diff --git a/bench/config/nginx.py b/bench/config/nginx.py
index 66aedd10..8e62efb4 100644
--- a/bench/config/nginx.py
+++ b/bench/config/nginx.py
@@ -11,24 +11,30 @@ def make_nginx_conf(bench_path, yes=False):
 
 	config = get_config(bench_path)
 	sites = prepare_sites(config, bench_path)
-
 	bench_name = get_bench_name(bench_path)
-	bench_name_hash = hashlib.sha256(bench_name).hexdigest()[:16]
 
-	nginx_conf = template.render(**{
+	allow_rate_limiting = config.get('allow_rate_limiting', False)
+
+	template_vars = {
 		"sites_path": sites_path,
 		"http_timeout": config.get("http_timeout"),
 		"sites": sites,
 		"webserver_port": config.get('webserver_port'),
 		"socketio_port": config.get('socketio_port'),
 		"bench_name": bench_name,
-		"bench_name_hash": bench_name_hash,
-		"limit_conn_shared_memory": get_limit_conn_shared_memory(),
 		"error_pages": get_error_pages(),
-
+		"allow_rate_limiting": allow_rate_limiting,
 		# for nginx map variable
 		"random_string": "".join(random.choice(string.ascii_lowercase) for i in xrange(7))
-	})
+	}
+
+	if allow_rate_limiting:
+		template_vars.update({
+			'bench_name_hash': hashlib.sha256(bench_name).hexdigest()[:16],
+			'limit_conn_shared_memory': get_limit_conn_shared_memory()
+		})
+
+	nginx_conf = template.render(**template_vars)
 
 	conf_path = os.path.join(bench_path, "config", "nginx.conf")
 	if not yes and os.path.exists(conf_path):
diff --git a/bench/config/templates/nginx.conf b/bench/config/templates/nginx.conf
index 008987d7..bab700d4 100644
--- a/bench/config/templates/nginx.conf
+++ b/bench/config/templates/nginx.conf
@@ -21,7 +21,9 @@ server {
 
 	root {{ sites_path }};
 
+	{% if allow_rate_limiting %}
 	limit_conn per_host_{{ bench_name_hash }} 8;
+	{% endif %}
 
 	{% if ssl_certificate and ssl_certificate_key %}
 	ssl on;
@@ -141,7 +143,9 @@ upstream {{ bench_name}}-socketio-server {
     server 127.0.0.1:{{ socketio_port or 3000 }} fail_timeout=0;
 }
 
+{% if allow_rate_limiting %}
 limit_conn_zone $host zone=per_host_{{ bench_name_hash }}:{{ limit_conn_shared_memory }}m;
+{% endif %}
 
 # setup maps
 {%- set site_name_variable="$host" %}