diff --git a/tests/docker/Dockerfile b/tests/docker/Dockerfile
index b83097b8ffb..d0434af188c 100644
--- a/tests/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/tests/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ ARG ducker_creator=default
 LABEL ducker.creator=$ducker_creator
 
 # Update Linux and install necessary utilities.
-RUN apt update && apt install -y sudo netcat iptables rsync unzip wget curl jq coreutils openssh-server net-tools vim python-pip python-dev libffi-dev libssl-dev cmake pkg-config libfuse-dev  && apt-get -y clean
+RUN apt update && apt install -y sudo netcat iptables rsync unzip wget curl jq coreutils openssh-server net-tools vim python-pip python-dev libffi-dev libssl-dev cmake pkg-config libfuse-dev iperf traceroute && apt-get -y clean
 RUN python -m pip install -U pip==9.0.3;
 RUN pip install --upgrade cffi virtualenv pyasn1 boto3 pycrypto pywinrm ipaddress enum34 && pip install --upgrade ducktape==0.7.6
 
diff --git a/tests/kafkatest/services/trogdor/degraded_network_fault_spec.py b/tests/kafkatest/services/trogdor/degraded_network_fault_spec.py
index 450a7870cf3..2a3b142f3ec 100644
--- a/tests/kafkatest/services/trogdor/degraded_network_fault_spec.py
+++ b/tests/kafkatest/services/trogdor/degraded_network_fault_spec.py
@@ -23,15 +23,26 @@ class DegradedNetworkFaultSpec(TaskSpec):
     Degrades the network so that traffic on a subset of nodes has higher latency
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, start_ms, duration_ms, node_specs):
+    def __init__(self, start_ms, duration_ms):
         """
         Create a new NetworkDegradeFaultSpec.
 
         :param start_ms:        The start time, as described in task_spec.py
         :param duration_ms:     The duration in milliseconds.
-        :param node_latencies:  A dict of node name to desired latency
-        :param network_device:  The name of the network device
         """
         super(DegradedNetworkFaultSpec, self).__init__(start_ms, duration_ms)
         self.message["class"] = "org.apache.kafka.trogdor.fault.DegradedNetworkFaultSpec"
-        self.message["nodeSpecs"] = node_specs
+        self.message["nodeSpecs"] = {}
+
+    def add_node_spec(self, node, networkDevice, latencyMs=0, rateLimitKbit=0):
+        """
+        Add a node spec to this fault spec
+        :param node:            The node name which is to be degraded
+        :param networkDevice:   The network device name (e.g., eth0) to apply the degradation to
+        :param latencyMs:       Optional. How much latency to add to each packet
+        :param rateLimitKbit:   Optional. Maximum throughput in kilobits per second to allow
+        :return:
+        """
+        self.message["nodeSpecs"][node] = {
+            "rateLimitKbit": rateLimitKbit, "latencyMs": latencyMs, "networkDevice": networkDevice
+        }
diff --git a/tests/kafkatest/services/trogdor/trogdor.py b/tests/kafkatest/services/trogdor/trogdor.py
index 4d514f2a394..6a6e888dc1e 100644
--- a/tests/kafkatest/services/trogdor/trogdor.py
+++ b/tests/kafkatest/services/trogdor/trogdor.py
@@ -300,6 +300,16 @@ class TrogdorTask(object):
         self.id = id
         self.trogdor = trogdor
 
+    def task_state_or_error(self):
+        task_state = self.trogdor.tasks()["tasks"][self.id]
+        if task_state is None:
+            raise RuntimeError("Coordinator did not know about %s." % self.id)
+        error = task_state.get("error")
+        if error is None or error == "":
+            return task_state["state"], None
+        else:
+            return None, error
+
     def done(self):
         """
         Check if this task is done.
@@ -308,13 +318,25 @@ class TrogdorTask(object):
         :returns:                   True if the task is in DONE_STATE;
                                     False if it is in a different state.
         """
-        task_state = self.trogdor.tasks()["tasks"][self.id]
-        if task_state is None:
-            raise RuntimeError("Coordinator did not know about %s." % self.id)
-        error = task_state.get("error")
-        if error is None or error == "":
-            return task_state["state"] == TrogdorTask.DONE_STATE
-        raise RuntimeError("Failed to gracefully stop %s: got task error: %s" % (self.id, error))
+        (task_state, error) = self.task_state_or_error()
+        if task_state is not None:
+            return task_state == TrogdorTask.DONE_STATE
+        else:
+            raise RuntimeError("Failed to gracefully stop %s: got task error: %s" % (self.id, error))
+
+    def running(self):
+        """
+        Check if this task is running.
+
+        :raises RuntimeError:       If the task encountered an error.
+        :returns:                   True if the task is in RUNNING_STATE;
+                                    False if it is in a different state.
+        """
+        (task_state, error) = self.task_state_or_error()
+        if task_state is not None:
+            return task_state == TrogdorTask.RUNNING_STATE
+        else:
+            raise RuntimeError("Failed to start %s: got task error: %s" % (self.id, error))
 
     def stop(self):
         """
diff --git a/tests/kafkatest/tests/core/network_degrade_test.py b/tests/kafkatest/tests/core/network_degrade_test.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5b77d99c62d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/kafkatest/tests/core/network_degrade_test.py
@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+# Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+# contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+# this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+# The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+# (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+# the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+import re
+
+from ducktape.mark import parametrize
+from ducktape.mark.resource import cluster
+from ducktape.tests.test import Test
+from ducktape.utils.util import wait_until
+
+from kafkatest.services.trogdor.degraded_network_fault_spec import DegradedNetworkFaultSpec
+from kafkatest.services.trogdor.trogdor import TrogdorService
+from kafkatest.services.zookeeper import ZookeeperService
+
+
+class NetworkDegradeTest(Test):
+    """
+    These tests ensure that the network degrade Trogdor specs (which use "tc") are working as expected in whatever
+    environment the system tests may be running in. The linux tools "ping" and "iperf" are used for validation
+    and need to be available along with "tc" in the test environment.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, test_context):
+        super(NetworkDegradeTest, self).__init__(test_context)
+        self.zk = ZookeeperService(test_context, num_nodes=3)
+        self.trogdor = TrogdorService(context=self.test_context, client_services=[self.zk])
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.zk.start()
+        self.trogdor.start()
+
+    def teardown(self):
+        self.trogdor.stop()
+        self.zk.stop()
+
+    @cluster(num_nodes=5)
+    @parametrize(task_name="latency-100", device_name="eth0", latency_ms=50, rate_limit_kbit=0)
+    @parametrize(task_name="latency-100-rate-1000", device_name="eth0", latency_ms=50, rate_limit_kbit=1000)
+    def test_latency(self, task_name, device_name, latency_ms, rate_limit_kbit):
+        spec = DegradedNetworkFaultSpec(0, 10000)
+        for node in self.zk.nodes:
+            spec.add_node_spec(node.name, device_name, latency_ms, rate_limit_kbit)
+
+        latency = self.trogdor.create_task(task_name, spec)
+
+        zk0 = self.zk.nodes[0]
+        zk1 = self.zk.nodes[1]
+
+        # Capture the ping times from the ping stdout
+        # 64 bytes from ducker01 (172.24.0.2): icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.325 ms
+        r = re.compile(r".*time=(?P<time>[\d.]+)\sms.*")
+
+        times = []
+        for line in zk0.account.ssh_capture("ping -i 1 -c 20 %s" % zk1.account.hostname):
+            self.logger.debug("Ping output: %s" % line)
+            m = r.match(line)
+            if m is not None and m.group("time"):
+                times.append(float(m.group("time")))
+                self.logger.info("Parsed ping time of %d" % float(m.group("time")))
+        self.logger.debug("Captured ping times: %s" % times)
+
+        # We expect to see some low ping times (before and after the task runs) as well as high ping times
+        # (during the task). For the high time, it's twice the configured latency since both links apply the
+        # rule, 80% for a little variance buffer
+        high_time_ms = 0.8 * 2 * latency_ms
+        low_time_ms = 10
+        slow_times = [t for t in times if t > high_time_ms]
+        fast_times = [t for t in times if t < low_time_ms]
+
+        latency.stop()
+        latency.wait_for_done()
+
+        # We captured 20 ping times. Assert that at least 5 were "fast" and 5 were "slow"
+        assert len(slow_times) > 5, "Expected to see more slow ping times (lower than %d)" % low_time_ms
+        assert len(fast_times) > 5, "Expected to see more fast ping times (higher than %d)" % high_time_ms
+
+    @cluster(num_nodes=5)
+    @parametrize(task_name="rate-1000", device_name="eth0", latency_ms=0, rate_limit_kbit=1000000)
+    @parametrize(task_name="rate-1000-latency-50", device_name="eth0", latency_ms=50, rate_limit_kbit=1000000)
+    def test_rate(self, task_name, device_name, latency_ms, rate_limit_kbit):
+        zk0 = self.zk.nodes[0]
+        zk1 = self.zk.nodes[1]
+
+        spec = DegradedNetworkFaultSpec(0, 60000)
+        spec.add_node_spec(zk0.name, device_name, latency_ms, rate_limit_kbit)
+
+        # start the task and wait
+        rate_limit = self.trogdor.create_task(task_name, spec)
+        wait_until(lambda: rate_limit.running(),
+                   timeout_sec=10,
+                   err_msg="%s failed to start within 10 seconds." % rate_limit)
+
+        # Run iperf server on zk1, iperf client on zk0
+        iperf_server = zk1.account.ssh_capture("iperf -s")
+
+        # Capture the measured kbps between the two nodes.
+        # [  3]  0.0- 1.0 sec  2952576 KBytes  24187503 Kbits/sec
+        r = re.compile(r"^.*\s(?P<rate>[\d.]+)\sKbits/sec$")
+
+        measured_rates = []
+        for line in zk0.account.ssh_capture("iperf -i 1 -t 20 -f k -c %s" % zk1.account.hostname):
+            self.logger.info("iperf output %s" % line)
+            m = r.match(line)
+            if m is not None:
+                measured_rate = float(m.group("rate"))
+                measured_rates.append(measured_rate)
+                self.logger.info("Parsed rate of %d kbit/s from iperf" % measured_rate)
+
+        # kill iperf server and consume the stdout to ensure clean exit
+        zk1.account.kill_process("iperf")
+        for _ in iperf_server:
+            continue
+
+        rate_limit.stop()
+        rate_limit.wait_for_done()
+
+        self.logger.info("Measured rates: %s" % measured_rates)
+
+        # We expect to see measured rates within an order of magnitude of our target rate
+        low_kbps = rate_limit_kbit / 10
+        high_kbps = rate_limit_kbit * 10
+        acceptable_rates = [r for r in measured_rates if low_kbps < r < high_kbps]
+
+        msg = "Expected most of the measured rates to be within an order of magnitude of target %d." % rate_limit_kbit
+        msg += " This means `tc` did not limit the bandwidth as expected."
+        assert len(acceptable_rates) > 5, msg
diff --git a/tests/kafkatest/tests/core/round_trip_fault_test.py b/tests/kafkatest/tests/core/round_trip_fault_test.py
index 64e9941dc5b..a0ce5aef54a 100644
--- a/tests/kafkatest/tests/core/round_trip_fault_test.py
+++ b/tests/kafkatest/tests/core/round_trip_fault_test.py
@@ -97,10 +97,9 @@ class RoundTripFaultTest(Test):
     def test_produce_consume_with_latency(self):
         workload1 = self.trogdor.create_task("workload1", self.round_trip_spec)
         time.sleep(2)
-        node_specs = {}
+        spec = DegradedNetworkFaultSpec(0, 60000)
         for node in self.kafka.nodes + self.zk.nodes:
-            node_specs[node.name] = {"latencyMs": 500, "networkDevice": "eth0"}
-        spec = DegradedNetworkFaultSpec(0, 60000, node_specs)
+            spec.add_node_spec(node.name, "eth0", latencyMs=100, rateLimitKbit=3000)
         slow1 = self.trogdor.create_task("slow1", spec)
         workload1.wait_for_done(timeout_sec=600)
         slow1.stop()
diff --git a/tests/kafkatest/utils/remote_account.py b/tests/kafkatest/utils/remote_account.py
index a18215b737d..d6ea72f6646 100644
--- a/tests/kafkatest/utils/remote_account.py
+++ b/tests/kafkatest/utils/remote_account.py
@@ -36,4 +36,4 @@ def line_count(node, file):
     if len(out) != 1:
         raise Exception("Expected single line of output from wc -l")
 
-    return int(out[0].strip().split(" ")[0])
\ No newline at end of file
+    return int(out[0].strip().split(" ")[0])
diff --git a/tools/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/trogdor/fault/DegradedNetworkFaultSpec.java b/tools/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/trogdor/fault/DegradedNetworkFaultSpec.java
index 719d00b164b..127a4da5ddb 100644
--- a/tools/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/trogdor/fault/DegradedNetworkFaultSpec.java
+++ b/tools/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/trogdor/fault/DegradedNetworkFaultSpec.java
@@ -31,12 +31,15 @@ public class DegradedNetworkFaultSpec extends TaskSpec {
     public static class NodeDegradeSpec {
         private final String networkDevice;
         private final int latencyMs;
+        private final int rateLimitKbit;
 
         public NodeDegradeSpec(
                 @JsonProperty("networkDevice") String networkDevice,
-                @JsonProperty("latencyMs") int latencyMs) {
+                @JsonProperty("latencyMs") Integer latencyMs,
+                @JsonProperty("rateLimitKbit") Integer rateLimitKbit) {
             this.networkDevice = networkDevice == null ? "" : networkDevice;
-            this.latencyMs = latencyMs;
+            this.latencyMs = latencyMs == null ? 0 : latencyMs;
+            this.rateLimitKbit = rateLimitKbit == null ? 0 : rateLimitKbit;
         }
 
         @JsonProperty("networkDevice")
@@ -48,6 +51,20 @@ public class DegradedNetworkFaultSpec extends TaskSpec {
         public int latencyMs() {
             return latencyMs;
         }
+
+        @JsonProperty("rateLimitKbit")
+        public int rateLimitKbit() {
+            return rateLimitKbit;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public String toString() {
+            return "NodeDegradeSpec{" +
+                    "networkDevice='" + networkDevice + '\'' +
+                    ", latencyMs=" + latencyMs +
+                    ", rateLimitKbit=" + rateLimitKbit +
+                    '}';
+        }
     }
 
     private final Map<String, NodeDegradeSpec> nodeSpecs;
diff --git a/tools/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/trogdor/fault/DegradedNetworkFaultWorker.java b/tools/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/trogdor/fault/DegradedNetworkFaultWorker.java
index 1ccf4cf44a5..292c18ded45 100644
--- a/tools/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/trogdor/fault/DegradedNetworkFaultWorker.java
+++ b/tools/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/trogdor/fault/DegradedNetworkFaultWorker.java
@@ -28,13 +28,17 @@ import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.NetworkInterface;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.function.Consumer;
+import java.util.stream.Stream;
 
 /**
- * Uses the linux utility <pre>tc</pre> (traffic controller) to simulate latency on a specified network device
+ * Uses the linux utility <pre>tc</pre> (traffic controller) to degrade performance on a specified network device
  */
 public class DegradedNetworkFaultWorker implements TaskWorker {
 
@@ -58,10 +62,10 @@ public class DegradedNetworkFaultWorker implements TaskWorker {
         DegradedNetworkFaultSpec.NodeDegradeSpec nodeSpec = nodeSpecs.get(curNode.name());
         if (nodeSpec != null) {
             for (String device : devicesForSpec(nodeSpec)) {
-                if (nodeSpec.latencyMs() < 0) {
-                    throw new RuntimeException("Expected a positive value for latencyMs, but got " + nodeSpec.latencyMs());
+                if (nodeSpec.latencyMs() < 0 || nodeSpec.rateLimitKbit() < 0) {
+                    throw new RuntimeException("Expected non-negative values for latencyMs and rateLimitKbit, but got " + nodeSpec);
                 } else {
-                    enableTrafficControl(platform, device, nodeSpec.latencyMs());
+                    enableTrafficControl(platform, device, nodeSpec.latencyMs(), nodeSpec.rateLimitKbit());
                 }
             }
         }
@@ -96,14 +100,71 @@ public class DegradedNetworkFaultWorker implements TaskWorker {
         return devices;
     }
 
-    private void enableTrafficControl(Platform platform, String networkDevice, int delayMs) throws IOException {
-        int deviationMs = Math.max(1, (int) Math.sqrt(delayMs));
-        platform.runCommand(new String[] {
-            "sudo", "tc", "qdisc", "add", "dev", networkDevice, "root", "netem",
-            "delay", String.format("%dms", delayMs), String.format("%dms", deviationMs), "distribution", "normal"
-        });
+    /**
+     * Constructs the appropriate "tc" commands to apply latency and rate limiting, if they are non zero.
+     */
+    private void enableTrafficControl(Platform platform, String networkDevice, int delayMs, int rateLimitKbps) throws IOException {
+        if (delayMs > 0) {
+            int deviationMs = Math.max(1, (int) Math.sqrt(delayMs));
+            List<String> delay = new ArrayList<>();
+            rootHandler(networkDevice, delay::add);
+            netemDelay(delayMs, deviationMs, delay::add);
+            platform.runCommand(delay.toArray(new String[]{}));
+
+            if (rateLimitKbps > 0) {
+                List<String> rate = new ArrayList<>();
+                childHandler(networkDevice, rate::add);
+                tbfRate(rateLimitKbps, rate::add);
+                platform.runCommand(rate.toArray(new String[]{}));
+            }
+        } else if (rateLimitKbps > 0) {
+            List<String> rate = new ArrayList<>();
+            rootHandler(networkDevice, rate::add);
+            tbfRate(rateLimitKbps, rate::add);
+            platform.runCommand(rate.toArray(new String[]{}));
+        } else {
+            log.warn("Not applying any rate limiting or latency");
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Construct the first part of a "tc" command to define a qdisc root handler for the given network interface
+     */
+    private void rootHandler(String networkDevice, Consumer<String> consumer) {
+        Stream.of("sudo", "tc", "qdisc", "add", "dev", networkDevice, "root", "handle", "1:0").forEach(consumer);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Construct the first part of a "tc" command to define a qdisc child handler for the given interface. This can
+     * only be used if a root handler has been appropriately defined first (as in {@link #rootHandler}).
+     */
+    private void childHandler(String networkDevice, Consumer<String> consumer) {
+        Stream.of("sudo", "tc", "qdisc", "add", "dev", networkDevice, "parent", "1:1", "handle", "10:").forEach(consumer);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Construct the second part of a "tc" command that defines a netem (Network Emulator) filter that will apply some
+     * amount of latency with a small amount of deviation. The distribution of the latency deviation follows a so-called
+     * Pareto-normal distribution. This is the formal name for the 80/20 rule, which might better represent real-world
+     * patterns.
+     */
+    private void netemDelay(int delayMs, int deviationMs, Consumer<String> consumer) {
+        Stream.of("netem", "delay", String.format("%dms", delayMs), String.format("%dms", deviationMs),
+                "distribution", "paretonormal").forEach(consumer);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Construct the second part of a "tc" command that defines a tbf (token buffer filter) that will rate limit the
+     * packets going through a qdisc.
+     */
+    private void tbfRate(int rateLimitKbit, Consumer<String> consumer) {
+        Stream.of("tbf", "rate", String.format("%dkbit", rateLimitKbit), "burst", "1mbit", "latency", "500ms").forEach(consumer);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Delete any previously defined qdisc for the given network interface.
+     * @throws IOException
+     */
     private void disableTrafficControl(Platform platform, String networkDevice) throws IOException {
         platform.runCommand(new String[] {
             "sudo", "tc", "qdisc", "del", "dev", networkDevice, "root"
diff --git a/vagrant/aws/aws-init.sh b/vagrant/aws/aws-init.sh
index 54092c82a29..f36d4e324d6 100755
--- a/vagrant/aws/aws-init.sh
+++ b/vagrant/aws/aws-init.sh
@@ -25,7 +25,9 @@ sudo apt-get install -y \
   ruby-dev \
   zlib1g-dev \
   realpath \
-  python-setuptools
+  python-setuptools \
+  iperf \
+  traceroute
 
 base_dir=`dirname $0`/../..
 
diff --git a/vagrant/base.sh b/vagrant/base.sh
index 866a56a6aaf..0d4e83f105f 100755
--- a/vagrant/base.sh
+++ b/vagrant/base.sh
@@ -107,6 +107,9 @@ popd
 popd
 popd
 
+# Install iperf
+apt-get install -y iperf traceroute
+
 # Test multiple Kafka versions
 # We want to use the latest Scala version per Kafka version
 # Previously we could not pull in Scala 2.12 builds, because Scala 2.12 requires Java 8 and we were running the system