diff --git a/magneticod/magneticod/__main__.py b/magneticod/magneticod/__main__.py
index 32bd4ba..9e3d80b 100644
--- a/magneticod/magneticod/__main__.py
+++ b/magneticod/magneticod/__main__.py
@@ -27,18 +27,15 @@ import time
 import typing
 
 import appdirs
+import humanfriendly
 
+from .constants import TICK_INTERVAL, MAX_ACTIVE_PEERS_PER_INFO_HASH, DEFAULT_MAX_METADATA_SIZE
 from . import __version__
 from . import bittorrent
 from . import dht
 from . import persistence
 
 
-TICK_INTERVAL = 1  # in seconds (soft constraint)
-# maximum (inclusive) number of active (disposable) peers to fetch the metadata per info hash at the same time:
-MAX_ACTIVE_PEERS_PER_INFO_HASH = 5
-
-
 # Global variables are bad bla bla bla, BUT these variables are used so many times that I think it is justified; else
 # the signatures of many functions are literally cluttered.
 #
@@ -55,16 +52,14 @@ complete_info_hashes = set()
 def main():
     global complete_info_hashes, database, node, peers, selector
 
-    logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO, format="%(asctime)s  %(levelname)-8s  %(message)s")
-    logging.info("magneticod v%d.%d.%d started", *__version__)
-
     arguments = parse_cmdline_arguments()
-    if arguments is None:
-        return 2
+
+    logging.basicConfig(level=arguments.loglevel, format="%(asctime)s  %(levelname)-8s  %(message)s")
+    logging.info("magneticod v%d.%d.%d started", *__version__)
 
     # noinspection PyBroadException
     try:
-        path = os.path.join(appdirs.user_data_dir("magneticod"), "database.sqlite3")
+        path = arguments.database_file
         database = persistence.Database(path)
     except:
         logging.exception("could NOT connect to the database!")
@@ -73,7 +68,10 @@ def main():
     complete_info_hashes = database.get_complete_info_hashes()
 
     node = dht.SybilNode(arguments.node_addr)
-    node.when_peer_found = on_peer_found
+
+    node.when_peer_found = lambda info_hash, peer_address: on_peer_found(info_hash=info_hash,
+                                                                         peer_address=peer_address,
+                                                                         max_metadata_size=arguments.max_metadata_size)
 
     selector.register(node, selectors.EVENT_READ)
 
@@ -92,14 +90,14 @@ def main():
     return 0
 
 
-def on_peer_found(info_hash: dht.InfoHash, peer_address) -> None:
+def on_peer_found(info_hash: dht.InfoHash, peer_address, max_metadata_size: int=DEFAULT_MAX_METADATA_SIZE) -> None:
     global selector, peers, complete_info_hashes
 
     if len(peers[info_hash]) > MAX_ACTIVE_PEERS_PER_INFO_HASH or info_hash in complete_info_hashes:
         return
 
     try:
-        peer = bittorrent.DisposablePeer(info_hash, peer_address)
+        peer = bittorrent.DisposablePeer(info_hash, peer_address, max_metadata_size)
     except ConnectionError:
         return
 
@@ -171,6 +169,33 @@ def loop() -> None:
                 selector.modify(fileobj, selectors.EVENT_READ)
 
 
+def parse_ip_port(netloc) -> typing.Optional[typing.Tuple[str, int]]:
+    # In case no port supplied
+    try:
+        return str(ipaddress.ip_address(netloc)), 0
+    except ValueError:
+        pass
+
+    # In case port supplied
+    try:
+        parsed = urllib.parse.urlparse("//{}".format(netloc))
+        ip = str(ipaddress.ip_address(parsed.hostname))
+        port = parsed.port
+        if port is None:
+            raise argparse.ArgumentParser("Invalid node address supplied!")
+    except ValueError:
+        raise argparse.ArgumentParser("Invalid node address supplied!")
+
+    return ip, port
+
+
+def parse_size(value: str) -> int:
+    try:
+        return humanfriendly.parse_size(value)
+    except humanfriendly.InvalidSize as e:
+        raise argparse.ArgumentTypeError("Invalid argument. {}".format(e))
+
+
 def parse_cmdline_arguments() -> typing.Optional[argparse.Namespace]:
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
         description="Autonomous BitTorrent DHT crawler and metadata fetcher.",
@@ -194,40 +219,29 @@ def parse_cmdline_arguments() -> typing.Optional[argparse.Namespace]:
         allow_abbrev=False,
         formatter_class=argparse.RawDescriptionHelpFormatter
     )
+
     parser.add_argument(
-        "--node-addr", action="store", type=str, required=False,
+        "--node-addr", action="store", type=parse_ip_port, required=False, default="0.0.0.0:0",
         help="the address of the (DHT) node magneticod will use"
     )
 
-    args = parser.parse_args(sys.argv[1:])
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--max-metadata-size", type=parse_size, default=DEFAULT_MAX_METADATA_SIZE,
+        help="Limit metadata size to protect memory overflow. Provide in human friendly format eg. 1 M, 1 GB"
+    )
 
-    args.node_addr = parse_ip_port(args.node_addr) if args.node_addr else ("0.0.0.0", 0)
-    if args.node_addr is None:
-        logging.critical("Invalid node address supplied!")
-        return None
+    default_database_dir = os.path.join(appdirs.user_data_dir("magneticod"), "database.sqlite3")
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--database-file", type=str, default=default_database_dir,
+        help="Path to database file (default: {})".format(humanfriendly.format_path(default_database_dir))
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        '-d', '--debug',
+        action="store_const", dest="loglevel", const=logging.DEBUG, default=logging.INFO,
+        help="Print debugging information in addition to normal processing.",
+    )
+    return parser.parse_args(sys.argv[1:])
 
-    return args
-
-
-def parse_ip_port(netloc) -> typing.Optional[typing.Tuple[str, int]]:
-    # In case no port supplied
-    try:
-        return str(ipaddress.ip_address(netloc)), 0
-    except ValueError:
-        pass
-
-    # In case port supplied
-    try:
-        parsed = urllib.parse.urlparse("//{}".format(netloc))
-        ip = str(ipaddress.ip_address(parsed.hostname))
-        port = parsed.port
-        if port is None:
-            # Invalid port
-            return None
-    except ValueError:
-        return None
-
-    return ip, port
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     sys.exit(main())
diff --git a/magneticod/magneticod/bittorrent.py b/magneticod/magneticod/bittorrent.py
index 9e4ac54..5a5b4be 100644
--- a/magneticod/magneticod/bittorrent.py
+++ b/magneticod/magneticod/bittorrent.py
@@ -21,14 +21,14 @@ import typing
 import os
 
 from . import bencode
-
+from .constants import DEFAULT_MAX_METADATA_SIZE
 
 InfoHash = bytes
 PeerAddress = typing.Tuple[str, int]
 
 
 class DisposablePeer:
-    def __init__(self, info_hash: InfoHash, peer_addr: PeerAddress):
+    def __init__(self, info_hash: InfoHash, peer_addr: PeerAddress, max_metadata_size: int= DEFAULT_MAX_METADATA_SIZE):
         self.__socket = socket.socket()
         self.__socket.setblocking(False)
         # To reduce the latency:
@@ -40,8 +40,11 @@ class DisposablePeer:
         if res != errno.EINPROGRESS:
             raise ConnectionError()
 
+        self.__peer_addr = peer_addr
         self.__info_hash = info_hash
 
+        self.__max_metadata_size = max_metadata_size
+
         self.__incoming_buffer = bytearray()
         self.__outgoing_buffer = bytearray()
 
@@ -209,8 +212,16 @@ class DisposablePeer:
             # Just to make sure that the remote peer supports ut_metadata extension:
             ut_metadata = msg_dict[b"m"][b"ut_metadata"]
             metadata_size = msg_dict[b"metadata_size"]
-            assert metadata_size > 0
-        except (AssertionError, KeyError):
+            assert metadata_size > 0, "Invalid (empty) metadata size"
+            assert metadata_size < self.__max_metadata_size, "Malicious or malfunctioning peer {}:{} tried send above" \
+                                                             " {} max metadata size".format(self.__peer_addr[0],
+                                                                                            self.__peer_addr[1],
+                                                                                            self.__max_metadata_size)
+        except KeyError:
+            self.when_error()
+            return
+        except AssertionError as e:
+            logging.debug(str(e))
             self.when_error()
             return
 
diff --git a/magneticod/magneticod/constants.py b/magneticod/magneticod/constants.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bc2c954
--- /dev/null
+++ b/magneticod/magneticod/constants.py
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+# coding=utf-8
+DEFAULT_MAX_METADATA_SIZE = 10 * 1024 * 1024
+BOOTSTRAPPING_NODES = [
+    ("router.bittorrent.com", 6881),
+    ("dht.transmissionbt.com", 6881)
+]
+PENDING_INFO_HASHES = 10  # threshold for pending info hashes before being committed to database:
+
+TICK_INTERVAL = 1  # in seconds (soft constraint)
+ # maximum (inclusive) number of active (disposable) peers to fetch the metadata per info hash at the same time:
+MAX_ACTIVE_PEERS_PER_INFO_HASH = 5
diff --git a/magneticod/magneticod/dht.py b/magneticod/magneticod/dht.py
index dfbfb36..5e2f057 100644
--- a/magneticod/magneticod/dht.py
+++ b/magneticod/magneticod/dht.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import socket
 import typing
 import os
 
+from .constants import BOOTSTRAPPING_NODES, DEFAULT_MAX_METADATA_SIZE
 from . import bencode
 
 NodeID = bytes
@@ -28,12 +29,6 @@ PeerAddress = typing.Tuple[str, int]
 InfoHash = bytes
 
 
-BOOTSTRAPPING_NODES = [
-    ("router.bittorrent.com", 6881),
-    ("dht.transmissionbt.com", 6881)
-]
-
-
 class SybilNode:
     def __init__(self, address: typing.Tuple[str, int]):
         self.__true_id = self.__random_bytes(20)
@@ -48,7 +43,6 @@ class SybilNode:
         self.__routing_table = {}  # type: typing.Dict[NodeID, NodeAddress]
 
         self.__token_secret = self.__random_bytes(4)
-
         # Maximum number of neighbours (this is a THRESHOLD where, once reached, the search for new neighbours will
         # stop; but until then, the total number of neighbours might exceed the threshold).
         self.__n_max_neighbours = 2000
diff --git a/magneticod/magneticod/persistence.py b/magneticod/magneticod/persistence.py
index c1f73fd..56d1966 100644
--- a/magneticod/magneticod/persistence.py
+++ b/magneticod/magneticod/persistence.py
@@ -18,11 +18,9 @@ import time
 import typing
 import os
 
-from . import bencode
+from magneticod import bencode
 
-
-# threshold for pending info hashes before being committed to database:
-PENDING_INFO_HASHES = 10
+from .constants import PENDING_INFO_HASHES
 
 
 class Database:
diff --git a/magneticod/setup.py b/magneticod/setup.py
index 1219fe4..b8ba4d9 100644
--- a/magneticod/setup.py
+++ b/magneticod/setup.py
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@ setup(
 
     install_requires=[
         "appdirs >= 1.4.3",
-        "bencoder.pyx >= 1.1.3"
+        "bencoder.pyx >= 1.1.3",
+        "humanfriendly"
     ],
 
     classifiers=[