diff --git a/server/src/com/cloud/cluster/ClusterManagerImpl.java b/server/src/com/cloud/cluster/ClusterManagerImpl.java
index f5ba9eb2c16..54e2b5c7010 100755
--- a/server/src/com/cloud/cluster/ClusterManagerImpl.java
+++ b/server/src/com/cloud/cluster/ClusterManagerImpl.java
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@ public class ClusterManagerImpl implements ClusterManager {
     private static final Logger s_logger = Logger.getLogger(ClusterManagerImpl.class);
 
     private static final int EXECUTOR_SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT = 1000; // 1 second
+    private static final int DEFAULT_OUTGOING_WORKERS = 5; 
 
     private final List<ClusterManagerListener> _listeners = new ArrayList<ClusterManagerListener>();
     private final Map<Long, ManagementServerHostVO> _activePeers = new HashMap<Long, ManagementServerHostVO>();
@@ -1285,8 +1286,11 @@ public class ClusterManagerImpl implements ClusterManager {
         if(!NetUtils.isLocalAddress(_clusterNodeIP)) {
             throw new ConfigurationException("cluster node IP should be valid local address where the server is running, please check your configuration");
         }
+
+        for(int i = 0; i < DEFAULT_OUTGOING_WORKERS; i++)
+        	_executor.execute(getClusterPduSendingTask());
         
-        _executor.execute(getClusterPduSendingTask());
+        // notification task itself in turn works as a task dispatcher
         _executor.execute(getClusterPduNotificationTask());
 
         Adapters<ClusterServiceAdapter> adapters = locator.getAdapters(ClusterServiceAdapter.class);
diff --git a/server/src/com/cloud/cluster/ClusterServiceServletContainer.java b/server/src/com/cloud/cluster/ClusterServiceServletContainer.java
index 5c312df70ee..db02d74fb76 100644
--- a/server/src/com/cloud/cluster/ClusterServiceServletContainer.java
+++ b/server/src/com/cloud/cluster/ClusterServiceServletContainer.java
@@ -127,15 +127,16 @@ public class ClusterServiceServletContainer {
                     _executor.execute(new Runnable() {
                     	public void run() {
                             HttpContext context = new BasicHttpContext(null);
-                            try {
-                            	if(s_logger.isTraceEnabled())
-                            		s_logger.trace("dispatching cluster request from " + conn.getRemoteAddress().toString());
-                            	
-                                _httpService.handleRequest(conn, context);
-                                
-                            	if(s_logger.isTraceEnabled())
-                            		s_logger.trace("Cluster request from " + conn.getRemoteAddress().toString() + " is processed");
-                                
+                            try {
+                            	while(!Thread.interrupted() && conn.isOpen()) {
+	                            	if(s_logger.isTraceEnabled())
+	                            		s_logger.trace("dispatching cluster request from " + conn.getRemoteAddress().toString());
+	                            	
+	                                _httpService.handleRequest(conn, context);
+	                                
+	                            	if(s_logger.isTraceEnabled())
+	                            		s_logger.trace("Cluster request from " + conn.getRemoteAddress().toString() + " is processed");
+                            	}
                             } catch (ConnectionClosedException ex) {
                                 s_logger.error("Client closed connection", ex);
                             } catch (IOException ex) {
@@ -144,7 +145,7 @@ public class ClusterServiceServletContainer {
                                 s_logger.error("Unrecoverable HTTP protocol violation", ex);
                             } finally {
                                 try {
-                                    conn.close();
+                                    conn.shutdown();
                                 } catch (IOException ignore) {
                                     s_logger.error("unexpected exception", ignore);
                                 }
diff --git a/server/src/com/cloud/cluster/ClusterServiceServletImpl.java b/server/src/com/cloud/cluster/ClusterServiceServletImpl.java
index ca1ec761618..b124811851b 100644
--- a/server/src/com/cloud/cluster/ClusterServiceServletImpl.java
+++ b/server/src/com/cloud/cluster/ClusterServiceServletImpl.java
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ public class ClusterServiceServletImpl implements ClusterService {
 
     	if(s_client == null) {
     		MultiThreadedHttpConnectionManager mgr = new MultiThreadedHttpConnectionManager();
-    		mgr.getParams().setDefaultMaxConnectionsPerHost(1);
+    		mgr.getParams().setDefaultMaxConnectionsPerHost(4);
     		
     		// TODO make it configurable
     		mgr.getParams().setMaxTotalConnections(1000);
@@ -134,6 +134,7 @@ public class ClusterServiceServletImpl implements ClusterService {
 	        s_client = new HttpClient(mgr);
 	        HttpClientParams clientParams = new HttpClientParams();
 	        clientParams.setSoTimeout(_requestTimeoutSeconds * 1000);
+	        
 	        s_client.setParams(clientParams);
     	}
     	return s_client;