diff --git a/scripts/limitMemory.sh b/scripts/limitMemory.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..e814e9d83e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/limitMemory.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# limit memory useage for process
+# using control groups https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cgroups
+
+# @author Jan Christoph Uhde
+
+echo "usage: $0 <ram in mb> <swap in mb> command"
+
+# get args
+ram="$1"
+swap="$2"
+group=arango_mem
+shift 2
+
+# do not continue if anything goes wrong
+set -e
+
+# prepare control groups
+sudo -- cgcreate -g "memory:/$group"
+
+#ram
+fpath="/sys/fs/cgroup/memory/$group/memory.limit_in_bytes"
+sudo bash -c "echo $(( $ram * 1024 * 1024 )) > $fpath "
+
+# swap
+fpath="/sys/fs/cgroup/memory/$group/memory.memsw.limit_in_bytes"
+if [[ -e $fpath ]]; then
+    sudo bash -c " echo $(( $swap * 1024 * 1024 )) > $fpath"
+fi
+
+#execute
+sudo cgexec -g memory:arango_mem su - $USER -c "$@"