diff --git a/spring/src/main/java/com/techempower/spring/TomcatCustomizer.java b/spring/src/main/java/com/techempower/spring/TomcatCustomizer.java
index dc7cb8fe016..b03bd11e2c3 100644
--- a/spring/src/main/java/com/techempower/spring/TomcatCustomizer.java
+++ b/spring/src/main/java/com/techempower/spring/TomcatCustomizer.java
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ public class TomcatCustomizer implements EmbeddedServletContainerCustomizer {
 	@Value("${tomcat.connector.maxConnections}")
 	private int maxConnections;
 
+    @Value("${tomcat.connector.acceptCount}")
+    private int acceptCount;
+
 	@Value("${tomcat.connector.maxKeepAliveRequests}")
 	private int maxKeepAliveRequests;
 
@@ -45,7 +48,7 @@ public void customize(Connector connector) {
 							protocol.setConnectionTimeout(connectionTimeout);
 							protocol.setMaxConnections(maxConnections);
 						}
-                        connector.setProperty("acceptCount", maxConnections+"");
+						connector.setProperty("acceptCount", acceptCount+"");
 						connector.setProperty("maxKeepAliveRequests", maxKeepAliveRequests+"");
 					}
 				}
diff --git a/spring/src/main/resources/application.yml b/spring/src/main/resources/application.yml
index 0e8f10c1afd..6fbd39c5ec6 100644
--- a/spring/src/main/resources/application.yml
+++ b/spring/src/main/resources/application.yml
@@ -17,11 +17,20 @@ spring:
 
 tomcat:
   connector:
+    # reduce context switching; Intel Xeons have 12 threads
     maxThreads: 12
     connectionTimeout: 20000
+    # maximum: 16K connections test
     maxConnections: 20000
+    # handle initial connection spike
+    acceptCount: 20000
+    # avoid running out of ports due to connections stuck in TIME_WAIT state
     maxKeepAliveRequests: -1
 
+server:
+  tomcat:
+    access_log_enabled: false
+
 ---
 spring:
   profiles: local