diff --git a/etc/object-server.conf-sample b/etc/object-server.conf-sample
index e9557b6c27..5329bca8fa 100644
--- a/etc/object-server.conf-sample
+++ b/etc/object-server.conf-sample
@@ -473,6 +473,16 @@ use = egg:swift#recon
 # Send at most this many object updates per second
 # objects_per_second = 50
 #
+# Send at most this many object updates per bucket per second. The value must
+# be a float greater than or equal to 0. Set to 0 for unlimited.
+# max_objects_per_container_per_second = 0
+#
+# The per_container ratelimit implementation uses a hashring to constrain
+# memory requirements.  Orders of magnitude more buckets will use (nominally)
+# more memory, but will ratelimit smaller groups of containers. The value must
+# be an integer greater than 0.
+# per_container_ratelimit_buckets = 1000
+#
 # slowdown will sleep that amount between objects. Deprecated; use
 # objects_per_second instead.
 # slowdown = 0.01
diff --git a/swift/obj/updater.py b/swift/obj/updater.py
index d49f12f76f..a0db3ffe75 100644
--- a/swift/obj/updater.py
+++ b/swift/obj/updater.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import os
 import signal
 import sys
 import time
+import uuid
 from random import random, shuffle
 
 from eventlet import spawn, Timeout
@@ -29,7 +30,8 @@ from swift.common.exceptions import ConnectionTimeout
 from swift.common.ring import Ring
 from swift.common.utils import get_logger, renamer, write_pickle, \
     dump_recon_cache, config_true_value, RateLimitedIterator, split_path, \
-    eventlet_monkey_patch, get_redirect_data, ContextPool
+    eventlet_monkey_patch, get_redirect_data, ContextPool, hash_path, \
+    non_negative_float, config_positive_int_value
 from swift.common.daemon import Daemon
 from swift.common.header_key_dict import HeaderKeyDict
 from swift.common.storage_policy import split_policy_string, PolicyError
@@ -39,18 +41,68 @@ from swift.common.http import is_success, HTTP_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR, \
     HTTP_MOVED_PERMANENTLY
 
 
+class BucketizedUpdateSkippingLimiter(object):
+    """
+    Wrap an iterator to filter elements that show up too often.
+
+    :param update_iterable: an async_pending update iterable
+    :param num_buckets: number of buckets to divide container hashes into, the
+                        more buckets total the less containers to a bucket
+                        (once a busy container slows down a bucket the whole
+                        bucket starts skipping)
+    :param max_elements_per_group_per_second: tunable, when skipping kicks in
+    :param skip_f: function to call with update_ctx when skipping it
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, update_iterable, num_buckets,
+                 max_elements_per_group_per_second,
+                 skip_f=lambda update_ctx: None):
+        self.iterator = iter(update_iterable)
+        # if we want a smaller "blast radius" we could make this number bigger
+        self.num_buckets = max(num_buckets, 1)
+        # an array might be more efficient; but this is pretty cheap
+        self.next_update = [0.0 for _ in range(self.num_buckets)]
+        try:
+            self.bucket_update_delta = 1.0 / max_elements_per_group_per_second
+        except ZeroDivisionError:
+            self.bucket_update_delta = -1
+        self.skip_f = skip_f
+        self.salt = str(uuid.uuid4())
+
+    def __iter__(self):
+        return self
+
+    def _bucket_key(self, update):
+        acct, cont = split_update_path(update)
+        return int(hash_path(acct, cont, self.salt), 16) % self.num_buckets
+
+    def next(self):
+        for update_ctx in self.iterator:
+            bucket_key = self._bucket_key(update_ctx['update'])
+            now = time.time()
+            if self.next_update[bucket_key] > now:
+                self.skip_f(update_ctx)
+                continue
+            self.next_update[bucket_key] = now + self.bucket_update_delta
+            return update_ctx
+        raise StopIteration()
+
+    __next__ = next
+
+
 class SweepStats(object):
     """
     Stats bucket for an update sweep
     """
     def __init__(self, errors=0, failures=0, quarantines=0, successes=0,
-                 unlinks=0, redirects=0):
+                 unlinks=0, redirects=0, skips=0):
         self.errors = errors
         self.failures = failures
         self.quarantines = quarantines
         self.successes = successes
         self.unlinks = unlinks
         self.redirects = redirects
+        self.skips = skips
 
     def copy(self):
         return type(self)(self.errors, self.failures, self.quarantines,
@@ -62,7 +114,8 @@ class SweepStats(object):
                           self.quarantines - other.quarantines,
                           self.successes - other.successes,
                           self.unlinks - other.unlinks,
-                          self.redirects - other.redirects)
+                          self.redirects - other.redirects,
+                          self.skips - other.skips)
 
     def reset(self):
         self.errors = 0
@@ -71,6 +124,7 @@ class SweepStats(object):
         self.successes = 0
         self.unlinks = 0
         self.redirects = 0
+        self.skips = 0
 
     def __str__(self):
         keys = (
@@ -80,10 +134,26 @@ class SweepStats(object):
             (self.unlinks, 'unlinks'),
             (self.errors, 'errors'),
             (self.redirects, 'redirects'),
+            (self.skips, 'skips'),
         )
         return ', '.join('%d %s' % pair for pair in keys)
 
 
+def split_update_path(update):
+    """
+    Split the account and container parts out of the async update data.
+
+    N.B. updates to shards set the container_path key while the account and
+    container keys are always the root.
+    """
+    container_path = update.get('container_path')
+    if container_path:
+        acct, cont = split_path('/' + container_path, minsegs=2)
+    else:
+        acct, cont = update['account'], update['container']
+    return acct, cont
+
+
 class ObjectUpdater(Daemon):
     """Update object information in container listings."""
 
@@ -110,6 +180,10 @@ class ObjectUpdater(Daemon):
         self.max_objects_per_second = \
             float(conf.get('objects_per_second',
                            objects_per_second))
+        self.max_objects_per_container_per_second = non_negative_float(
+            conf.get('max_objects_per_container_per_second', 0))
+        self.per_container_ratelimit_buckets = config_positive_int_value(
+            conf.get('per_container_ratelimit_buckets', 1000))
         self.node_timeout = float(conf.get('node_timeout', 10))
         self.conn_timeout = float(conf.get('conn_timeout', 0.5))
         self.report_interval = float(conf.get('report_interval', 300))
@@ -205,13 +279,40 @@ class ObjectUpdater(Daemon):
         dump_recon_cache({'object_updater_sweep': elapsed},
                          self.rcache, self.logger)
 
+    def _load_update(self, device, update_path):
+        try:
+            return pickle.load(open(update_path, 'rb'))
+        except Exception as e:
+            if getattr(e, 'errno', None) == errno.ENOENT:
+                return
+            self.logger.exception(
+                'ERROR Pickle problem, quarantining %s', update_path)
+            self.stats.quarantines += 1
+            self.logger.increment('quarantines')
+            target_path = os.path.join(device, 'quarantined', 'objects',
+                                       os.path.basename(update_path))
+            renamer(update_path, target_path, fsync=False)
+            try:
+                # If this was the last async_pending in the directory,
+                # then this will succeed. Otherwise, it'll fail, and
+                # that's okay.
+                os.rmdir(os.path.dirname(update_path))
+            except OSError:
+                pass
+            return
+
     def _iter_async_pendings(self, device):
         """
-        Locate and yield all the async pendings on the device. Multiple updates
-        for the same object will come out in reverse-chronological order
-        (i.e. newest first) so that callers can skip stale async_pendings.
+        Locate and yield an update context for all the async pending files on
+        the device. Each update context contains details of the async pending
+        file location, its timestamp and the un-pickled update data.
 
-        Tries to clean up empty directories as it goes.
+        Async pending files that fail to load will be quarantined.
+
+        Only the most recent update for the same object is yielded; older
+        (stale) async pending files are unlinked as they are located.
+
+        The iterator tries to clean up empty directories as it goes.
         """
         # loop through async pending dirs for all policies
         for asyncdir in self._listdir(device):
@@ -238,12 +339,13 @@ class ObjectUpdater(Daemon):
                 if not os.path.isdir(prefix_path):
                     continue
                 last_obj_hash = None
-                for update in sorted(self._listdir(prefix_path), reverse=True):
-                    update_path = os.path.join(prefix_path, update)
+                for update_file in sorted(self._listdir(prefix_path),
+                                          reverse=True):
+                    update_path = os.path.join(prefix_path, update_file)
                     if not os.path.isfile(update_path):
                         continue
                     try:
-                        obj_hash, timestamp = update.split('-')
+                        obj_hash, timestamp = update_file.split('-')
                     except ValueError:
                         self.stats.errors += 1
                         self.logger.increment('errors')
@@ -280,9 +382,14 @@ class ObjectUpdater(Daemon):
                                 raise
                     else:
                         last_obj_hash = obj_hash
-                        yield {'device': device, 'policy': policy,
-                               'path': update_path,
-                               'obj_hash': obj_hash, 'timestamp': timestamp}
+                        update = self._load_update(device, update_path)
+                        if update is not None:
+                            yield {'device': device,
+                                   'policy': policy,
+                                   'update_path': update_path,
+                                   'obj_hash': obj_hash,
+                                   'timestamp': timestamp,
+                                   'update': update}
 
     def object_sweep(self, device):
         """
@@ -297,13 +404,21 @@ class ObjectUpdater(Daemon):
         self.logger.info("Object update sweep starting on %s (pid: %d)",
                          device, my_pid)
 
+        def skip_counting_f(update_ctx):
+            # in the future we could defer update_ctx
+            self.stats.skips += 1
+            self.logger.increment("skips")
+
         ap_iter = RateLimitedIterator(
             self._iter_async_pendings(device),
             elements_per_second=self.max_objects_per_second)
+        ap_iter = BucketizedUpdateSkippingLimiter(
+            ap_iter, self.per_container_ratelimit_buckets,
+            self.max_objects_per_container_per_second,
+            skip_f=skip_counting_f)
         with ContextPool(self.concurrency) as pool:
-            for update in ap_iter:
-                pool.spawn(self.process_object_update,
-                           update['path'], update['device'], update['policy'])
+            for update_ctx in ap_iter:
+                pool.spawn(self.process_object_update, **update_ctx)
                 now = time.time()
                 if now - last_status_update >= self.report_interval:
                     this_sweep = self.stats.since(start_stats)
@@ -326,6 +441,7 @@ class ObjectUpdater(Daemon):
              '%(quarantines)d quarantines, '
              '%(unlinks)d unlinks, %(errors)d errors, '
              '%(redirects)d redirects '
+             '%(skips)d skips '
              '(pid: %(pid)d)'),
             {'device': device,
              'elapsed': time.time() - start_time,
@@ -335,36 +451,20 @@ class ObjectUpdater(Daemon):
              'quarantines': sweep_totals.quarantines,
              'unlinks': sweep_totals.unlinks,
              'errors': sweep_totals.errors,
-             'redirects': sweep_totals.redirects})
+             'redirects': sweep_totals.redirects,
+             'skips': sweep_totals.skips})
 
-    def process_object_update(self, update_path, device, policy):
+    def process_object_update(self, update_path, device, policy, update,
+                              **kwargs):
         """
         Process the object information to be updated and update.
 
         :param update_path: path to pickled object update file
         :param device: path to device
         :param policy: storage policy of object update
+        :param update: the un-pickled update data
+        :param kwargs: un-used keys from update_ctx
         """
-        try:
-            update = pickle.load(open(update_path, 'rb'))
-        except Exception as e:
-            if getattr(e, 'errno', None) == errno.ENOENT:
-                return
-            self.logger.exception(
-                'ERROR Pickle problem, quarantining %s', update_path)
-            self.stats.quarantines += 1
-            self.logger.increment('quarantines')
-            target_path = os.path.join(device, 'quarantined', 'objects',
-                                       os.path.basename(update_path))
-            renamer(update_path, target_path, fsync=False)
-            try:
-                # If this was the last async_pending in the directory,
-                # then this will succeed. Otherwise, it'll fail, and
-                # that's okay.
-                os.rmdir(os.path.dirname(update_path))
-            except OSError:
-                pass
-            return
 
         def do_update():
             successes = update.get('successes', [])
@@ -374,11 +474,7 @@ class ObjectUpdater(Daemon):
                                    str(int(policy)))
             headers_out.setdefault('X-Backend-Accept-Redirect', 'true')
             headers_out.setdefault('X-Backend-Accept-Quoted-Location', 'true')
-            container_path = update.get('container_path')
-            if container_path:
-                acct, cont = split_path('/' + container_path, minsegs=2)
-            else:
-                acct, cont = update['account'], update['container']
+            acct, cont = split_update_path(update)
             part, nodes = self.get_container_ring().get_nodes(acct, cont)
             obj = '/%s/%s/%s' % (acct, cont, update['obj'])
             events = [spawn(self.object_update,
diff --git a/test/unit/obj/test_updater.py b/test/unit/obj/test_updater.py
index 1ba4c8d6ed..b380286f9e 100644
--- a/test/unit/obj/test_updater.py
+++ b/test/unit/obj/test_updater.py
@@ -12,13 +12,14 @@
 # implied.
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
-
+import eventlet
 import six.moves.cPickle as pickle
 import mock
 import os
 import unittest
 import random
 import itertools
+from collections import Counter
 from contextlib import closing
 from gzip import GzipFile
 from tempfile import mkdtemp
@@ -39,8 +40,7 @@ from swift.common.ring import RingData
 from swift.common import utils
 from swift.common.header_key_dict import HeaderKeyDict
 from swift.common.swob import bytes_to_wsgi
-from swift.common.utils import (
-    hash_path, normalize_timestamp, mkdirs, write_pickle)
+from swift.common.utils import hash_path, normalize_timestamp, mkdirs
 from swift.common.storage_policy import StoragePolicy, POLICIES
 
 
@@ -135,6 +135,8 @@ class TestObjectUpdater(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(daemon.concurrency, 8)
         self.assertEqual(daemon.updater_workers, 1)
         self.assertEqual(daemon.max_objects_per_second, 50.0)
+        self.assertEqual(daemon.max_objects_per_container_per_second, 0.0)
+        self.assertEqual(daemon.per_container_ratelimit_buckets, 1000)
 
         # non-defaults
         conf = {
@@ -145,6 +147,8 @@ class TestObjectUpdater(unittest.TestCase):
             'concurrency': '2',
             'updater_workers': '3',
             'objects_per_second': '10.5',
+            'max_objects_per_container_per_second': '1.2',
+            'per_container_ratelimit_buckets': '100',
         }
         daemon = object_updater.ObjectUpdater(conf, logger=self.logger)
         self.assertEqual(daemon.devices, '/some/where/else')
@@ -154,6 +158,8 @@ class TestObjectUpdater(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(daemon.concurrency, 2)
         self.assertEqual(daemon.updater_workers, 3)
         self.assertEqual(daemon.max_objects_per_second, 10.5)
+        self.assertEqual(daemon.max_objects_per_container_per_second, 1.2)
+        self.assertEqual(daemon.per_container_ratelimit_buckets, 100)
 
         # check deprecated option
         daemon = object_updater.ObjectUpdater({'slowdown': '0.04'},
@@ -169,6 +175,12 @@ class TestObjectUpdater(unittest.TestCase):
         check_bad({'concurrency': '1.0'})
         check_bad({'slowdown': 'baz'})
         check_bad({'objects_per_second': 'quux'})
+        check_bad({'max_objects_per_container_per_second': '-0.1'})
+        check_bad({'max_objects_per_container_per_second': 'auto'})
+        check_bad({'per_container_ratelimit_buckets': '1.2'})
+        check_bad({'per_container_ratelimit_buckets': '0'})
+        check_bad({'per_container_ratelimit_buckets': '-1'})
+        check_bad({'per_container_ratelimit_buckets': 'auto'})
 
     @mock.patch('os.listdir')
     def test_listdir_with_exception(self, mock_listdir):
@@ -201,11 +213,12 @@ class TestObjectUpdater(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(len(log_lines), 0)
         self.assertEqual(path, ['foo', 'bar'])
 
-    def test_object_sweep(self):
-        def check_with_idx(index, warn, should_skip):
-            if int(index) > 0:
+    @mock.patch('swift.obj.updater.dump_recon_cache')
+    def test_object_sweep(self, mock_recon):
+        def check_with_idx(policy_index, warn, should_skip):
+            if int(policy_index) > 0:
                 asyncdir = os.path.join(self.sda1,
-                                        ASYNCDIR_BASE + "-" + index)
+                                        ASYNCDIR_BASE + "-" + policy_index)
             else:
                 asyncdir = os.path.join(self.sda1, ASYNCDIR_BASE)
 
@@ -220,7 +233,8 @@ class TestObjectUpdater(unittest.TestCase):
                 os.path.join(self.sda1,
                              ASYNCDIR_BASE + '-' + 'twentington'),
                 os.path.join(self.sda1,
-                             ASYNCDIR_BASE + '-' + str(int(index) + 100)))
+                             ASYNCDIR_BASE + '-' + str(
+                                 int(policy_index) + 100)))
 
             for not_dir in not_dirs:
                 with open(not_dir, 'w'):
@@ -239,13 +253,13 @@ class TestObjectUpdater(unittest.TestCase):
                     o_path = os.path.join(prefix_dir, ohash + '-' +
                                           normalize_timestamp(t))
                     if t == timestamps[0]:
-                        expected.add((o_path, int(index)))
-                    write_pickle({}, o_path)
+                        expected.add((o_path, int(policy_index)))
+                    self._write_dummy_pickle(o_path, 'account', 'container', o)
 
             seen = set()
 
             class MockObjectUpdater(object_updater.ObjectUpdater):
-                def process_object_update(self, update_path, device, policy):
+                def process_object_update(self, update_path, policy, **kwargs):
                     seen.add((update_path, int(policy)))
                     os.unlink(update_path)
 
@@ -290,10 +304,10 @@ class TestObjectUpdater(unittest.TestCase):
             ohash = hash_path('account', 'container', o)
             o_path = os.path.join(prefix_dir, ohash + '-' +
                                   normalize_timestamp(t))
-            write_pickle({}, o_path)
+            self._write_dummy_pickle(o_path, 'account', 'container', o)
 
         class MockObjectUpdater(object_updater.ObjectUpdater):
-            def process_object_update(self, update_path, device, policy):
+            def process_object_update(self, update_path, **kwargs):
                 os.unlink(update_path)
                 self.stats.successes += 1
                 self.stats.unlinks += 1
@@ -312,12 +326,13 @@ class TestObjectUpdater(unittest.TestCase):
 
         def mock_time_function():
             rv = now[0]
-            now[0] += 5
+            now[0] += 4
             return rv
 
-        # With 10s between updates, time() advancing 5s every time we look,
+        # With 10s between updates, time() advancing 4s every time we look,
         # and 5 async_pendings on disk, we should get at least two progress
-        # lines.
+        # lines. (time is incremented by 4 each time the update app iter yields
+        # and each time the elapsed time is sampled)
         with mock.patch('swift.obj.updater.time',
                         mock.MagicMock(time=mock_time_function)), \
                 mock.patch.object(object_updater, 'ContextPool', MockPool):
@@ -360,10 +375,10 @@ class TestObjectUpdater(unittest.TestCase):
                 ohash = hash_path('account', 'container%d' % policy.idx, o)
                 o_path = os.path.join(prefix_dir, ohash + '-' +
                                       normalize_timestamp(t))
-                write_pickle({}, o_path)
+                self._write_dummy_pickle(o_path, 'account', 'container', o)
 
         class MockObjectUpdater(object_updater.ObjectUpdater):
-            def process_object_update(self, update_path, device, policy):
+            def process_object_update(self, update_path, **kwargs):
                 os.unlink(update_path)
                 self.stats.successes += 1
                 self.stats.unlinks += 1
@@ -1196,7 +1211,7 @@ class TestObjectUpdater(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def test_obj_update_gone_missing(self):
         # if you've got multiple updaters running (say, both a background
-        # and foreground process), process_object_update may get a file
+        # and foreground process), _load_update may get a file
         # that doesn't exist
         policies = list(POLICIES)
         random.shuffle(policies)
@@ -1218,13 +1233,227 @@ class TestObjectUpdater(unittest.TestCase):
             odir,
             '%s-%s' % (ohash, next(self.ts_iter).internal))
 
+        self.assertEqual(os.listdir(async_dir), [ohash[-3:]])
+        self.assertFalse(os.listdir(odir))
         with mocked_http_conn():
             with mock.patch('swift.obj.updater.dump_recon_cache'):
-                daemon.process_object_update(op_path, self.sda1, policies[0])
+                daemon._load_update(self.sda1, op_path)
         self.assertEqual({}, daemon.logger.get_increment_counts())
         self.assertEqual(os.listdir(async_dir), [ohash[-3:]])
         self.assertFalse(os.listdir(odir))
 
+    def _write_dummy_pickle(self, path, a, c, o, cp=None):
+        update = {
+            'op': 'PUT',
+            'account': a,
+            'container': c,
+            'obj': o,
+            'headers': {'X-Container-Timestamp': normalize_timestamp(0)}
+        }
+        if cp:
+            update['container_path'] = cp
+        with open(path, 'wb') as async_pending:
+            pickle.dump(update, async_pending)
+
+    def _make_async_pending_pickle(self, a, c, o, cp=None):
+        ohash = hash_path(a, c, o)
+        odir = os.path.join(self.async_dir, ohash[-3:])
+        mkdirs(odir)
+        path = os.path.join(
+            odir,
+            '%s-%s' % (ohash, normalize_timestamp(time())))
+        self._write_dummy_pickle(path, a, c, o, cp)
+
+    def _find_async_pending_files(self):
+        found_files = []
+        for root, dirs, files in os.walk(self.async_dir):
+            found_files.extend(files)
+        return found_files
+
+    @mock.patch('swift.obj.updater.dump_recon_cache')
+    def test_per_container_rate_limit(self, mock_recon):
+        conf = {
+            'devices': self.devices_dir,
+            'mount_check': 'false',
+            'swift_dir': self.testdir,
+            'max_objects_per_container_per_second': 1,
+        }
+        daemon = object_updater.ObjectUpdater(conf, logger=self.logger)
+        self.async_dir = os.path.join(self.sda1, get_async_dir(POLICIES[0]))
+        os.mkdir(self.async_dir)
+        num_c1_files = 10
+        for i in range(num_c1_files):
+            obj_name = 'o%02d' % i
+            self._make_async_pending_pickle('a', 'c1', obj_name)
+        c1_part, _ = daemon.get_container_ring().get_nodes('a', 'c1')
+        # make one more in a different container, with a container_path
+        self._make_async_pending_pickle('a', 'c2', obj_name,
+                                        cp='.shards_a/c2_shard')
+        c2_part, _ = daemon.get_container_ring().get_nodes('.shards_a',
+                                                           'c2_shard')
+        expected_total = num_c1_files + 1
+        self.assertEqual(expected_total,
+                         len(self._find_async_pending_files()))
+        expected_success = 2
+        fake_status_codes = [200] * 3 * expected_success
+        with mocked_http_conn(*fake_status_codes) as fake_conn:
+            daemon.run_once()
+        self.assertEqual(expected_success, daemon.stats.successes)
+        expected_skipped = expected_total - expected_success
+        self.assertEqual(expected_skipped, daemon.stats.skips)
+        self.assertEqual(expected_skipped,
+                         len(self._find_async_pending_files()))
+        self.assertEqual(
+            Counter(
+                '/'.join(req['path'].split('/')[:5])
+                for req in fake_conn.requests),
+            {'/sda1/%s/a/c1' % c1_part: 3,
+             '/sda1/%s/.shards_a/c2_shard' % c2_part: 3})
+
+    @mock.patch('swift.obj.updater.dump_recon_cache')
+    def test_per_container_rate_limit_unlimited(self, mock_recon):
+        conf = {
+            'devices': self.devices_dir,
+            'mount_check': 'false',
+            'swift_dir': self.testdir,
+            'max_objects_per_container_per_second': 0,
+        }
+        daemon = object_updater.ObjectUpdater(conf, logger=self.logger)
+        self.async_dir = os.path.join(self.sda1, get_async_dir(POLICIES[0]))
+        os.mkdir(self.async_dir)
+        num_c1_files = 10
+        for i in range(num_c1_files):
+            obj_name = 'o%02d' % i
+            self._make_async_pending_pickle('a', 'c1', obj_name)
+        c1_part, _ = daemon.get_container_ring().get_nodes('a', 'c1')
+        # make one more in a different container, with a container_path
+        self._make_async_pending_pickle('a', 'c2', obj_name,
+                                        cp='.shards_a/c2_shard')
+        c2_part, _ = daemon.get_container_ring().get_nodes('.shards_a',
+                                                           'c2_shard')
+        expected_total = num_c1_files + 1
+        self.assertEqual(expected_total,
+                         len(self._find_async_pending_files()))
+        fake_status_codes = [200] * 3 * expected_total
+        with mocked_http_conn(*fake_status_codes):
+            daemon.run_once()
+        self.assertEqual(expected_total, daemon.stats.successes)
+        self.assertEqual(0, daemon.stats.skips)
+        self.assertEqual([], self._find_async_pending_files())
+
+    @mock.patch('swift.obj.updater.dump_recon_cache')
+    def test_per_container_rate_limit_slow_responses(self, mock_recon):
+        conf = {
+            'devices': self.devices_dir,
+            'mount_check': 'false',
+            'swift_dir': self.testdir,
+            'max_objects_per_container_per_second': 10,
+        }
+        daemon = object_updater.ObjectUpdater(conf, logger=self.logger)
+        self.async_dir = os.path.join(self.sda1, get_async_dir(POLICIES[0]))
+        os.mkdir(self.async_dir)
+        # all updates for same container
+        num_c1_files = 4
+        for i in range(num_c1_files):
+            obj_name = 'o%02d' % i
+            self._make_async_pending_pickle('a', 'c1', obj_name)
+        expected_total = num_c1_files
+        self.assertEqual(expected_total,
+                         len(self._find_async_pending_files()))
+        latencies = [.11, 0, .11, 0]
+        expected_success = 2
+        fake_status_codes = [200] * 3 * expected_success
+
+        def fake_spawn(pool, *args, **kwargs):
+            # make each update delay the iter being called again
+            eventlet.sleep(latencies.pop(0))
+            return args[0](*args[1:], **kwargs)
+
+        with mocked_http_conn(*fake_status_codes):
+            with mock.patch('swift.obj.updater.ContextPool.spawn', fake_spawn):
+                daemon.run_once()
+        self.assertEqual(expected_success, daemon.stats.successes)
+        expected_skipped = expected_total - expected_success
+        self.assertEqual(expected_skipped, daemon.stats.skips)
+        self.assertEqual(expected_skipped,
+                         len(self._find_async_pending_files()))
+
+
+class TestObjectUpdaterFunctions(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_split_update_path(self):
+        update = {
+            'op': 'PUT',
+            'account': 'a',
+            'container': 'c',
+            'obj': 'o',
+            'headers': {
+                'X-Container-Timestamp': normalize_timestamp(0),
+            }
+        }
+        actual = object_updater.split_update_path(update)
+        self.assertEqual(('a', 'c'), actual)
+
+        update['container_path'] = None
+        actual = object_updater.split_update_path(update)
+        self.assertEqual(('a', 'c'), actual)
+
+        update['container_path'] = '.shards_a/c_shard_n'
+        actual = object_updater.split_update_path(update)
+        self.assertEqual(('.shards_a', 'c_shard_n'), actual)
+
+
+class TestBucketizedUpdateSkippingLimiter(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_init(self):
+        it = object_updater.BucketizedUpdateSkippingLimiter([3, 1], 1000, 10)
+        self.assertEqual(1000, it.num_buckets)
+        self.assertEqual(0.1, it.bucket_update_delta)
+        self.assertEqual([3, 1], [x for x in it.iterator])
+
+        # rate of 0 implies unlimited
+        it = object_updater.BucketizedUpdateSkippingLimiter(iter([3, 1]), 9, 0)
+        self.assertEqual(9, it.num_buckets)
+        self.assertEqual(-1, it.bucket_update_delta)
+        self.assertEqual([3, 1], [x for x in it.iterator])
+
+        # num_buckets is collared at 1
+        it = object_updater.BucketizedUpdateSkippingLimiter(iter([3, 1]), 0, 1)
+        self.assertEqual(1, it.num_buckets)
+        self.assertEqual(1, it.bucket_update_delta)
+        self.assertEqual([3, 1], [x for x in it.iterator])
+
+    def test_iteration_unlimited(self):
+        # verify iteration at unlimited rate
+        update_ctxs = [
+            {'update': {'account': '%d' % i, 'container': '%s' % i}}
+            for i in range(20)]
+        it = object_updater.BucketizedUpdateSkippingLimiter(
+            iter(update_ctxs), 9, 0)
+        self.assertEqual(update_ctxs, [x for x in it])
+
+    def test_iteration_ratelimited(self):
+        # verify iteration at limited rate - single bucket
+        update_ctxs = [
+            {'update': {'account': '%d' % i, 'container': '%s' % i}}
+            for i in range(2)]
+        it = object_updater.BucketizedUpdateSkippingLimiter(
+            iter(update_ctxs), 1, 0.1)
+        self.assertEqual(update_ctxs[:1], [x for x in it])
+
+    def test_iteration_ratelimited_with_callback(self):
+        # verify iteration at limited rate - single bucket
+        skipped = []
+
+        def on_skip(update_ctx):
+            skipped.append(update_ctx)
+
+        update_ctxs = [
+            {'update': {'account': '%d' % i, 'container': '%s' % i}}
+            for i in range(2)]
+        it = object_updater.BucketizedUpdateSkippingLimiter(
+            iter(update_ctxs), 1, 0.1, skip_f=on_skip)
+        self.assertEqual(update_ctxs[:1], [x for x in it])
+        self.assertEqual(update_ctxs[1:], skipped)
+
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()