A servlet filter receives all incoming requests for dynamic content and can be used to ensure that the load on a server does not become too great during the time the server is engaged in start-up. The filter is configured to be the first filter encountered and will evaluate a series of conditions to determine if the request is to be throttled. For selected URLs, a given percentage of the first requests received after start-up are automatically throttled. If the request is throttled, a message is sent to the user that the server is busy but to try later. Servlets that are not throttled are allowed to flow through to be processed normally.