diff --git a/FitNesseRoot/HttpTestSuite/SuiteSetUp/content.txt b/FitNesseRoot/HttpTestSuite/SuiteSetUp/content.txt
index 5f32d9e..c7957b1 100644
--- a/FitNesseRoot/HttpTestSuite/SuiteSetUp/content.txt
+++ b/FitNesseRoot/HttpTestSuite/SuiteSetUp/content.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 |script           |Server                 |
 |set start command|${SERVER_START_COMMAND}|
+|set host         |localhost              |
 |set port         |5000                   |
 |set directory    |${PUBLIC_DIR}          |
 |start server                             |
diff --git a/src/main/java/Server.java b/src/main/java/Server.java
index 1cc846a..c6f246f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/Server.java
+++ b/src/main/java/Server.java
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.Socket;
+
 public class Server {
     private String startCommand;
     private String directory;
+    private String host;
     private String port;
     static private Process process;
 
@@ -12,6 +16,10 @@ public void setDirectory(String directory) {
         this.directory = directory;
     }
 
+    public void setHost(String host) {
+      this.host = host;
+    }
+
     public void setPort(String port) {
         this.port = port;
     }
@@ -19,7 +27,32 @@ public void setPort(String port) {
     public void startServer() throws Exception {
         String command = startCommand + " -p " + port + " -d " + directory;
         process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(command);
-        Thread.sleep(2000);
+        while (!serverAvailable()) {
+          Thread.sleep(2000);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public boolean serverAvailable() {
+        Socket socket = null;
+        try {
+            socket = new Socket(host, Integer.parseInt(port));
+            return true;
+        } catch (IOException ex) {
+            /* ignore */
+        } finally {
+          closeSocket(socket);
+        }
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    private void closeSocket(Socket socket) {
+        try {
+          if (socket != null) {
+              socket.close();
+          }
+        } catch (IOException ex) {
+            /* ignore */
+        }
     }
 
     public void stopServer() throws Exception {