diff --git a/util/message.cpp b/util/message.cpp
index 9b08c0813e8..5846d7012cb 100644
--- a/util/message.cpp
+++ b/util/message.cpp
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 #include <fcntl.h>
 #include <errno.h>
 #include "../db/cmdline.h"
+#include "../db/commands.h"
 #include "../client/dbclient.h"
 
 #ifndef _WIN32
@@ -716,6 +717,29 @@ namespace mongo {
         map<string, bool> isSelfCache; // host, isSelf
     }
     
+    const OID& getServerID(){
+        static OID serverID;
+        ONCE {
+            serverID.init();
+        }
+        return serverID;
+    }
+
+    class ServerIDCommand : public Command { 
+        public:
+            ServerIDCommand() : Command( "serverID" ) { }
+            virtual bool slaveOk() const { return true; }
+            virtual LockType locktype() const { return NONE; } 
+            virtual void help(stringstream& h) const { h << "internal"; }
+            virtual bool adminOnly() const { return true; }
+
+            virtual bool run(const string& db, BSONObj& cmdObj, string& errmsg, BSONObjBuilder& result, bool fromRepl) {
+                result.append("serverID", getServerID());
+                return 1;
+            }
+
+    } serverIDCommand;
+
     bool HostAndPort::isSelf() const { 
         int p = _port == -1 ? CmdLine::DefaultDBPort : _port;
 
@@ -729,15 +753,22 @@ namespace mongo {
                 return it->second;
             }
 
-            SockAddr addr (_host.c_str(), 0); // port 0 is dynamically assigned
-            SOCKET sock = ::socket(addr.getType(), SOCK_STREAM, 0);
-            assert(sock != INVALID_SOCKET);
+            bool ret = false;
+
+            try {
+                DBClientConnection c (false, NULL, 0.001); // 1ms timeout
+                c.connect(this->toString());
+
+                BSONObj out;
+                if (c.runCommand("admin", BSON("serverID"<<1), out) && out["serverID"].OID() == getServerID()){
+                    ret = true;
+                }
+            } catch (...) {
+                /* ignore */
+            }
 
-            bool ret = (::bind(sock, addr.raw(), addr.addressSize) == 0);
             isSelfCache[_host] = ret;
 
-            closesocket(sock);
-
             return ret;
         }
     }