diff --git a/ccnode/hypervisor/__init__.py b/ccnode/hypervisor/__init__.py
index 347fcbdf25ad2c2ba847f4b6f639fa9b55b5d719..8386298b559de033ef2a4cbca6edc449cd94bd75 100644
--- a/ccnode/hypervisor/__init__.py
+++ b/ccnode/hypervisor/__init__.py
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ class Hypervisor(object):
         self.type = u'kvm'
 
         # libvirt event loop abstraction
-        self.vir_event_loop = VirEventLoop(self.main.loop)
+        self.vir_event_loop = VirEventLoop(self.main.evloop)
         # This tells libvirt what event loop implementation it
         # should use
         libvirt.virEventRegisterImpl(
diff --git a/ccnode/node.py b/ccnode/node.py
index 211c83094f61da6dcccf6e5e54c5325da9a9254c..d46523ab360f72accb40689c76d9d426c2a0ad8d 100644
--- a/ccnode/node.py
+++ b/ccnode/node.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import time
 import signal
 import logging
 import logging.config
+from threading import Thread
 from collections import defaultdict
 from functools import partial
 
@@ -21,55 +22,78 @@ logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 DEFAULT_TAGS = (Tag(u'version', __version__),)
 
 
-class RPCHandler(object):
-    """Handles rpc connection to the remote cc-server."""
+class RPCStartHandler(Thread):
+    """Handles rpc connection and authentication to the remote cc-server.
+
+    This class inherits from :class:`Thread` but only the connection part is run
+    in a background thread.
+
+    """
     def __init__(self, loop):
+        """
+        :param loop: MainLoop instance
+        """
+        Thread.__init__(self)
+        self.daemon = True
+        self.run = self.rpc_connect
+
         self.loop = loop
-        self.watcher = loop.loop.io(self.cb)
-        self.timer = loop.loop.timer(0, 5, self.timeout)
+        # signal to the main thread when connection is done
+        self.async = loop.evloop.async(self.async_cb)
+        self.timer = loop.evloop.timer(5., 5., self.in_progress_cb)
 
-        self.connection = None
-        self.proxy = None
+        self.rpc_con = None
+        # id for async rpc call
+        self.auth_id = None
 
-        # configure socket
-        self.sock = None
-        self.sock.setblocking(0)
+    # Method run in the thread
+    def rpc_connect(self):
+        while True:
+            try:
+                logger.debug('About to create connection')
+                self.rpc_con = RpcConnection.from_addr_ssl(
+                    addr=self.loop.config.server_host,
+                    port=self.loop.config.server_port,
+                    handler=self.loop.rpc_handler,
+                    loop=self.loop.evloop,
+                )
+                logger.debug('Connection created')
+            except IOError:
+                logger.exception('Error while connecting to the cc-server')
+                time.sleep(5)
+            else:
+                break
+
+        logger.debug('Async send')
+        self.async.send()  # success
 
-    def cb(self, watcher, revents):
-        if revents & pyev.EV_WRITE:
-            self.loop.connection = RpcConnection(
-                sock=ssl.wrap_socket(self.sock, ssl_version=ssl.PROTOCOL_TLSv1),
-                loop=self.loop.loop,
-            )
-            self.loop.proxy = ConnectionProxy(self.loop.connection)
-
-    def timeout(self, watcher, revents):
-        self.sock.close()
-
-    def run(self):
-        self.watcher.start()
-        self.timeout.start()
-        self.connection = RpcConnection.from_addr_ssl(
-            addr=self.loop.config.server_host,
-            port=self.loop.config.server_port,
-            handler=self.loop.handlers,
-        )
-        self.proxy = ConnectionProxy(self.connection)
-        #self.loop.
+    def start(self):
+        self.timer.start()
+        self.async.start()
 
+        Thread.start(self)
 
-class AuthHandler(object):
-    """Handles rpc authentication to the remote cc-server."""
-    def __init__(self, loop):
-        self.loop = loop
-        self.watcher = loop.loop.timer(.5, 5, self.cb)
-        self.auth_id = None
-
-    def cb(self, watcher, revents):
+    def stop(self):
+        self.timer.stop()
+        self.async.stop()
+
+    def in_progress_cb(self, *args):
+        logger.info('Connection to the cc-server still in progress')
+
+    def async_cb(self, *args):
+        logger.debug('Async callback')
+        self.timer.stop()
+        # connect is done
+        self.loop.rpc_con = self.rpc_con
+        # start authentication
+        self.timer = self.loop.evloop.timer(.5, 5., self.auth_cb)
+        self.timer.start()
+
+    def auth_cb(self, *args):
         logger.debug('Callback auth')
         # check is fallback mode on sjrpc is set otherwise our call would block
         # the loop
-        if not self.loop.rpc_con._event_fallback.is_set():
+        if not self.rpc_con._event_fallback.is_set():
             logger.debug('Will try authentication again latter')
             return
 
@@ -78,14 +102,14 @@ class AuthHandler(object):
             return
 
         # try to authenticate
-        self.auth_id = self.loop.rpc_con.rpc.async_call_cb(
-            self.cb_auth,
+        self.auth_id = self.rpc_con.rpc.async_call_cb(
+            self.auth_done_cb,
             'authentify',
             self.loop.config.server_user,
             self.loop.config.server_passwd,
         )
 
-    def cb_auth(self, call_id, response=None, error=None):
+    def auth_done_cb(self, call_id, response=None, error=None):
         assert call_id == self.auth_id
 
         if error is not None:
@@ -115,21 +139,15 @@ class AuthHandler(object):
             return
 
         if self.loop.role is not None:
-            self.watcher.stop()
+            self.stop()
             logger.info('Successfully authenticated with role %s', response)
             self.loop.register_plugin(self.loop.role)
         self.auth_id = None
 
-    def start(self):
-        self.watcher.start()
-
-    def stop(self):
-        self.watcher.stop()
-
 
 class MainLoop(object):
     def __init__(self, config_path):
-        self.loop = pyev.default_loop(debug=True)
+        self.evloop = pyev.default_loop(debug=True)
         self.config_path = config_path
 
         # set signal watchers
@@ -142,7 +160,7 @@ class MainLoop(object):
         # turn into real watchers
         self.signals = dict((
             signal,
-            self.loop.signal(signal, cb),
+            self.evloop.signal(signal, cb),
         ) for signal, cb in self.signals.iteritems())
 
         # load config variables
@@ -154,7 +172,7 @@ class MainLoop(object):
         # rpc connection
         self.rpc_con = None
 
-        self.auth = AuthHandler(self)
+        self.connect = RPCStartHandler(self)
 
         # role
         self.role = None
@@ -197,7 +215,7 @@ class MainLoop(object):
         :param tag: :class:`Tag` to add/replace
         """
         # TODO tag register
-        tag.start(self.loop)
+        tag.start(self.evloop)
         self.tag_db['__main__'][tag.name] = tag
 
     def remove_tag(self, tag_name):
@@ -206,7 +224,7 @@ class MainLoop(object):
 
     def reset_sub_tag(self, sub_id, tag):
         # TODO tag register
-        tag.start(self.loop)
+        tag.start(self.evloop)
         self.tag_db[sub_id][tag.name] = tag
 
     def remove_sub_tag(self, sub_id, tag_name):
@@ -252,29 +270,19 @@ class MainLoop(object):
 
         plugin.stop()
 
-    def rpc_connect(self):
-        # TODO async and error handling
-        self.rpc_con = RpcConnection.from_addr_ssl(
-            addr=self.config.server_host,
-            port=self.config.server_port,
-            handler=self.rpc_handler,
-            loop=self.loop,
-        )
-        self.proxy = ConnectionProxy(self.rpc_con)
-
     def start(self):
         logger.info('Starting node')
         for signal in self.signals.itervalues():
             signal.start()
         logger.debug('About to connect')
-        self.rpc_connect()
-        self.auth.start()
+        self.connect.start()
         logger.debug('About to start ev_loop')
-        self.loop.start()
+        self.evloop.start()
 
     def stop(self, watcher=None, revents=None):
         logger.info('Exiting node...')
-        self.auth.stop()
+        if self.connect is not None:
+            self.connect.stop()
         # close rpc
         if self.rpc_con is not None:
             self.rpc_con.shutdown()
@@ -284,7 +292,7 @@ class MainLoop(object):
         self.registered_plugins = set()
 
         self.role = None
-        self.loop.stop()
+        self.evloop.stop()
 
     def reload(self, watcher=None, revents=None):
         logger.info(u'Reloading logging configuration...')
diff --git a/ccnode/plugins.py b/ccnode/plugins.py
index 9d689c40c9f9d86f8bd48fd8adeb46ddd7ea0fe7..3a1a8011e3c7aa10a8781749f49a6438d157d61d 100644
--- a/ccnode/plugins.py
+++ b/ccnode/plugins.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ class Base(object):
         """
         :param loop: MainLoop instance
         """
+        #: MainLoop instance
         self.main = kwargs.pop('loop')
 
         # plugins may define tags (see :mod:`ccnode.tags`)
@@ -44,7 +45,7 @@ class Base(object):
         for tag in chain.from_iterable(
             imap(lambda d: d.itervalues(), self.tag_db.itervalues()),
         ):
-            tag.start(self.main.loop)
+            tag.start(self.main.evloop)
 
     def stop(self):
         """Cleanup for plugins, can be used to clean pyev watchers."""