diff --git a/setup/management.sh b/setup/management.sh
index f07d862d..67daf5f9 100755
--- a/setup/management.sh
+++ b/setup/management.sh
@@ -42,8 +42,5 @@ EOF
 chmod +x /etc/cron.daily/mailinabox-statuschecks
 
 
-# Start it. Remove the api key file first so that start.sh
-# can wait for it to be created to know that the management
-# server is ready.
-rm -f /var/lib/mailinabox/api.key
+# Start it.
 restart_service mailinabox
diff --git a/setup/start.sh b/setup/start.sh
index a7bf9328..8dd3f3ac 100755
--- a/setup/start.sh
+++ b/setup/start.sh
@@ -103,7 +103,8 @@ source setup/management.sh
 source setup/munin.sh
 
 # Ping the management daemon to write the DNS and nginx configuration files.
-while [ ! -f /var/lib/mailinabox/api.key ]; do
+until nc -z -w 4 localhost 10222
+do
 	echo Waiting for the Mail-in-a-Box management daemon to start...
 	sleep 2
 done
diff --git a/setup/system.sh b/setup/system.sh
index 55612b9d..4bc1cfaa 100755
--- a/setup/system.sh
+++ b/setup/system.sh
@@ -36,13 +36,14 @@ apt_get_quiet upgrade
 # * cron: Runs background processes periodically.
 # * ntp: keeps the system time correct
 # * fail2ban: scans log files for repeated failed login attempts and blocks the remote IP at the firewall
+# * netcat-openbsd: `nc` command line networking tool
 # * git: we install some things directly from github
 # * sudo: allows privileged users to execute commands as root without being root
 # * coreutils: includes `nproc` tool to report number of processors
 # * bc: allows us to do math to compute sane defaults
 
 apt_install python3 python3-dev python3-pip \
-	wget curl git sudo coreutils bc \
+	netcat-openbsd wget curl git sudo coreutils bc \
 	haveged unattended-upgrades cron ntp fail2ban
 
 # Allow apt to install system updates automatically every day.