diff --git a/src/serve.c b/src/serve.c
index 91f2569..e720be0 100644
--- a/src/serve.c
+++ b/src/serve.c
@@ -816,8 +816,8 @@ int do_serve(struct server* params)
 	int has_control;
 
 	error_set_handler((cleanup_handler*) serve_cleanup, params);
-	serve_open_server_socket(params);
 	serve_init_allocation_map(params);
+	serve_open_server_socket(params);
 	serve_accept_loop(params);
 	has_control = params->has_control;
 	serve_cleanup(params, 0);
diff --git a/tests/acceptance/flexnbd.rb b/tests/acceptance/flexnbd.rb
index 1262982..887e7d8 100644
--- a/tests/acceptance/flexnbd.rb
+++ b/tests/acceptance/flexnbd.rb
@@ -314,9 +314,16 @@ module FlexNBD
 
       while !File.socket?(ctrl)
         pid, status = Process.wait2(@pid, Process::WNOHANG)
-        raise "server did not start (#{cmd})" if pid
+        raise "server did not start (#{cmd}) - UNIX socket didn't appear" if pid
         sleep 0.1
       end
+
+      while !socket_open?
+        pid, status = Process.wait2(@pid, Process::WNOHANG)
+        raise "server did not start (#{cmd}) - TCP socket didn't appear" if pid
+        sleep 0.1
+      end
+
       at_exit { kill }
     end
     private :run_serve_cmd
@@ -511,7 +518,15 @@ module FlexNBD
       hsh
     end
 
+    def socket_open?
+      sock = (TCPSocket.new(@ip, @port) rescue nil)
+      !!sock
+    ensure
+      sock.close rescue nil if sock
+    end
+
 
   end
 
 end
+
diff --git a/tests/acceptance/flexnbd/fake_source.rb b/tests/acceptance/flexnbd/fake_source.rb
index 1f14719..5d4c91a 100644
--- a/tests/acceptance/flexnbd/fake_source.rb
+++ b/tests/acceptance/flexnbd/fake_source.rb
@@ -8,16 +8,35 @@ module FlexNBD
   class FakeSource
 
     def initialize( addr, port, err_msg, source_addr=nil, source_port=0 )
-      timing_out( 2, err_msg ) do
-        @sock = if source_addr
-          TCPSocket.new( addr, port, source_addr, source_port )
-        else 
-          TCPSocket.new( addr, port )
-        end
+      timing_out( 10, err_msg ) {
+        @sock = wait_for_server_socket( addr, port, source_addr, source_port )
+      }
+    end
+
+
+    def wait_for_server_socket(addr, port, saddr = nil, sport = 0)
+      sock = nil
+
+      loop do
+        sock = try_get_server_socket( addr, port, saddr, sport )
+        break if sock
+        sleep 0.1
+      end
+
+      sock
+    end
+
+    def try_get_server_socket(addr, port, saddr = nil, sport = 0)
+      if saddr
+        TCPSocket.new( addr, port, saddr, sport ) rescue nil
+      else
+        TCPSocket.new( addr, port ) rescue nil
       end
     end
 
 
+
+
     def close
       @sock.close
     end
@@ -137,3 +156,4 @@ module FlexNBD
 
   end # class FakeSource
 end # module FlexNBD
+