diff --git a/dist/common/systemd/node-exporter.service b/dist/common/systemd/node-exporter.service
index d2e4e39e00..08ed4b7337 100644
--- a/dist/common/systemd/node-exporter.service
+++ b/dist/common/systemd/node-exporter.service
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ Type=simple
 User=scylla
 Group=scylla
 ExecStart=/usr/bin/node_exporter  --collector.interrupts
+Slice=scylla-helper.slice
 
 [Install]
 WantedBy=multi-user.target
diff --git a/dist/common/systemd/scylla-fstrim.service b/dist/common/systemd/scylla-fstrim.service
index 9457fa26e0..6755ba8e4e 100644
--- a/dist/common/systemd/scylla-fstrim.service
+++ b/dist/common/systemd/scylla-fstrim.service
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ After=network.target
 [Service]
 Type=simple
 ExecStart=/opt/scylladb/scripts/scylla_fstrim
+Slice=scylla-helper.slice
 
 [Install]
 WantedBy=multi-user.target
diff --git a/dist/common/systemd/scylla-helper.slice b/dist/common/systemd/scylla-helper.slice
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3cc9b4cf96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dist/common/systemd/scylla-helper.slice
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+[Unit]
+Description=Slice used to run companion programs to Scylla. Memory, CPU and IO restricted
+Before=slices.target
+
+[Slice]
+MemoryAccounting=true
+IOAccounting=true
+CPUAccounting=true
+
+CPUWeight=10
+IOWeight=10
+
+# MemoryHigh is the throttle point
+MemoryHigh=4%
+# MemoryMax is the OOM point. As Scylla reserves 7% by default, the other two percent goes to
+# the kernel and other non contained processes
+MemoryMax=5%
+# Systemd deprecated settings BlockIOWeight, MemoryLimit and CPUShares. But they are still the ones used in RHEL7
+# Newer SystemD wants MemoryHigh/MemoryMax, IOWeight and CPUWeight instead. Luckily both newer and older SystemD seem to
+# ignore the unwanted option so safest to get both. Using just the old versions would work too but
+# seems less future proof. Using just the new versions does not work at all for RHEL7/
+MemoryLimit=5%
+CPUShares=10
+BlockIOWeight=10
diff --git a/dist/common/systemd/scylla-housekeeping-daily.service.mustache b/dist/common/systemd/scylla-housekeeping-daily.service.mustache
index caa5caf0cb..578c82cd4b 100644
--- a/dist/common/systemd/scylla-housekeeping-daily.service.mustache
+++ b/dist/common/systemd/scylla-housekeeping-daily.service.mustache
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ ExecStart=/opt/scylladb/scripts/scylla-housekeeping --uuid-file /var/lib/scylla-
 {{#redhat}}
 ExecStart=/opt/scylladb/scripts/scylla-housekeeping --uuid-file /var/lib/scylla-housekeeping/housekeeping.uuid -q -c /etc/scylla.d/housekeeping.cfg --repo-files '/etc/yum.repos.d/scylla*.repo' version --mode d
 {{/redhat}}
+Slice=scylla-helper.slice
 
 [Install]
 WantedBy=multi-user.target
diff --git a/dist/common/systemd/scylla-server.service.mustache b/dist/common/systemd/scylla-server.service.mustache
index be8f28eea4..1a08a15ed3 100644
--- a/dist/common/systemd/scylla-server.service.mustache
+++ b/dist/common/systemd/scylla-server.service.mustache
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ OOMScoreAdjust=-950
 StandardOutput=syslog
 StandardError=syslog
 SyslogLevelPrefix=false
+Slice=scylla-server.slice
 
 [Install]
 WantedBy=multi-user.target
diff --git a/dist/common/systemd/scylla-server.slice b/dist/common/systemd/scylla-server.slice
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..44644da4e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dist/common/systemd/scylla-server.slice
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+[Unit]
+Description=Slice used to run Scylla. Maximum priority for IO and CPU
+Before=slices.target
+
+[Slice]
+MemoryAccounting=true
+IOAccounting=true
+CPUAccounting=true
+# Systemd deprecated settings BlockIOWeight and CPUShares. But they are still the ones used in RHEL7
+# Newer SystemD wants IOWeight and CPUWeight instead. Luckily both newer and older SystemD seem to
+# ignore the unwanted option so safest to get both. Using just the old versions would work too but
+# seems less future proof. Using just the new versions does not work at all for RHEL7/
+BlockIOWeight=1000
+IOWeight=1000
+# Should be zero, but work around https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues/8363 for older systemd
+MemorySwapMax=1
+CPUShares=1000
+CPUWeight=1000
+
diff --git a/dist/debian/debian/scylla-server.postrm b/dist/debian/debian/scylla-server.postrm
index 4caee0bd13..3e586771a2 100644
--- a/dist/debian/debian/scylla-server.postrm
+++ b/dist/debian/debian/scylla-server.postrm
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ set -e
 case "$1" in
     purge|remove)
         rm -rf /etc/systemd/system/scylla-server.service.d/
+        rm -rf /etc/systemd/system/scylla-helper.slice.d/
         ;;
 esac
 
diff --git a/dist/debian/scylla-server.install.mustache b/dist/debian/scylla-server.install.mustache
index b30a61351b..cb95d0bea0 100644
--- a/dist/debian/scylla-server.install.mustache
+++ b/dist/debian/scylla-server.install.mustache
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ conf/housekeeping.cfg etc/scylla.d
 dist/common/systemd/scylla-housekeeping-daily.timer /lib/systemd/system
 dist/common/systemd/scylla-housekeeping-restart.timer /lib/systemd/system
 dist/common/systemd/scylla-fstrim.timer /lib/systemd/system
+dist/common/systemd/*.slice /lib/systemd/system
 dist/debian/scripts/scylla_save_coredump opt/scylladb/scripts
 dist/debian/scripts/scylla_delay_fstrim opt/scylladb/scripts
 *.md NOTICE.txt ORIGIN licenses opt/scylladb/share/doc/scylla
diff --git a/dist/redhat/scylla.spec.mustache b/dist/redhat/scylla.spec.mustache
index 250ec352ac..d0e71c4b17 100644
--- a/dist/redhat/scylla.spec.mustache
+++ b/dist/redhat/scylla.spec.mustache
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@ rm -rf $RPM_BUILD_ROOT
 /opt/scylladb/share/doc/scylla/licenses/
 %{_unitdir}/*.service
 %{_unitdir}/*.timer
+%{_unitdir}/*.slice
 %{_bindir}/scylla
 %{_bindir}/iotune
 %{_bindir}/scyllatop
@@ -135,6 +136,8 @@ rm -rf $RPM_BUILD_ROOT
 %attr(0755,scylla,scylla) %dir %{_sharedstatedir}/scylla/view_hints
 %attr(0755,scylla,scylla) %dir %{_sharedstatedir}/scylla/coredump
 %attr(0755,scylla,scylla) %dir %{_sharedstatedir}/scylla-housekeeping
+%ghost /etc/systemd/system/scylla-helper.slice.d/
+%ghost /etc/systemd/system/scylla-helper.slice.d/memory.conf
 %ghost /etc/systemd/system/scylla-server.service.d/
 %ghost /etc/systemd/system/scylla-server.service.d/capabilities.conf
 %ghost /etc/systemd/system/scylla-server.service.d/mounts.conf
diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index 3c99bca420..adbf753059 100755
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -142,6 +142,7 @@ if [ -z "$pkg" ] || [ "$pkg" = "server" ]; then
     install -d -m755 "$retc"/scylla "$rusr/lib/systemd/system" "$rusr/bin" "$rprefix/bin" "$rprefix/libexec" "$rprefix/libreloc" "$rprefix/scripts"
     install -m644 build/*.service -Dt "$rusr"/lib/systemd/system
     install -m644 dist/common/systemd/*.service -Dt "$rusr"/lib/systemd/system
+    install -m644 dist/common/systemd/*.slice -Dt "$rusr"/lib/systemd/system
     install -m644 dist/common/systemd/*.timer -Dt "$rusr"/lib/systemd/system
     install -m755 seastar/scripts/seastar-cpu-map.sh -Dt "$rprefix"/scripts
     install -m755 seastar/dpdk/usertools/dpdk-devbind.py -Dt "$rprefix"/scripts
diff --git a/scripts/create-relocatable-package.py b/scripts/create-relocatable-package.py
index b9692da8d6..ab4739bd5b 100755
--- a/scripts/create-relocatable-package.py
+++ b/scripts/create-relocatable-package.py
@@ -159,6 +159,9 @@ ar.add('build/SCYLLA-PRODUCT-FILE', arcname='SCYLLA-PRODUCT-FILE')
 ar.add('seastar/scripts')
 ar.add('seastar/dpdk/usertools')
 ar.add('install.sh')
+# scylla_post_install.sh lives at the top level together with install.sh in the src tree, but while install.sh is
+# not distributed in the .rpm and .deb packages, scylla_post_install is, so we'll add it in the package
+# together with the other scripts that will end up in /usr/lib/scylla
 ar.add('scylla_post_install.sh', arcname="dist/common/scripts/scylla_post_install.sh")
 ar.add('scripts/relocate_python_scripts.py', arcname='relocate_python_scripts.py')
 ar.add('README.md')
diff --git a/scylla_post_install.sh b/scylla_post_install.sh
index 04594343a8..eeabedf634 100755
--- a/scylla_post_install.sh
+++ b/scylla_post_install.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,24 @@
 #!/bin/bash
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2019 ScyllaDB
+#
+
+#
+# This file is part of Scylla.
+#
+# Scylla is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# Scylla is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with Scylla.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+#
 
 if [ ! -d /run/systemd/system ]; then
     exit 0
@@ -35,5 +55,19 @@ EOS
         fi
     fi
 
+    # For systems with not a lot of memory, override default reservations for the slices
+    # seastar has a minimum reservation of 1.5GB that kicks in, and 21GB * 0.07 = 1.5GB.
+    # So for anything smaller than that we will not use percentages in the helper slice
+    MEMTOTAL_BYTES=$(cat /proc/meminfo | grep MemTotal | awk '{print $2 * 1024}')
+    if [ $MEMTOTAL_BYTES -lt 23008753371 ]; then
+        mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system/scylla-helper.slice.d/
+        cat << EOS > /etc/systemd/system/scylla-helper.slice.d/memory.conf
+[Slice]
+MemoryHigh=1200M
+MemoryMax=1400M
+MemoryLimit=1400M
+EOS
+    fi
+
     systemctl --system daemon-reload >/dev/null || true
 fi