diff --git a/fs/nfsd/nfs4state.c b/fs/nfsd/nfs4state.c
index 9cc31ea..4624988 100644
--- a/fs/nfsd/nfs4state.c
+++ b/fs/nfsd/nfs4state.c
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@
 #include <linux/nfsd/state.h>
 #include <linux/nfsd/xdr4.h>
 #include <linux/namei.h>
+#include <linux/swap.h>
 #include <linux/mutex.h>
 #include <linux/lockd/bind.h>
 #include <linux/module.h>
@@ -150,6 +151,7 @@
 }
 
 static int num_delegations;
+unsigned int max_delegations;
 
 /*
  * Open owner state (share locks)
@@ -193,7 +195,7 @@
 	struct nfs4_callback *cb = &stp->st_stateowner->so_client->cl_callback;
 
 	dprintk("NFSD alloc_init_deleg\n");
-	if (num_delegations > STATEID_HASH_SIZE * 4)
+	if (num_delegations > max_delegations)
 		return NULL;
 	dp = kmem_cache_alloc(deleg_slab, GFP_KERNEL);
 	if (dp == NULL)
@@ -3197,6 +3199,27 @@
 	return max(user_lease_time, lease_time) * HZ;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Since the lifetime of a delegation isn't limited to that of an open, a
+ * client may quite reasonably hang on to a delegation as long as it has
+ * the inode cached.  This becomes an obvious problem the first time a
+ * client's inode cache approaches the size of the server's total memory.
+ *
+ * For now we avoid this problem by imposing a hard limit on the number
+ * of delegations, which varies according to the server's memory size.
+ */
+static void
+set_max_delegations(void)
+{
+	/*
+	 * Allow at most 4 delegations per megabyte of RAM.  Quick
+	 * estimates suggest that in the worst case (where every delegation
+	 * is for a different inode), a delegation could take about 1.5K,
+	 * giving a worst case usage of about 6% of memory.
+	 */
+	max_delegations = nr_free_buffer_pages() >> (20 - 2 - PAGE_SHIFT);
+}
+
 /* initialization to perform when the nfsd service is started: */
 
 static void
@@ -3212,6 +3235,7 @@
 	       grace_time/HZ);
 	laundry_wq = create_singlethread_workqueue("nfsd4");
 	queue_delayed_work(laundry_wq, &laundromat_work, grace_time);
+	set_max_delegations();
 }
 
 int
diff --git a/include/linux/nfsd/nfsd.h b/include/linux/nfsd/nfsd.h
index 0d84204..ce5e345 100644
--- a/include/linux/nfsd/nfsd.h
+++ b/include/linux/nfsd/nfsd.h
@@ -148,6 +148,7 @@
  * NFSv4 State
  */
 #ifdef CONFIG_NFSD_V4
+extern unsigned int max_delegations;
 void nfs4_state_init(void);
 int nfs4_state_start(void);
 void nfs4_state_shutdown(void);
diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
index 1a889c3..e2a10b9 100644
--- a/mm/page_alloc.c
+++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
@@ -1484,6 +1484,7 @@
 {
 	return nr_free_zone_pages(gfp_zone(GFP_USER));
 }
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(nr_free_buffer_pages);
 
 /*
  * Amount of free RAM allocatable within all zones