I have discovered a little secret of Linux today: tc. The Linux Advanced Routing & Traffic Control project (here) allows you to shape traffic in any way that you want. In most cases, it is used in a situation where a multi-homed Linux box is used as firewall/router.
I have activated it on my Web server, limiting uplink/downlink speeds to 256kbps. I am using this in combination with the rate-limiting feature in iptables to control the morons. Limiting bandwidth to 256kbps leaves me with enough overhead to get in and control the machine, even when the morons think that they are flooding me with traffic.
I really suggest that you look into this, especially if you are in a bandwidth-limited environment.

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