diff --git a/src/ccontrol/MergingHandler.cc b/src/ccontrol/MergingHandler.cc
index 3938a66ec..5fa37d227 100644
--- a/src/ccontrol/MergingHandler.cc
+++ b/src/ccontrol/MergingHandler.cc
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@ bool readHttpFileAndMerge(string const& httpUrl,
         http::ClientConfig clientConfig;
         clientConfig.httpVersion = CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1;  // same as in qhttp
         clientConfig.bufferSize = CURL_MAX_READ_SIZE;      // 10 MB in the current version of libcurl
-        clientConfig.maxConnects = 1024;                   // the cach size of the libcurl connection pool
+        clientConfig.maxConnects = 300 * 14 + 16;          // the cach size of the libcurl connection pool
         clientConfig.tcpKeepAlive = true;
         clientConfig.tcpKeepIdle = 5;   // the default is 60 sec
         clientConfig.tcpKeepIntvl = 5;  // the default is 60 sec