The described technology is directed towards presenting a server overload condition that can result from a spike in client requests. Upon receiving an incoming client request for data at a server, a request buffer condition of a client request buffer (e.g., a counter) is evaluated to determine whether the client request corresponds to an anticipated overload state with respect to a request-handling capability of the server, e.g., whether the client request buffer is full. If so, an overload response (e.g., a retry response) is returned to the client indicating so that the client retries a corresponding client request after a time delay. If not in the anticipated overload state, the request is further processed, e.g., to provide a regular response containing the requested data, such as by adding a request information entry associated with the incoming client request to the client request buffer and updating the request buffer condition.