diff --git a/weed/command/server.go b/weed/command/server.go
index 5683f1fc5..75997c75a 100644
--- a/weed/command/server.go
+++ b/weed/command/server.go
@@ -139,6 +139,7 @@ func init() {
 	serverOptions.v.fixJpgOrientation = cmdServer.Flag.Bool("volume.images.fix.orientation", false, "Adjust jpg orientation when uploading.")
 	serverOptions.v.readMode = cmdServer.Flag.String("volume.readMode", "proxy", "[local|proxy|redirect] how to deal with non-local volume: 'not found|read in remote node|redirect volume location'.")
 	serverOptions.v.compactionMBPerSecond = cmdServer.Flag.Int("volume.compactionMBps", 0, "limit compaction speed in mega bytes per second")
+	serverOptions.v.maintenanceMBPerSecond = cmdServer.Flag.Int("volume.maintenanceMBps", 0, "limit maintenance (replication / balance) IO rate in MB/s. Unset is 0, no limitation.")
 	serverOptions.v.fileSizeLimitMB = cmdServer.Flag.Int("volume.fileSizeLimitMB", 256, "limit file size to avoid out of memory")
 	serverOptions.v.ldbTimeout = cmdServer.Flag.Int64("volume.index.leveldbTimeout", 0, "alive time for leveldb (default to 0). If leveldb of volume is not accessed in ldbTimeout hours, it will be off loaded to reduce opened files and memory consumption.")
 	serverOptions.v.concurrentUploadLimitMB = cmdServer.Flag.Int("volume.concurrentUploadLimitMB", 64, "limit total concurrent upload size")
diff --git a/weed/command/volume.go b/weed/command/volume.go
index 514553172..ae9f5e7f4 100644
--- a/weed/command/volume.go
+++ b/weed/command/volume.go
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ type VolumeServerOptions struct {
 	cpuProfile                *string
 	memProfile                *string
 	compactionMBPerSecond     *int
+	maintenanceMBPerSecond    *int
 	fileSizeLimitMB           *int
 	concurrentUploadLimitMB   *int
 	concurrentDownloadLimitMB *int
@@ -96,6 +97,7 @@ func init() {
 	v.cpuProfile = cmdVolume.Flag.String("cpuprofile", "", "cpu profile output file")
 	v.memProfile = cmdVolume.Flag.String("memprofile", "", "memory profile output file")
 	v.compactionMBPerSecond = cmdVolume.Flag.Int("compactionMBps", 0, "limit background compaction or copying speed in mega bytes per second")
+	v.maintenanceMBPerSecond = cmdVolume.Flag.Int("maintenanceMBps", 0, "limit maintenance (replication / balance) IO rate in MB/s. Unset is 0, no limitation.")
 	v.fileSizeLimitMB = cmdVolume.Flag.Int("fileSizeLimitMB", 256, "limit file size to avoid out of memory")
 	v.ldbTimeout = cmdVolume.Flag.Int64("index.leveldbTimeout", 0, "alive time for leveldb (default to 0). If leveldb of volume is not accessed in ldbTimeout hours, it will be off loaded to reduce opened files and memory consumption.")
 	v.concurrentUploadLimitMB = cmdVolume.Flag.Int("concurrentUploadLimitMB", 256, "limit total concurrent upload size")
@@ -267,6 +269,7 @@ func (v VolumeServerOptions) startVolumeServer(volumeFolders, maxVolumeCounts, v
 		v.whiteList,
 		*v.fixJpgOrientation, *v.readMode,
 		*v.compactionMBPerSecond,
+		*v.maintenanceMBPerSecond,
 		*v.fileSizeLimitMB,
 		int64(*v.concurrentUploadLimitMB)*1024*1024,
 		int64(*v.concurrentDownloadLimitMB)*1024*1024,
diff --git a/weed/server/volume_grpc_copy.go b/weed/server/volume_grpc_copy.go
index 5ff8bb587..410c6b05d 100644
--- a/weed/server/volume_grpc_copy.go
+++ b/weed/server/volume_grpc_copy.go
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ func (vs *VolumeServer) VolumeCopy(req *volume_server_pb.VolumeCopyRequest, stre
 		var sendErr error
 		var ioBytePerSecond int64
 		if req.IoBytePerSecond <= 0 {
-			ioBytePerSecond = vs.compactionBytePerSecond
+			ioBytePerSecond = vs.maintenanceBytePerSecond
 		} else {
 			ioBytePerSecond = req.IoBytePerSecond
 		}
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ func (vs *VolumeServer) VolumeCopy(req *volume_server_pb.VolumeCopyRequest, stre
 }
 
 func (vs *VolumeServer) doCopyFile(client volume_server_pb.VolumeServerClient, isEcVolume bool, collection string, vid, compactRevision uint32, stopOffset uint64, baseFileName, ext string, isAppend, ignoreSourceFileNotFound bool, progressFn storage.ProgressFunc) (modifiedTsNs int64, err error) {
-	return vs.doCopyFileWithThrottler(client, isEcVolume, collection, vid, compactRevision, stopOffset, baseFileName, ext, isAppend, ignoreSourceFileNotFound, progressFn, util.NewWriteThrottler(vs.compactionBytePerSecond))
+	return vs.doCopyFileWithThrottler(client, isEcVolume, collection, vid, compactRevision, stopOffset, baseFileName, ext, isAppend, ignoreSourceFileNotFound, progressFn, util.NewWriteThrottler(vs.maintenanceBytePerSecond))
 }
 
 func (vs *VolumeServer) doCopyFileWithThrottler(client volume_server_pb.VolumeServerClient, isEcVolume bool, collection string, vid, compactRevision uint32, stopOffset uint64, baseFileName, ext string, isAppend, ignoreSourceFileNotFound bool, progressFn storage.ProgressFunc, throttler *util.WriteThrottler) (modifiedTsNs int64, err error) {
diff --git a/weed/server/volume_server.go b/weed/server/volume_server.go
index 65909996a..0647c4196 100644
--- a/weed/server/volume_server.go
+++ b/weed/server/volume_server.go
@@ -42,16 +42,17 @@ type VolumeServer struct {
 	guard           *security.Guard
 	grpcDialOption  grpc.DialOption
 
-	needleMapKind           storage.NeedleMapKind
-	ldbTimout               int64
-	FixJpgOrientation       bool
-	ReadMode                string
-	compactionBytePerSecond int64
-	metricsAddress          string
-	metricsIntervalSec      int
-	fileSizeLimitBytes      int64
-	isHeartbeating          bool
-	stopChan                chan bool
+	needleMapKind            storage.NeedleMapKind
+	ldbTimout                int64
+	FixJpgOrientation        bool
+	ReadMode                 string
+	compactionBytePerSecond  int64
+	maintenanceBytePerSecond int64
+	metricsAddress           string
+	metricsIntervalSec       int
+	fileSizeLimitBytes       int64
+	isHeartbeating           bool
+	stopChan                 chan bool
 }
 
 func NewVolumeServer(adminMux, publicMux *http.ServeMux, ip string,
@@ -65,6 +66,7 @@ func NewVolumeServer(adminMux, publicMux *http.ServeMux, ip string,
 	fixJpgOrientation bool,
 	readMode string,
 	compactionMBPerSecond int,
+	maintenanceMBPerSecond int,
 	fileSizeLimitMB int,
 	concurrentUploadLimit int64,
 	concurrentDownloadLimit int64,
@@ -94,6 +96,7 @@ func NewVolumeServer(adminMux, publicMux *http.ServeMux, ip string,
 		ReadMode:                      readMode,
 		grpcDialOption:                security.LoadClientTLS(util.GetViper(), "grpc.volume"),
 		compactionBytePerSecond:       int64(compactionMBPerSecond) * 1024 * 1024,
+		maintenanceBytePerSecond:      int64(maintenanceMBPerSecond) * 1024 * 1024,
 		fileSizeLimitBytes:            int64(fileSizeLimitMB) * 1024 * 1024,
 		isHeartbeating:                true,
 		stopChan:                      make(chan bool),