diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 834721e..43d2b7b 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 /target
+/GerritServer.properties
 /.classpath
 /.project
 /.settings/org.maven.ide.eclipse.prefs
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/pgm/Daemon.java b/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/pgm/Daemon.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6fc3f50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/pgm/Daemon.java
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2009 The Android Open Source Project
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package com.google.gerrit.pgm;
+
+import com.google.gerrit.server.ssh.GerritSshDaemon;
+import com.google.gwtjsonrpc.server.XsrfException;
+import com.google.gwtorm.client.OrmException;
+
+import java.net.SocketException;
+
+
+/** Run only the SSH daemon portions of Gerrit. */
+public class Daemon {
+  public static void main(final String[] argv) throws SocketException,
+      OrmException, XsrfException {
+    GerritSshDaemon.startSshd();
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/ssh/GerritSshDaemon.java b/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/ssh/GerritSshDaemon.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f68f3b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/ssh/GerritSshDaemon.java
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2008 The Android Open Source Project
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package com.google.gerrit.server.ssh;
+
+import com.google.gerrit.client.rpc.Common;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.GerritServer;
+import com.google.gwtjsonrpc.server.XsrfException;
+import com.google.gwtorm.client.OrmException;
+
+import org.apache.sshd.SshServer;
+import org.apache.sshd.common.Compression;
+import org.apache.sshd.common.NamedFactory;
+import org.apache.sshd.common.compression.CompressionNone;
+import org.apache.sshd.common.keyprovider.FileKeyPairProvider;
+import org.apache.sshd.common.util.SecurityUtils;
+import org.apache.sshd.server.UserAuth;
+import org.apache.sshd.server.auth.UserAuthPublicKey;
+import org.apache.sshd.server.keyprovider.SimpleGeneratorHostKeyProvider;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.SocketException;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+
+/**
+ * SSH daemon to communicate with Gerrit.
+ * <p>
+ * Use a Git URL such as <code>ssh://${email}@${host}:${port}/${path}</code>,
+ * e.g. <code>ssh://sop@google.com@gerrit.com:8010/tools/gerrit.git</code> to
+ * access the SSH daemon itself.
+ * <p>
+ * Versions of Git before 1.5.3 may require setting the username and port
+ * properties in the user's <code>~/.ssh/config</code> file, and using a host
+ * alias through a URL such as <code>gerrit-alias:/tools/gerrit.git:
+ * <pre>
+ * Host gerrit-alias
+ *  User sop@google.com
+ *  Hostname gerrit.com
+ *  Port 8010
+ * </pre>
+ */
+public class GerritSshDaemon {
+  private static SshServer sshd;
+  private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(GerritSshDaemon.class);
+
+  public static synchronized void startSshd() throws OrmException,
+      XsrfException,SocketException {
+    final GerritServer srv = GerritServer.getInstance();
+    final int myPort = Common.getGerritConfig().getSshdPort();
+    sshd = SshServer.setUpDefaultServer();
+    sshd.setPort(myPort);
+
+    final File sitePath = srv.getSitePath();
+    if (SecurityUtils.isBouncyCastleRegistered()) {
+      sshd.setKeyPairProvider(new FileKeyPairProvider(new String[] {
+          new File(sitePath, "ssh_host_rsa_key").getAbsolutePath(),
+          new File(sitePath, "ssh_host_dsa_key").getAbsolutePath()}));
+    } else {
+      final SimpleGeneratorHostKeyProvider keyp;
+
+      keyp = new SimpleGeneratorHostKeyProvider();
+      keyp.setPath(new File(sitePath, "ssh_host_key").getAbsolutePath());
+      sshd.setKeyPairProvider(keyp);
+    }
+
+    // Always disable transparent compression. The majority of our data
+    // transfer is highly compressed Git pack files. We cannot make them
+    // any smaller than they already are.
+    //
+    sshd.setCompressionFactories(Arrays
+        .<NamedFactory<Compression>> asList(new CompressionNone.Factory()));
+
+    sshd.setUserAuthFactories(Arrays
+        .<NamedFactory<UserAuth>> asList(new UserAuthPublicKey.Factory()));
+    sshd.setPublickeyAuthenticator(new DatabasePubKeyAuth());
+    sshd.setCommandFactory(new GerritCommandFactory());
+    sshd.setShellFactory(new NoShell());
+
+    try {
+      sshd.start();
+      log.info("Started Gerrit SSHD on 0.0.0.0:" + myPort);
+    } catch (IOException e) {
+      log.error("Cannot start Gerrit SSHD on 0.0.0.0:" + myPort, e);
+      sshd = null;
+      final SocketException e2;
+      e2 = new SocketException("Cannot start sshd on " + myPort);
+      e2.initCause(e);
+      throw e2;
+    }
+  }
+
+  public static synchronized void stopSshd() {
+    if (sshd != null) {
+      try {
+        sshd.stop();
+        log.info("Stopped Gerrit SSHD on 0.0.0.0:" + sshd.getPort());
+      } finally {
+        sshd = null;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  public static synchronized int getSshdPort() {
+    return sshd != null ? sshd.getPort() : 0;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/ssh/SshServlet.java b/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/ssh/SshServlet.java
index 1f67d66..4975ad7 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/ssh/SshServlet.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/ssh/SshServlet.java
@@ -14,27 +14,15 @@
 
 package com.google.gerrit.server.ssh;
 
-import com.google.gerrit.client.rpc.Common;
-import com.google.gerrit.server.GerritServer;
 import com.google.gwtjsonrpc.server.XsrfException;
 import com.google.gwtorm.client.OrmException;
 
-import org.apache.sshd.SshServer;
-import org.apache.sshd.common.Compression;
-import org.apache.sshd.common.NamedFactory;
-import org.apache.sshd.common.compression.CompressionNone;
-import org.apache.sshd.common.keyprovider.FileKeyPairProvider;
-import org.apache.sshd.common.util.SecurityUtils;
-import org.apache.sshd.server.UserAuth;
-import org.apache.sshd.server.auth.UserAuthPublicKey;
-import org.apache.sshd.server.keyprovider.SimpleGeneratorHostKeyProvider;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
-import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.PrintWriter;
-import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.net.SocketException;
 
 import javax.servlet.ServletConfig;
 import javax.servlet.ServletException;
@@ -62,83 +50,25 @@
  * </pre>
  */
 public class SshServlet extends HttpServlet {
-  private static SshServer sshd;
   private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(SshServlet.class);
 
-  public static synchronized void startSshd() throws ServletException {
-    final GerritServer srv;
-    try {
-      srv = GerritServer.getInstance();
-    } catch (OrmException e) {
-      throw new ServletException("Cannot load GerritServer", e);
-    } catch (XsrfException e) {
-      throw new ServletException("Cannot load GerritServer", e);
-    }
-
-    final int myPort = Common.getGerritConfig().getSshdPort();
-    sshd = SshServer.setUpDefaultServer();
-    sshd.setPort(myPort);
-
-    final File sitePath = srv.getSitePath();
-    if (SecurityUtils.isBouncyCastleRegistered()) {
-      sshd.setKeyPairProvider(new FileKeyPairProvider(new String[] {
-          new File(sitePath, "ssh_host_rsa_key").getAbsolutePath(),
-          new File(sitePath, "ssh_host_dsa_key").getAbsolutePath()}));
-    } else {
-      final SimpleGeneratorHostKeyProvider keyp;
-
-      keyp = new SimpleGeneratorHostKeyProvider();
-      keyp.setPath(new File(sitePath, "ssh_host_key").getAbsolutePath());
-      sshd.setKeyPairProvider(keyp);
-    }
-
-    // Always disable transparent compression. The majority of our data
-    // transfer is highly compressed Git pack files. We cannot make them
-    // any smaller than they already are.
-    //
-    sshd.setCompressionFactories(Arrays
-        .<NamedFactory<Compression>> asList(new CompressionNone.Factory()));
-
-    sshd.setUserAuthFactories(Arrays
-        .<NamedFactory<UserAuth>> asList(new UserAuthPublicKey.Factory()));
-    sshd.setPublickeyAuthenticator(new DatabasePubKeyAuth());
-    sshd.setCommandFactory(new GerritCommandFactory());
-    sshd.setShellFactory(new NoShell());
-
-    try {
-      sshd.start();
-      log.info("Started Gerrit SSHD on 0.0.0.0:" + myPort);
-    } catch (IOException e) {
-      log.error("Cannot start Gerrit SSHD on 0.0.0.0:" + myPort, e);
-      sshd = null;
-      throw new ServletException("Cannot start sshd on " + myPort, e);
-    }
-  }
-
-  public static synchronized void stopSshd() {
-    if (sshd != null) {
-      try {
-        sshd.stop();
-        log.info("Stopped Gerrit SSHD on 0.0.0.0:" + sshd.getPort());
-      } finally {
-        sshd = null;
-      }
-    }
-  }
-
-  public static synchronized int getSshdPort() {
-    return sshd != null ? sshd.getPort() : 0;
-  }
-
   @Override
   public void init(final ServletConfig config) throws ServletException {
     super.init(config);
-    startSshd();
+    try {
+      GerritSshDaemon.startSshd();
+    } catch (SocketException e) {
+      throw new ServletException(e);
+    } catch (OrmException e) {
+      throw new ServletException(e);
+    } catch (XsrfException e) {
+      throw new ServletException(e);
+    }
   }
 
   @Override
   public void destroy() {
-    stopSshd();
+    GerritSshDaemon.stopSshd();
     super.destroy();
   }
 
@@ -149,7 +79,7 @@
     rsp.setHeader("Pragma", "no-cache");
     rsp.setHeader("Cache-Control", "no-cache, must-revalidate");
 
-    final int port = getSshdPort();
+    final int port = GerritSshDaemon.getSshdPort();
     final String out;
     if (0 < port) {
       out = req.getServerName() + " " + port;