diff --git a/playbooks/groups/proxies.yml b/playbooks/groups/proxies.yml
index 7325bcf4cc..ae25471f8f 100644
--- a/playbooks/groups/proxies.yml
+++ b/playbooks/groups/proxies.yml
@@ -41,6 +41,9 @@
   #- import_tasks: "{{ tasks_path }}/apache.yml"
   #- import_tasks: "{{ tasks_path }}/mod_wsgi.yml"
 
+  - name: set ip_conntrack_max to a high value as the proxies deal with lots of connections
+    sysctl: name=net.nf_conntrack_max valuei=26214400 state=present sysctl_set=yes reload=yes
+
   handlers:
   - import_tasks: "{{ handlers_path }}/restart_services.yml"