diff --git a/include/types/proxy.h b/include/types/proxy.h
index 848014335..8aaa3a773 100644
--- a/include/types/proxy.h
+++ b/include/types/proxy.h
@@ -98,7 +98,8 @@ struct proxy {
 	unsigned int feconn, feconn_max;	/* # of active frontend sessions */
 	unsigned int beconn, beconn_max;	/* # of active backend sessions */
 	unsigned int cum_feconn, cum_beconn;	/* cumulated number of processed sessions */
-	unsigned int maxconn;			/* max # of active sessions */
+	unsigned int maxconn;			/* max # of active sessions on the frontend */
+	unsigned int fullconn;			/* #conns on backend above which servers are used at full load */
 	unsigned failed_conns, failed_resp;	/* failed connect() and responses */
 	unsigned failed_secu;			/* blocked responses because of security concerns */
 	int conn_retries;			/* maximum number of connect retries */
diff --git a/src/cfgparse.c b/src/cfgparse.c
index d70768592..42e250b2f 100644
--- a/src/cfgparse.c
+++ b/src/cfgparse.c
@@ -395,6 +395,7 @@ int cfg_parse_listen(const char *file, int linenum, char **args)
 		/* set default values */
 		curproxy->state = defproxy.state;
 		curproxy->maxconn = defproxy.maxconn;
+		curproxy->fullconn = defproxy.fullconn;
 		curproxy->conn_retries = defproxy.conn_retries;
 		curproxy->options = defproxy.options;
 
@@ -909,6 +910,13 @@ int cfg_parse_listen(const char *file, int linenum, char **args)
 		}
 		curproxy->maxconn = atol(args[1]);
 	}
+	else if (!strcmp(args[0], "fullconn")) {  /* fullconn */
+		if (*(args[1]) == 0) {
+			Alert("parsing [%s:%d] : '%s' expects an integer argument.\n", file, linenum, args[0]);
+			return -1;
+		}
+		curproxy->fullconn = atol(args[1]);
+	}
 	else if (!strcmp(args[0], "grace")) {  /* grace time (ms) */
 		if (*(args[1]) == 0) {
 			Alert("parsing [%s:%d] : '%s' expects a time in milliseconds.\n", file, linenum, args[0]);
@@ -1973,6 +1981,13 @@ int readcfgfile(const char *file)
 			memcpy(curproxy->check_req, sslv3_client_hello_pkt, sizeof(sslv3_client_hello_pkt));
 		}
 
+		/* for backwards compatibility with "listen" instances, if
+		 * fullconn is not set but maxconn is set, then maxconn
+		 * is used.
+		 */
+		if (!curproxy->fullconn)
+			curproxy->fullconn = curproxy->maxconn;
+
 		/* first, we will invert the servers list order */
 		newsrv = NULL;
 		while (curproxy->srv) {
@@ -2035,13 +2050,18 @@ int readcfgfile(const char *file)
 		 */
 		newsrv = curproxy->srv;
 		while (newsrv != NULL) {
-			if (newsrv->minconn >= newsrv->maxconn) {
+			if (newsrv->minconn > newsrv->maxconn) {
 				/* Only 'minconn' was specified, or it was higher than or equal
 				 * to 'maxconn'. Let's turn this into maxconn and clean it, as
 				 * this will avoid further useless expensive computations.
 				 */
 				newsrv->maxconn = newsrv->minconn;
-				newsrv->minconn = 0;
+			} else if (newsrv->maxconn && !newsrv->minconn) {
+				/* minconn was not specified, so we set it to maxconn */
+				newsrv->minconn = newsrv->maxconn;
+			} else if (!curproxy->fullconn) {
+				Alert("parsing [%s:%d] : fullconn is mandatory when minconn is set on a server.\n", file, linenum);
+				return -1;
 			}
 
 			if (newsrv->maxconn > 0) {
diff --git a/src/queue.c b/src/queue.c
index 8f0474cb8..611cfe95c 100644
--- a/src/queue.c
+++ b/src/queue.c
@@ -25,14 +25,21 @@
 void **pool_pendconn = NULL;
 
 /* returns the effective dynamic maxconn for a server, considering the minconn
- * and the proxy's usage relative to its saturation.
+ * and the proxy's usage relative to its dynamic connections limit. It is
+ * expected that 0 < s->minconn <= s->maxconn when this is called.
  */
 unsigned int srv_dynamic_maxconn(const struct server *s)
 {
-	return (s->proxy->beconn >= s->proxy->maxconn) ? s->maxconn :
-		(s->minconn ? 
-		 MAX(s->maxconn * s->proxy->beconn / s->proxy->maxconn, s->minconn)
-		 : s->maxconn);
+	if (s->proxy->beconn >= s->proxy->fullconn)
+		/* no fullconn or proxy is full */
+		return s->maxconn;
+
+	if (s->minconn == s->maxconn)
+		/* static limit */
+		return s->maxconn;
+
+	return MAX(s->minconn,
+		   s->proxy->beconn * s->maxconn / s->proxy->fullconn);
 }