diff --git a/satellite/metabase/db.go b/satellite/metabase/db.go
index 641bd922b..8dedb822b 100644
--- a/satellite/metabase/db.go
+++ b/satellite/metabase/db.go
@@ -369,3 +369,23 @@ func (db *DB) Now(ctx context.Context) (time.Time, error) {
 	err := db.db.QueryRowContext(ctx, `SELECT now()`).Scan(&t)
 	return t, Error.Wrap(err)
 }
+
+func (db *DB) asOfTime(asOfSystemTime time.Time, asOfSystemInterval time.Duration) string {
+	return limitedAsOfSystemTime(db.impl, time.Now(), asOfSystemTime, asOfSystemInterval)
+}
+
+func limitedAsOfSystemTime(impl dbutil.Implementation, now, baseline time.Time, maxInterval time.Duration) string {
+	if baseline.IsZero() || now.IsZero() {
+		return impl.AsOfSystemInterval(maxInterval)
+	}
+
+	interval := now.Sub(baseline)
+	if interval < 0 {
+		return ""
+	}
+	// maxInterval is negative
+	if maxInterval < 0 && interval > -maxInterval {
+		return impl.AsOfSystemInterval(maxInterval)
+	}
+	return impl.AsOfSystemTime(baseline)
+}
diff --git a/satellite/metabase/db_internal_test.go b/satellite/metabase/db_internal_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5413f531f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/satellite/metabase/db_internal_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2021 Storj Labs, Inc.
+// See LICENSE for copying information.
+
+package metabase
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+
+	"storj.io/private/dbutil"
+)
+
+func TestLimitedAsOfSystemTime(t *testing.T) {
+	const (
+		unixNano    = 1623324728961910000
+		unixNanoStr = `1623324728961910000`
+	)
+
+	check := func(expect string, startNano, baselineNano int64, maxInterval time.Duration) {
+		var start, baseline time.Time
+		if startNano != 0 {
+			start = time.Unix(0, startNano)
+		}
+		if baselineNano != 0 {
+			baseline = time.Unix(0, baselineNano)
+		}
+		result := limitedAsOfSystemTime(dbutil.Cockroach, start, baseline, maxInterval)
+		require.Equal(t, expect, result)
+	}
+
+	// baseline in the future
+	check("",
+		unixNano-time.Second.Nanoseconds(),
+		unixNano,
+		0,
+	)
+
+	// ignore interval when positive or zero
+	check(" AS OF SYSTEM TIME '"+unixNanoStr+"' ",
+		unixNano+time.Second.Nanoseconds(),
+		unixNano,
+		0,
+	)
+	check(" AS OF SYSTEM TIME '"+unixNanoStr+"' ",
+		unixNano+time.Second.Nanoseconds(),
+		unixNano,
+		2*time.Second,
+	)
+
+	// ignore interval when it doesn't exceed the time difference
+	check(" AS OF SYSTEM TIME '"+unixNanoStr+"' ",
+		unixNano+time.Second.Nanoseconds(),
+		unixNano,
+		-time.Second,
+	)
+
+	// limit to interval when the time between now and baseline is large
+	check(" AS OF SYSTEM TIME '-1s' ",
+		unixNano+time.Minute.Nanoseconds(),
+		unixNano,
+		-time.Second,
+	)
+
+	// ignore now and baseline when either is zero
+	check(" AS OF SYSTEM TIME '-1s' ", 0, unixNano, -time.Second)
+	check(" AS OF SYSTEM TIME '-1s' ", unixNano, 0, -time.Second)
+	check("", unixNano, 0, 0)
+	check("", 0, unixNano, 0)
+}
diff --git a/satellite/metabase/loop.go b/satellite/metabase/loop.go
index b05600db9..01a446ffb 100644
--- a/satellite/metabase/loop.go
+++ b/satellite/metabase/loop.go
@@ -329,14 +329,6 @@ func (db *DB) IterateLoopStreams(ctx context.Context, opts IterateLoopStreams, h
 	return nil
 }
 
-func (db *DB) asOfTime(asOfSystemTime time.Time, asOfSystemInterval time.Duration) string {
-	interval := time.Since(asOfSystemTime)
-	if asOfSystemInterval < 0 && interval > -asOfSystemInterval {
-		return db.impl.AsOfSystemInterval(asOfSystemInterval)
-	}
-	return db.impl.AsOfSystemTime(asOfSystemTime)
-}
-
 // LoopSegmentsIterator iterates over a sequence of LoopSegmentEntry items.
 type LoopSegmentsIterator interface {
 	Next(ctx context.Context, item *LoopSegmentEntry) bool
@@ -344,8 +336,9 @@ type LoopSegmentsIterator interface {
 
 // IterateLoopSegments contains arguments necessary for listing segments in metabase.
 type IterateLoopSegments struct {
-	BatchSize      int
-	AsOfSystemTime time.Time
+	BatchSize          int
+	AsOfSystemTime     time.Time
+	AsOfSystemInterval time.Duration
 }
 
 // Verify verifies segments request fields.
@@ -367,8 +360,9 @@ func (db *DB) IterateLoopSegments(ctx context.Context, opts IterateLoopSegments,
 	it := &loopSegmentIterator{
 		db: db,
 
-		asOfSystemTime: opts.AsOfSystemTime,
-		batchSize:      opts.BatchSize,
+		asOfSystemTime:     opts.AsOfSystemTime,
+		asOfSystemInterval: opts.AsOfSystemInterval,
+		batchSize:          opts.BatchSize,
 
 		curIndex: 0,
 		cursor:   loopSegmentIteratorCursor{},
@@ -398,8 +392,9 @@ func (db *DB) IterateLoopSegments(ctx context.Context, opts IterateLoopSegments,
 type loopSegmentIterator struct {
 	db *DB
 
-	batchSize      int
-	asOfSystemTime time.Time
+	batchSize          int
+	asOfSystemTime     time.Time
+	asOfSystemInterval time.Duration
 
 	curIndex int
 	curRows  tagsql.Rows
@@ -470,7 +465,7 @@ func (it *loopSegmentIterator) doNextQuery(ctx context.Context) (_ tagsql.Rows,
 			redundancy,
 			remote_alias_pieces
 		FROM segments
-		`+it.db.impl.AsOfSystemTime(it.asOfSystemTime)+`
+		`+it.db.asOfTime(it.asOfSystemTime, it.asOfSystemInterval)+`
 		WHERE
 			(stream_id, position) > ($1, $2)
 		ORDER BY (stream_id, position) ASC
diff --git a/satellite/metabase/metaloop/service.go b/satellite/metabase/metaloop/service.go
index 3df89563f..c5de38b95 100644
--- a/satellite/metabase/metaloop/service.go
+++ b/satellite/metabase/metaloop/service.go
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	RateLimit        float64       `help:"rate limit (default is 0 which is unlimited segments per second)" default:"0"`
 	ListLimit        int           `help:"how many items to query in a batch" default:"2500" testDefault:"10000"`
 
-	AsOfSystemInterval time.Duration `help:"as of system interval" releaseDefault:"-5m" devDefault:"-5m"`
+	AsOfSystemInterval time.Duration `help:"as of system interval" default:"-5m"`
 }
 
 // MetabaseDB contains iterators for the metabase data.
diff --git a/satellite/metabase/segmentloop/service.go b/satellite/metabase/segmentloop/service.go
index cff950208..b34bd2428 100644
--- a/satellite/metabase/segmentloop/service.go
+++ b/satellite/metabase/segmentloop/service.go
@@ -134,6 +134,8 @@ type Config struct {
 	CoalesceDuration time.Duration `help:"how long to wait for new observers before starting iteration" releaseDefault:"5s" devDefault:"5s" testDefault:"1s"`
 	RateLimit        float64       `help:"rate limit (default is 0 which is unlimited segments per second)" default:"0"`
 	ListLimit        int           `help:"how many items to query in a batch" default:"2500"`
+
+	AsOfSystemInterval time.Duration `help:"as of system interval" default:"-5m"`
 }
 
 // MetabaseDB contains iterators for the metabase data.
@@ -364,8 +366,9 @@ func (loop *Service) iterateSegments(ctx context.Context, observers []*observerC
 	var segmentsProcessed int64
 
 	err = loop.metabaseDB.IterateLoopSegments(ctx, metabase.IterateLoopSegments{
-		BatchSize:      limit,
-		AsOfSystemTime: startingTime,
+		BatchSize:          limit,
+		AsOfSystemTime:     startingTime,
+		AsOfSystemInterval: loop.config.AsOfSystemInterval,
 	}, func(ctx context.Context, iterator metabase.LoopSegmentsIterator) error {
 		defer mon.TaskNamed("iterateLoopSegmentsCB")(&ctx)(&err)
 
diff --git a/scripts/testdata/satellite-config.yaml.lock b/scripts/testdata/satellite-config.yaml.lock
index 635b172e5..11d8cf8a6 100755
--- a/scripts/testdata/satellite-config.yaml.lock
+++ b/scripts/testdata/satellite-config.yaml.lock
@@ -424,6 +424,9 @@ identity.key-path: /root/.local/share/storj/identity/satellite/identity.key
 # redundancy scheme configuration in the format k/m/o/n-sharesize
 # metainfo.rs: 29/35/80/110-256 B
 
+# as of system interval
+# metainfo.segment-loop.as-of-system-interval: -5m0s
+
 # how long to wait for new observers before starting iteration
 # metainfo.segment-loop.coalesce-duration: 5s