diff --git a/src/common/remoteio.c b/src/common/remoteio.c
--- a/src/common/remoteio.c
+++ b/src/common/remoteio.c
@@ -23,18 +23,22 @@
 #include "asprintf.h"
 
 #include <errno.h>
+#include <netdb.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <string.h>
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#include <sys/socket.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 
 #ifndef WINDOWS
-#include <sys/socket.h>
 #include <sys/un.h>
 #endif
 
 /* local */
 
+#define REMOTEIO_DEFAULT_PORT "4050"
+
 int _remoteio_ssh_open(struct remoteio *rem, struct remoteio_server *server);
 int _remoteio_ssh_read(struct remoteio *rem, void *buf, size_t len, size_t *bytesread);
 int _remoteio_ssh_write(struct remoteio *rem, void *buf, size_t len, size_t *byteswritten);
@@ -401,12 +405,76 @@ int _remoteio_sock_write(struct remoteio
  */
 int _remoteio_tcp_open(struct remoteio *rem, struct remoteio_server *server)
 {
+  int tmp;
+  int tmp2;
+
+  int sock;
+
+  char *hostname;
+  char *port;
+
+  struct addrinfo addrinfo_hints;
+  struct addrinfo *addrinfo_res;
+
+  /**
+     only hostname should be free()-ed, not port,
+     because both are from the same block of malloc()-ed
+     memory
+   */
+  hostname = strdup(server->hostname);
+  for(port = hostname;
+      *port && *port != ':';
+      port ++)
+    ;
+  if(*port)
+    {
+      *port = '\0';
+      port ++;
+    }
+  else
+    port = REMOTEIO_DEFAULT_PORT;
+
+  memset(&addrinfo_hints, '\0', sizeof(struct addrinfo));
+  addrinfo_hints.ai_family = AF_UNSPEC;
+  addrinfo_hints.ai_flags = AI_V4MAPPED | AI_ADDRCONFIG;
+  addrinfo_hints.ai_socktype = SOCK_STREAM;
+
+  tmp = getaddrinfo(server->hostname, port, &addrinfo_hints, &addrinfo_res);
+  if(tmp)
+    fprintf(stderr, "error resolving %s:%s: %s\n", server->hostname, port, gai_strerror(tmp));
+  fprintf(stderr, "connecting to %s[%s]:%s\n", server->hostname, addrinfo_res->ai_canonname, port);
+
+  free(hostname);
+
+  sock = socket(addrinfo_res->ai_family, SOCK_STREAM, addrinfo_res->ai_protocol);
+  if(sock == -1)
+    {
+      perror("socket");
+      freeaddrinfo(addrinfo_res);
   
-  return 1;
+      return 1;
+    }
+
+  tmp = connect(sock, addrinfo_res->ai_addr, addrinfo_res->ai_addrlen);
+  tmp2 = errno;
+  freeaddrinfo(addrinfo_res);
+  errno = tmp2;
+  if(tmp == -1)
+    {
+      perror("connect");
+      close(sock);
+
+      return 1;
+    }
+
+  rem->sock = sock;
+
+  return 0;
 }
 
 int _remoteio_tcp_close(struct remoteio *rem)
 {
+  close(rem->sock);
 
-  return 1;
+  return 0;
 }