diff --git a/sherpa/LSMServerHandler.cc b/sherpa/LSMServerHandler.cc
index ebdacba..fe4cd95 100644
--- a/sherpa/LSMServerHandler.cc
+++ b/sherpa/LSMServerHandler.cc
@@ -19,13 +19,13 @@ LSMServerHandler(int argc, char **argv)
 
     // how big the in-memory tree should be (512MB).
     int64_t c0_size = 1024 * 1024 * 512 * 1;
-
     // write-ahead log
     // 1 -> sync on each commit
     // 2 -> sync on each 2 commits
     // ...
     int log_mode = 0; // do not log by default.
     int64_t expiry_delta = 0;  // do not gc by default
+    port = 9090;
 
     stasis_buffer_manager_size = 1 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024 / PAGE_SIZE;  // 1.5GB total
 
@@ -45,8 +45,11 @@ LSMServerHandler(int argc, char **argv)
         } else if(!strcmp(argv[i], "--log-mode")) {
             i++;
             log_mode = atoi(argv[i]);
-	} else if(!strcmp(argv[i], "--blind-update")) {
-	  blind_update = 1;
+        } else if(!strcmp(argv[i], "--port")) {
+            i++;
+            port = atoi(argv[i]);
+        } else if(!strcmp(argv[i], "--blind-update")) {
+            blind_update = 1;
         } else if(!strcmp(argv[i], "--expiry-delta")) {
             i++;
             expiry_delta = atoi(argv[i]);
diff --git a/sherpa/LSMServerHandler.h b/sherpa/LSMServerHandler.h
index 40061fc..b23c703 100644
--- a/sherpa/LSMServerHandler.h
+++ b/sherpa/LSMServerHandler.h
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ public:
     ResponseCode::type insertMany(const std::string& databaseName, const std::vector<Record> & records);
     ResponseCode::type update(const std::string& databaseName, const std::string& recordName, const std::string& recordBody);
     ResponseCode::type remove(const std::string& databaseName, const std::string& recordName);
+    short port;
 
 private:
     ResponseCode::type insert(datatuple* tuple);
diff --git a/sherpa/main/lsm_server.cc b/sherpa/main/lsm_server.cc
index 247b69e..aa4b3f9 100644
--- a/sherpa/main/lsm_server.cc
+++ b/sherpa/main/lsm_server.cc
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ using namespace mapkeeper;
 int main(int argc, char **argv) {
     shared_ptr<LSMServerHandler> handler(new LSMServerHandler(argc, argv));
     shared_ptr<TProcessor> processor(new MapKeeperProcessor(handler));
-    shared_ptr<TServerTransport> serverTransport(new TServerSocket(9090));
+    shared_ptr<TServerTransport> serverTransport(new TServerSocket(handler->port));
     shared_ptr<TTransportFactory> transportFactory(new TFramedTransportFactory());
     shared_ptr<TProtocolFactory> protocolFactory(new TBinaryProtocolFactory());
     shared_ptr<ThreadManager> threadManager = ThreadManager::newSimpleThreadManager(32);