diff --git a/include/evio.h b/include/evio.h
index 3f3a5e2c21f1ed641aa0536385bf1b838a668576..819d53ed257419f9a510c1915f8ddcdee2eac2de 100644
--- a/include/evio.h
+++ b/include/evio.h
@@ -143,10 +143,7 @@ evio_timeout_update(ev_tstamp start, ev_tstamp *delay)
 }
 
 void
-evio_setsockopt_tcp(int fd);
-
-void
-evio_setsockopt_tcpserver(int fd);
+evio_setsockopt_client(int fd, int type);
 
 void
 evio_bind_addrinfo(struct ev_io *coio, struct addrinfo *ai);
diff --git a/src/coio.cc b/src/coio.cc
index 0e1a803478cab46dd78be70437866ad17fc1bee4..07e0a36b478fbd8cbf089914f6041b1c790934ca 100644
--- a/src/coio.cc
+++ b/src/coio.cc
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ coio_accept(struct ev_io *coio, struct sockaddr_in *addr,
 		 * available */
 		int fd = sio_accept(coio->fd, addr, &addrlen);
 		if (fd >= 0) {
-			evio_setsockopt_tcp(fd);
+			evio_setsockopt_client(fd, SOCK_STREAM);
 			return fd;
 		}
 		/* The socket is not ready, yield */
diff --git a/src/evio.cc b/src/evio.cc
index de66eb1dcbfcb3061312744cbbba5bfb39d5dbdb..64bd06a4b8ff7be58e73f5e86c0c5e09401ad785 100644
--- a/src/evio.cc
+++ b/src/evio.cc
@@ -38,6 +38,9 @@
 
 #define BIND_RETRY_DELAY 0.1
 
+static void
+evio_setsockopt_server(int fd, int type);
+
 /**
  * Try to convert IPv4 or IPv6 addresses from text to binary form.
  * sa buf must be sizeo of sizeof(sockaddr_in6).
@@ -85,38 +88,61 @@ evio_socket(struct ev_io *coio, int domain, int type, int protocol)
 	assert(coio->fd == -1);
 	/* Don't leak fd if setsockopt fails. */
 	coio->fd = sio_socket(domain, type, protocol);
-	if (type == SOCK_STREAM) {
-		evio_setsockopt_tcp(coio->fd);
-	} else {
-		sio_setfl(coio->fd, O_NONBLOCK, 1);
-	}
+	evio_setsockopt_client(coio->fd, type);
 }
 
-
-/** Set common tcp socket client options. */
-void
-evio_setsockopt_tcp(int fd)
+static void
+evio_setsockopt_keepalive(int fd)
 {
 	int on = 1;
-	/* In case this throws, the socket is not leaked. */
-	sio_setfl(fd, O_NONBLOCK, on);
-	/* SO_KEEPALIVE to ensure connections don't hang
+	/*
+	 * SO_KEEPALIVE to ensure connections don't hang
 	 * around for too long when a link goes away.
 	 */
 	sio_setsockopt(fd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_KEEPALIVE,
 		       &on, sizeof(on));
+#ifdef __linux__
 	/*
-	 * Lower latency is more important than higher
-	 * bandwidth, and we usually write entire
-	 * request/response in a single syscall.
+	 * On Linux, we are able to fine-tune keepalive
+	 * intervals. Set smaller defaults, since the system-wide
+	 * defaults are in days.
 	 */
-	sio_setsockopt(fd, IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_NODELAY,
-		       &on, sizeof(on));
+	int keepcnt = 5;
+	sio_setsockopt(fd, IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_KEEPCNT, &keepcnt,
+		       sizeof(int));
+	int keepidle = 30;
+
+	sio_setsockopt(fd, IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_KEEPIDLE, &keepidle,
+		       sizeof(int));
+
+	int keepintvl = 60;
+	sio_setsockopt(fd, IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_KEEPINTVL, &keepintvl,
+		       sizeof(int));
+#endif
 }
 
-/** Set tcp options for server sockets. */
+/** Set common tcp socket client options. */
 void
-evio_setsockopt_tcpserver(int fd)
+evio_setsockopt_client(int fd, int type)
+{
+	int on = 1;
+	/* In case this throws, the socket is not leaked. */
+	sio_setfl(fd, O_NONBLOCK, on);
+	if (type == SOCK_STREAM) {
+		/*
+		 * Lower latency is more important than higher
+		 * bandwidth, and we usually write entire
+		 * request/response in a single syscall.
+		 */
+		sio_setsockopt(fd, IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_NODELAY,
+			       &on, sizeof(on));
+		evio_setsockopt_keepalive(fd);
+	}
+}
+
+/** Set tcp options for server sockets. */
+static void
+evio_setsockopt_server(int fd, int type)
 {
 	int on = 1;
 	/* In case this throws, the socket is not leaked. */
@@ -124,8 +150,6 @@ evio_setsockopt_tcpserver(int fd)
 	/* Allow reuse local adresses. */
 	sio_setsockopt(fd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_REUSEADDR,
 		       &on, sizeof(on));
-	sio_setsockopt(fd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_KEEPALIVE,
-		       &on, sizeof(on));
 
 	/* Send all buffered messages on socket before take
 	 * control out from close(2) or shutdown(2). */
@@ -133,6 +157,8 @@ evio_setsockopt_tcpserver(int fd)
 
 	sio_setsockopt(fd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_LINGER,
 		       &linger, sizeof(linger));
+	if (type == SOCK_STREAM)
+		evio_setsockopt_keepalive(fd);
 }
 
 /**
@@ -149,7 +175,7 @@ evio_bind_addrinfo(struct ev_io *evio, struct addrinfo *ai)
 		try {
 			fd = sio_socket(ai->ai_family, ai->ai_socktype,
 					ai->ai_protocol);
-			evio_setsockopt_tcpserver(fd);
+			evio_setsockopt_server(fd, ai->ai_socktype);
 			if (sio_bind(fd, addr, ai->ai_addrlen) == 0) {
 				evio->fd = fd;
 				return; /* success. */
@@ -193,7 +219,7 @@ evio_service_accept_cb(ev_io *watcher,
 		if (fd < 0) /* EAGAIN, EWOULDLOCK, EINTR */
 			return;
 		/* set common tcp options */
-		evio_setsockopt_tcp(fd);
+		evio_setsockopt_client(fd, SOCK_STREAM);
 		/*
 		 * Invoke the callback and pass it the accepted
 		 * socket.
@@ -220,7 +246,7 @@ evio_service_bind_and_listen(struct evio_service *service)
 	int fd = sio_socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_TCP);
 
 	try {
-		evio_setsockopt_tcpserver(fd);
+		evio_setsockopt_server(fd, SOCK_STREAM);
 
 		if (sio_bind(fd, &service->addr, sizeof(service->addr)) ||
 		    sio_listen(fd)) {
diff --git a/src/sio.cc b/src/sio.cc
index a069cd9d7517745beb9ab807193020336ac84719..230f17537e9c315efc3050066bb577847fc88ff9 100644
--- a/src/sio.cc
+++ b/src/sio.cc
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <limits.h>
+#include <netinet/in.h> /* TCP_NODELAY */
 #include <netinet/tcp.h> /* TCP_NODELAY */
 #include <arpa/inet.h> /* inet_ntoa */
 
@@ -91,6 +92,10 @@ sio_option_name(int option)
 	CASE_OPTION(SO_ERROR);
 	CASE_OPTION(SO_REUSEADDR);
 	CASE_OPTION(TCP_NODELAY);
+#ifdef __linux__
+	CASE_OPTION(TCP_KEEPCNT);
+	CASE_OPTION(TCP_KEEPINTVL);
+#endif
 	default:
 		return "undefined";
 	}