diff --git a/src/bake-bulk-server-daemon.c b/src/bake-bulk-server-daemon.c
index e2424e37e07d16cca7517bb2a75857a3470b2cf6..bd82506f7b1327321915434af64f547a4afda729 100644
--- a/src/bake-bulk-server-daemon.c
+++ b/src/bake-bulk-server-daemon.c
@@ -12,25 +12,112 @@
 #include <libpmemobj.h>
 #include <bake-bulk-server.h>
 
+struct options
+{
+    char *listen_addr;
+    char *pmem_pool;
+    char *host_file;
+};
+
+static void usage(int argc, char **argv)
+{
+    fprintf(stderr, "Usage: bake-bulk-server-daemon [OPTIONS] <listen_addr> <pmem_pool>\n");
+    fprintf(stderr, "       listen_addr is the Mercury address to listen on\n");
+    fprintf(stderr, "       pmem_pool is the path to the pmemobj pool\n");
+    fprintf(stderr, "       [-f filename] to write the server address to a file\n");
+    fprintf(stderr, "Example: ./bake-bulk-server-daemon tcp://localhost:1234 /dev/shm/foo.dat\n");
+    return;
+}
+
+static void parse_args(int argc, char **argv, struct options *opts)
+{
+    int opt;
+
+    memset(opts, 0, sizeof(*opts));
+
+    /* get options */
+    while((opt = getopt(argc, argv, "f:")) != -1)
+    {
+        switch(opt)
+        {
+            case 'f':
+                opts->host_file = optarg;
+                break;
+            default:
+                usage(argc, argv);
+                exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /* get required arguments after options */
+    if((argc - optind) != 2)
+    {
+        usage(argc, argv);
+        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+    }
+    opts->listen_addr = argv[optind++];
+    opts->pmem_pool = argv[optind++];
+
+    return;
+}
+
 int main(int argc, char **argv) 
 {
-    int ret;
-    margo_instance_id mid;
+    struct options opts;
     struct bake_pool_info * pool_info;
+    margo_instance_id mid;
 
-    if(argc != 3)
+    parse_args(argc, argv, &opts);
+
+    pool_info = bake_server_makepool(opts.pmem_pool);
+
+    /* start margo */
+    /* use the main xstream for driving progress and executing rpc handlers */
+    mid = margo_init(opts.listen_addr, MARGO_SERVER_MODE, 0, -1);
+    if(mid == MARGO_INSTANCE_NULL)
     {
-        fprintf(stderr, "Usage: bake-bulk-server <HG listening addr> <pmem pool>\n");
-        fprintf(stderr, "  Example: ./bake-bulk-server tcp://localhost:1234 /dev/shm/foo.dat\n");
+        fprintf(stderr, "Error: margo_init()\n");
         return(-1);
     }
 
-    pool_info = bake_server_makepool(argv[2]);
+    if(opts.host_file)
+    {
+        /* write the server address to file if requested */
+        FILE *fp;
+        hg_addr_t self_addr;
+        char self_addr_str[128];
+        hg_size_t self_addr_str_sz = 128;
+        hg_return_t hret;
 
-    /* start margo */
-    /* use the main xstream for driving progress and executing rpc handlers */
-    mid = margo_init(argv[1], MARGO_SERVER_MODE, 0, -1);
-    assert(mid);
+        /* figure out what address this server is listening on */
+        hret = margo_addr_self(mid, &self_addr);
+        if(hret != HG_SUCCESS)
+        {
+            fprintf(stderr, "Error: margo_addr_self()\n");
+            margo_finalize(mid);
+            return(-1);
+        }
+        hret = margo_addr_to_string(mid, self_addr_str, &self_addr_str_sz, self_addr);
+        if(hret != HG_SUCCESS)
+        {
+            fprintf(stderr, "Error: margo_addr_to_string()\n");
+            margo_addr_free(mid, self_addr);
+            margo_finalize(mid);
+            return(-1);
+        }
+        margo_addr_free(mid, self_addr);
+
+        fp = fopen(opts.host_file, "w");
+        if(!fp)
+        {
+            perror("fopen");
+            margo_finalize(mid);
+            return(-1);
+        }
+
+        fprintf(fp, "%s", self_addr_str);
+        fclose(fp);
+    }
 
     /* register the bake bulk server */
     bake_server_register(mid, pool_info);