diff --git a/ansible/roles/nova-cell/defaults/main.yml b/ansible/roles/nova-cell/defaults/main.yml
index 790190fb08..918de4463d 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/nova-cell/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/nova-cell/defaults/main.yml
@@ -639,6 +639,17 @@ libvirt_sasl_authname: "nova"
 libvirt_sasl_mech_list:
   - "{{ 'SCRAM-SHA-256' if libvirt_tls | bool else 'DIGEST-MD5' }}"
 
+# Connection processing limits for libvirtd. nova-compute is effectively the
+# only privileged client of libvirtd under Kolla, so libvirt's stock per-client
+# request cap (max_client_requests=5) is the binding constraint rather than a
+# safety net: concurrent instance builds plus the resource-tracker periodic
+# routinely exceed five in-flight RPCs, which starves keepalive responses until
+# libvirtd drops the connection. Raise the per-client cap, and the worker pool
+# along with it so that lifting the per-client limit does not starve other
+# connections (live migration, health checks, periodics).
+libvirt_max_client_requests: 20
+libvirt_max_workers: 50
+
 ####################
 # Kolla
 ####################
diff --git a/ansible/roles/nova-cell/templates/libvirtd.conf.j2 b/ansible/roles/nova-cell/templates/libvirtd.conf.j2
index aa01f743d8..d156fb4be7 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/nova-cell/templates/libvirtd.conf.j2
+++ b/ansible/roles/nova-cell/templates/libvirtd.conf.j2
@@ -25,3 +25,13 @@ listen_addr = "{{ migration_interface_address }}"
 # Enable read-only access to libvirt socket
 auth_unix_ro = "none"
 {% endif %}
+
+# Connection processing limits. libvirt's defaults (max_workers=20,
+# max_client_requests=5) assume a multi-tenant host with many mutually
+# distrustful clients. Under Kolla, nova-compute is effectively the sole
+# privileged client, so the per-client cap of 5 becomes the binding
+# constraint: concurrent builds plus the resource-tracker periodic exceed
+# five in-flight RPCs and starve keepalive responses, causing libvirtd to
+# drop the connection after keepalive_interval (5s) x keepalive_count (5).
+max_workers = {{ libvirt_max_workers }}
+max_client_requests = {{ libvirt_max_client_requests }}
diff --git a/doc/source/reference/compute/libvirt-guide.rst b/doc/source/reference/compute/libvirt-guide.rst
index 24a55e1fbe..d6212b9086 100644
--- a/doc/source/reference/compute/libvirt-guide.rst
+++ b/doc/source/reference/compute/libvirt-guide.rst
@@ -198,3 +198,26 @@ Since the Yoga release, the ``kolla-ansible certificates`` command generates
 certificates for libvirt TLS. A single key and certificate is used for all
 hosts, with a Subject Alternative Name (SAN) entry for each compute host
 hostname.
+
+Libvirt Connection Limits
+=========================
+
+By default ``libvirt`` is configured by upstream packages with reasonable
+defaults for an environment where many users are starting and stopping virtual
+machines. This isn't true for Kolla Hypervisor nodes, where a single
+``nova-compute`` container manages all of the virtual machine instances on the
+machine.
+
+Kolla-Ansible therefore tunes the following values in ``libvirtd.conf``:
+
+* libvirt_max_client_requests: raised to 20 compared to the usual default of
+  5.
+* libvirt_max_workers: raised to 50 compared to the usual default of 20.
+
+Both of these values may be overridden in ``globals.yml``.
+
+This means that ``nova-compute`` can therefore perform 20 operations via
+libvirt simultaneously instead of the usual default of 5. These values should
+be safe, but if you see libvirt error messages saying ``Client hit max requests
+limit``, you may want to consider an additional increase -- especially if you
+have particularly large hypervisors.
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/libvirtd-connection-tuning-7c4f1e9a2b8d6f30.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/libvirtd-connection-tuning-7c4f1e9a2b8d6f30.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fcc8a65d41
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/libvirtd-connection-tuning-7c4f1e9a2b8d6f30.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+---
+features:
+  - |
+    The ``nova_libvirt`` container's ``libvirtd.conf`` now raises libvirt's
+    connection processing limits above their stock defaults, which are tuned
+    for a multi-tenant host rather than for Kolla's single-privileged-client
+    pattern. ``max_client_requests`` is raised from 5 to 20 and ``max_workers``
+    from 20 to 50. Both are exposed as the ``libvirt_max_client_requests`` and
+    ``libvirt_max_workers`` variables so they can be tuned further.
+fixes:
+  - |
+    Fixed intermittent instance build failures (``Cannot recv data:
+    Input/output error`` during ``defineXML``, leading to instances in
+    ``ERROR`` state) that occurred when several instances were built
+    concurrently. nova-compute is effectively the sole client of ``libvirtd``,
+    and libvirt's default per-client request cap of 5 was being exceeded by
+    concurrent builds plus periodic tasks, starving keepalive responses until
+    ``libvirtd`` dropped the connection.