diff --git a/defaults/main.yml b/defaults/main.yml
index 5657da6..0ee0ce7 100644
--- a/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/defaults/main.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 ---
 pbs_repo_key: "https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/proxmox-release-{{ ansible_distribution_release }}.gpg"
+pbs_random_delay: 900 # 15 minutes in seconds
 pbs_repo_no_subscription: "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/proxmox-release-{{ ansible_distribution_release }}.gpg] http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pbs-client {{ ansible_distribution_release }} main"
 
 backup_mysql_host: ""
diff --git a/templates/brain_backup.j2 b/templates/brain_backup.j2
index e48bd1b..35914fb 100644
--- a/templates/brain_backup.j2
+++ b/templates/brain_backup.j2
@@ -3,6 +3,14 @@
 
 [ ! -f /usr/bin/proxmox-backup-client ] && echo "proxmox-backup-client is not installed: exiting." && exit 1
 
+{% if pbs_random_delay | int > 0 %}
+## random delay to avoid PBS connection flood ##
+delay=$((RANDOM % {{ pbs_random_delay }}))
+echo "Sleeping ${delay}s before starting backup (max delay: {{ pbs_random_delay }}s)..."
+sleep $delay
+## end of random delay ##
+
+{% endif %}
 today=`date +%Y-%m-%d`
 backup_dir={{ backup_dir }}
 backup_local_retention={{ backup_local_retention }}