diff --git a/rc.d/init.d/smokerd-rhel b/rc.d/init.d/smokerd-rhel
index 66fc914..dcecf9f 100755
--- a/rc.d/init.d/smokerd-rhel
+++ b/rc.d/init.d/smokerd-rhel
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ start() {
 		touch $LOCKFILE
 		# Wait a second before it's loaded and check if it's still running
 		sleep 1
-		if [ "`pgrep -f $BINARY`" ]; then
+		if [ "`pgrep -f $PROG`" ]; then
 			success
 			echo
 			return 0
diff --git a/smoker/server/daemon.py b/smoker/server/daemon.py
index 13b8a95..b87d2bc 100644
--- a/smoker/server/daemon.py
+++ b/smoker/server/daemon.py
@@ -3,20 +3,17 @@
 # Copyright (C) 2007-2012, GoodData(R) Corporation. All rights reserved
 
 import logging
-lg = logging.getLogger('smokerd.daemon')
+import os
+import signal
+import sys
+import time
+import yaml
 
 from smoker.server.plugins import PluginManager
 from smoker.server.restserver import RestServer
 
-import yaml
-
-import threading
-
-import sys
-import os
+lg = logging.getLogger('smokerd.daemon')
 
-import signal
-import time
 
 class Smokerd(object):
     """
@@ -164,9 +161,32 @@ def run(self):
             signal.signal(signal.SIGTERM, self._shutdown)
         # API server loop now runs in a separate process and we don't want
         # to terminate to keep an instance of pluginmanager
-        while True:
-            time.sleep(1)
 
+        self._watchdog()
+
+    def _watchdog(self):
+        lg.debug("Starting the smoker watchdog")
+
+        while True:
+            if not self.server.is_alive():
+                lg.error("REST API server is dead")
+                self._restart_api_server()
+                lg.info("restarted the REST API server")
+
+            for plugin in self.pluginmgr.plugins.values():
+                if not plugin.is_alive():
+                    lg.error("Plugin %s is dead" % plugin.name)
+                    self.pluginmgr.restart_plugin(plugin.name)
+                    # need to restart the REST server so it has reference to
+                    # the new plugin instance
+                    self._restart_api_server()
+            time.sleep(10)
+
+    def _restart_api_server(self):
+        self.server.terminate()
+        self.server.join()
+        self.server = RestServer(self.conf['bind_host'], self.conf['bind_port'], self)
+        self.server.start()
 
     def stop(self):
         """
@@ -270,14 +290,6 @@ def _shutdown(self, signum=None, frame=None, exitcode=0, exception=False):
             if self.pluginmgr:
                 self.pluginmgr.stop()
 
-            # Kill all running threads that has left (there shouldn't be any)
-            if threading.activeCount() > 1:
-                lg.info("Killing %s active threads" % (threading.activeCount() - 1))
-                for t in threading.enumerate():
-                    if t.getName() == 'MainThread':
-                        continue
-                    t._Thread__stop()
-
             # Remove PID file if exists
             if os.path.isfile(self.conf['pidfile']):
                 os.remove(self.conf['pidfile'])
diff --git a/smoker/server/plugins/__init__.py b/smoker/server/plugins/__init__.py
index 49feea0..ef7c283 100644
--- a/smoker/server/plugins/__init__.py
+++ b/smoker/server/plugins/__init__.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 import multiprocessing
 import os
 import re
+import signal
 import simplejson
 import setproctitle
 import time
@@ -23,6 +24,11 @@
 lg.info("Plugins will run approximately at %s parallel processes" % semaphore_count)
 semaphore = multiprocessing.Semaphore(semaphore_count)
 
+
+def alarm_handler(signum, frame):
+    raise PluginExecutionTimeout
+
+
 class PluginManager(object):
     """
     PluginManager provides management and
@@ -153,6 +159,14 @@ def load_plugin(self, plugin, options):
         params = dict(template, **options)
         return Plugin(plugin, params)
 
+    def restart_plugin(self, name):
+        lg.info("Restarting plugin %s" % name)
+        self.plugins[name].join()
+
+        self.plugins[name] = self.load_plugin(name, self.conf_plugins[name])
+        self.plugins[name].start()
+
+
     def get_template(self, name):
         """
         Return template parameters
@@ -528,13 +542,24 @@ def run_module(self, module, **kwargs):
             lg.exception(e)
             raise
 
+        signal.signal(signal.SIGALRM, alarm_handler)
+        if 'timeout' not in kwargs:
+            kwargs['timeout'] = self.get_param('Timeout', default=120)
+
         try:
+            signal.alarm(kwargs['timeout'])
             result = plugin.run()
+        except PluginExecutionTimeout:
+            result = Result()
+            result.set_status('ERROR')
+            result.add_error('Plugin execution exceeded timeout %d seconds' %
+                             kwargs['timeout'])
         except Exception as e:
             lg.error("Plugin %s: module execution failed: %s" % (self.name, e))
             lg.exception(e)
             raise
 
+        signal.alarm(0)
         return result
 
     def run_plugin(self, force=False):