Set maximum speed for scp

Is there a way to limit the speed of scp (or rsync)? I couldn't find any information in the man page, nor on the internet.


From the man page: -l limit Limits the used bandwidth, specified in Kbit/s.


I'm not convinced the -l setting works properly with big values: On my RHEL6 system if see:

-l not specified

  • Expected: Whatever the wan can handle
  • Actual: 20 Megabytes per second

-l 8000

  • Expected: 1 Megabyte per second
  • Actual: 1 Megabyte per second

-l 80000

  • Expected: 10 Megabytes per second
  • Actual: 150 Kilobytes per second