diff --git a/src/locking/lock_daemon.c b/src/locking/lock_daemon.c
index 77d6e0d85e..5f675ef727 100644
--- a/src/locking/lock_daemon.c
+++ b/src/locking/lock_daemon.c
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ static void virLockDaemonLockSpaceDataFree(void *data,
 }
 
 static virLockDaemonPtr
-virLockDaemonNew(bool privileged)
+virLockDaemonNew(virLockDaemonConfigPtr config, bool privileged)
 {
     virLockDaemonPtr lockd;
 
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ virLockDaemonNew(bool privileged)
         return NULL;
     }
 
-    if (!(lockd->srv = virNetServerNew(1, 1, 0, 20,
+    if (!(lockd->srv = virNetServerNew(1, 1, 0, config->max_clients,
                                        -1, 0,
                                        false, NULL,
                                        virLockDaemonClientNew,
@@ -1335,7 +1335,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
     /* rv == 1, means we setup everything from saved state,
      * so we only setup stuff from scratch if rv == 0 */
     if (rv == 0) {
-        if (!(lockDaemon = virLockDaemonNew(privileged))) {
+        if (!(lockDaemon = virLockDaemonNew(config, privileged))) {
             ret = VIR_LOCK_DAEMON_ERR_INIT;
             goto cleanup;
         }
diff --git a/src/locking/lock_daemon_config.c b/src/locking/lock_daemon_config.c
index 88c4150efa..8e632f58bd 100644
--- a/src/locking/lock_daemon_config.c
+++ b/src/locking/lock_daemon_config.c
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@ virLockDaemonConfigNew(bool privileged ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
         return NULL;
 
     data->log_buffer_size = 64;
+    data->max_clients = 1024;
 
     return data;
 }
@@ -139,6 +140,7 @@ virLockDaemonConfigLoadOptions(virLockDaemonConfigPtr data,
     GET_CONF_STR(conf, filename, log_filters);
     GET_CONF_STR(conf, filename, log_outputs);
     GET_CONF_INT(conf, filename, log_buffer_size);
+    GET_CONF_INT(conf, filename, max_clients);
 
     return 0;
 
diff --git a/src/locking/lock_daemon_config.h b/src/locking/lock_daemon_config.h
index 8cb0e5d568..e75d4a9ed3 100644
--- a/src/locking/lock_daemon_config.h
+++ b/src/locking/lock_daemon_config.h
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ struct _virLockDaemonConfig {
     char *log_filters;
     char *log_outputs;
     int log_buffer_size;
+    int max_clients;
 };
 
 
diff --git a/src/locking/virtlockd.aug b/src/locking/virtlockd.aug
index 9d20e72a5d..d0b56c2caf 100644
--- a/src/locking/virtlockd.aug
+++ b/src/locking/virtlockd.aug
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ module Libvirtd =
                      | str_entry "log_filters"
                      | str_entry "log_outputs"
                      | int_entry "log_buffer_size"
+                     | int_entry "max_clients"
 
    (* Each enty in the config is one of the following three ... *)
    let entry = logging_entry
diff --git a/src/locking/virtlockd.conf b/src/locking/virtlockd.conf
index b6450b42ae..652e15604d 100644
--- a/src/locking/virtlockd.conf
+++ b/src/locking/virtlockd.conf
@@ -58,3 +58,10 @@
 # the default buffer size in kilobytes.
 # If value is 0 or less the debug log buffer is deactivated
 #log_buffer_size = 64
+
+# The maximum number of concurrent client connections to allow
+# over all sockets combined.
+# Each running virtual machine will require one open connection
+# to virtlockd. So 'max_clients' will affect how many VMs can
+# be run on a host
+#max_clients = 1024