diff --git a/backend/src/main/java/com/bakdata/conquery/models/config/ClusterConfig.java b/backend/src/main/java/com/bakdata/conquery/models/config/ClusterConfig.java
index e94c1ee3ce..6f963faaeb 100644
--- a/backend/src/main/java/com/bakdata/conquery/models/config/ClusterConfig.java
+++ b/backend/src/main/java/com/bakdata/conquery/models/config/ClusterConfig.java
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 import java.net.InetAddress;
 import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
 import jakarta.validation.Valid;
-import jakarta.validation.constraints.Max;
 import jakarta.validation.constraints.Min;
 import jakarta.validation.constraints.NotNull;
 
@@ -16,7 +15,11 @@
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonIgnore;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
 import io.dropwizard.core.Configuration;
+import io.dropwizard.util.DataSize;
+import io.dropwizard.util.DataSizeUnit;
 import io.dropwizard.util.Duration;
+import io.dropwizard.validation.MaxDataSize;
+import io.dropwizard.validation.MinDataSize;
 import io.dropwizard.validation.PortRange;
 import lombok.Getter;
 import lombok.Setter;
@@ -49,18 +52,18 @@ public class ClusterConfig extends Configuration {
 	 * <p/>
 	 * May only touch this for testing purposes.
 	 */
-	@Max(Integer.MAX_VALUE - 4)
-	@Min(64) // not practical
-	private int maxIoBufferSizeBytes = Integer.MAX_VALUE - 4;
+	@MaxDataSize(value = Integer.MAX_VALUE - 4, unit = DataSizeUnit.BYTES)
+	@MinDataSize(value = 64, unit = DataSizeUnit.BYTES)
+	private DataSize maxIoBufferSize = DataSize.bytes(Integer.MAX_VALUE - 4);
 
 	/**
 	 * Defines the starting buffer allocation size. Larger can reduce reallocations, but can cause a greater memory demand.
 	 * <p/>
 	 * May only touch this for testing purposes.
 	 */
-	@Max(Integer.MAX_VALUE - 4)
-	@Min(64) // Mina's default
-	private int initialIoBufferSizeBytes = 8192; // 8kb
+	@MaxDataSize(value = Integer.MAX_VALUE - 4, unit = DataSizeUnit.BYTES)
+	@MinDataSize(value = 64, unit = DataSizeUnit.BYTES)
+	private DataSize initialIoBufferSize = DataSize.bytes(8192); // 8kb
 
 	/**
 	 * @see com.bakdata.conquery.models.messages.namespaces.specific.CollectColumnValuesJob
@@ -90,8 +93,8 @@ public NioSocketConnector getClusterConnector(ObjectMapper om, IoHandler ioHandl
 		final NioSocketConnector connector = new NioSocketConnector();
 
 		JacksonProtocolEncoder encoder = new JacksonProtocolEncoder(om.writerFor(NetworkMessage.class));
-		encoder.setMaxObjectSize(maxIoBufferSizeBytes);
-		encoder.setInitialBufferCapacityBytes(initialIoBufferSizeBytes);
+		encoder.setMaxObjectSize(Math.toIntExact(maxIoBufferSize.toBytes()));
+		encoder.setInitialBufferCapacityBytes(Math.toIntExact(initialIoBufferSize.toBytes()));
 
 		ProtocolCodecFilter codecFilter = new ProtocolCodecFilter(
 				encoder,
@@ -115,8 +118,8 @@ public NioSocketAcceptor getClusterAcceptor(ObjectMapper om, IoHandler ioHandler
 
 
 		JacksonProtocolEncoder encoder = new JacksonProtocolEncoder(om.writerFor(NetworkMessage.class));
-		encoder.setMaxObjectSize(maxIoBufferSizeBytes);
-		encoder.setInitialBufferCapacityBytes(initialIoBufferSizeBytes);
+		encoder.setMaxObjectSize(Math.toIntExact(maxIoBufferSize.toBytes()));
+		encoder.setInitialBufferCapacityBytes(Math.toIntExact(initialIoBufferSize.toBytes()));
 
 		ProtocolCodecFilter codecFilter = new ProtocolCodecFilter(
 				encoder,
diff --git a/backend/src/test/java/com/bakdata/conquery/io/mina/MinaStackTest.java b/backend/src/test/java/com/bakdata/conquery/io/mina/MinaStackTest.java
index 4c7f35048e..c4bd92f72c 100644
--- a/backend/src/test/java/com/bakdata/conquery/io/mina/MinaStackTest.java
+++ b/backend/src/test/java/com/bakdata/conquery/io/mina/MinaStackTest.java
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ public class MinaStackTest {
 	public static void beforeAll() throws IOException {
 
 		CLUSTER_CONFIG.setPort(0);
-		CLUSTER_CONFIG.setMaxIoBufferSizeBytes(toIntExact(DataSize.mebibytes(10).toBytes()));
+		CLUSTER_CONFIG.setMaxIoBufferSize(DataSize.mebibytes(10));
 
 		// This enables the Chunking filter, which triggers for messages > 1 MebiByte
 		CLUSTER_CONFIG.getMina().setSendBufferSize(toIntExact(DataSize.mebibytes(1).toBytes()));