a0b56759 100644
--- a/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/defaults/main.yml
@@ -199,6 +199,12 @@ swift: {}
 #         index: 0
 #         default: True
 
+# Set rsync max_connections vars
+swift_max_rsync_connections: 2
+swift_account_max_rsync_connections: "{{ swift_max_rsync_connections }}"
+swift_container_max_rsync_connections: "{{ swift_max_rsync_connections }}"
+swift_object_max_rsync_connections: "{{ swift_max_rsync_connections }}"
+
 # swift packages that must be installed before anything else
 swift_requires_pip_packages:
   - virtualenv
diff --git a/templates/rsyncd.conf.j2 b/templates/rsyncd.conf.j2
index ed436d48..fbfae80e 100644
--- a/templates/rsyncd.conf.j2
+++ b/templates/rsyncd.conf.j2
@@ -7,19 +7,19 @@ pid file = /var/run/rsyncd.pid
 address = {{ swift_replication_address }}
 
 [account]
-max connections = 2
+max connections = {{ swift_account_max_rsync_connections }}
 path = {{ swift_vars.mount_point | default(swift.mount_point) }}
 read only = false
 lock file = /var/lock/account.lock
 
 [container]
-max connections = 2
+max connections = {{ swift_container_max_rsync_connections }}
 path = {{ swift_vars.mount_point | default(swift.mount_point) }}
 read only = false
 lock file = /var/lock/container.lock
 
 [object]
-max connections = 2
+max connections = {{ swift_object_max_rsync_connections }}
 path = {{ swift_vars.mount_point | default(swift.mount_point) }}
 read only = false
 lock file = /var/lock/object.lock