diff --git a/lib/common.php b/lib/common.php
index 18e4ed54af..f8edfdecd0 100644
--- a/lib/common.php
+++ b/lib/common.php
@@ -63,7 +63,8 @@ $config =
 			  'port' => 5222,
 			  'user' => 'update',
 			  'resource' => 'uniquename',
-			  'password' => 'blahblahblah'),
+			  'password' => 'blahblahblah',
+			  'host' => NULL), # only set if != server
 		);
 
 $config['db'] = &PEAR::getStaticProperty('DB_DataObject','options');
diff --git a/lib/jabber.php b/lib/jabber.php
index 4f0335f910..364282a1c3 100644
--- a/lib/jabber.php
+++ b/lib/jabber.php
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ function jabber_normalize_jid($jid) {
 	}
 }
 
-function jabber_connect($resource=NULL) {
+function jabber_connect($resource=NULL, $status=NULL) {
 	static $conn = NULL;
 	if (!$conn) {
 		$conn = new XMPP(common_config('xmpp', 'server'),
@@ -45,7 +45,10 @@ function jabber_connect($resource=NULL) {
 					     common_config('xmpp', 'user'),
 					     common_config('xmpp', 'password'),
 				    	 ($resource) ? $resource :
-				        	common_config('xmpp', 'resource'));
+				        	common_config('xmpp', 'resource'),
+				         common_config('xmpp', 'host') ?
+				         common_config('xmpp', 'host') :
+				         common_config('xmpp', 'server'));
 
 		if (!$conn) {
 			return false;
@@ -55,6 +58,9 @@ function jabber_connect($resource=NULL) {
 			return false;
 		}
         $conn->processUntil('session_start');
+        if ($status) {
+        	$conn->presence($status);
+		}
 	}
 	return $conn;
 }
diff --git a/xmppdaemon.php b/xmppdaemon.php
index 94358f7eed..4e45112596 100644
--- a/xmppdaemon.php
+++ b/xmppdaemon.php
@@ -31,23 +31,27 @@ require_once(INSTALLDIR . '/lib/jabber.php');
 
 class XMPPDaemon {
 
-	function XMPPDaemon() {
+	function XMPPDaemon($resource=NULL) {
 		static $attrs = array('server', 'port', 'user', 'password',
-					   'resource');
+					   'resource', 'host');
 
 		foreach ($attrs as $attr)
 		{
 			$this->$attr = common_config('xmpp', $attr);
 		}
+
+		if ($resource) {
+			$this->resource = $resource;
+		}
 	}
 
 	function connect() {
-		$this->conn = new XMPP($this->server, $this->port, $this->user,
-							   $this->password, $this->resource);
+		$this->conn = jabber_connect($this->resource,
+								     "Send me a message to post a notice");
+		);
 		if (!$this->conn) {
 			return false;
 		}
-		$this->conn->connect();
 		return !$this->conn->disconnected;
 	}
 
@@ -181,10 +185,6 @@ class XMPPDaemon {
 		}
 	}
 
-	function handle_session(&$pl) {
-		$this->conn->presence($status="Send me a message to post a notice");
-	}
-
 	function log($level, $msg) {
 		common_log($level, 'XMPPDaemon('.$this->resource.'): '.$msg);
 	}
@@ -209,7 +209,6 @@ class XMPPDaemon {
 		}
 		$this->conn->send($out);
 	}
-
 }
 
 $daemon = new XMPPDaemon();