diff --git a/jupyterhub/orm.py b/jupyterhub/orm.py
index 0f1fb437..33190fbc 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/orm.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/orm.py
@@ -4,9 +4,7 @@
 # Distributed under the terms of the Modified BSD License.
 
 from datetime import datetime
-import errno
 import json
-import socket
 
 from tornado import gen
 from tornado.log import app_log
@@ -26,7 +24,7 @@ from sqlalchemy import create_engine
 
 from .utils import (
     random_port, url_path_join, wait_for_server, wait_for_http_server,
-    new_token, hash_token, compare_token,
+    new_token, hash_token, compare_token, can_connect,
 )
 
 
@@ -113,25 +111,7 @@ class Server(Base):
     
     def is_up(self):
         """Is the server accepting connections?"""
-        try:
-            socket.create_connection((self.ip or '127.0.0.1', self.port))
-        except socket.error as e:
-            if e.errno == errno.ENETUNREACH:
-                try:
-                    socket.create_connection((self.ip or '127.0.0.1', self.port))
-                except socket.error as e:
-                    if e.errno == errno.ECONNREFUSED:
-                        return False
-                    else:
-                        raise
-                else:
-                    return True
-            elif e.errno == errno.ECONNREFUSED:
-                return False
-            else:
-                raise
-        else:
-            return True
+        return can_connect(self.ip or '127.0.0.1', self.port)
 
 
 class Proxy(Base):
diff --git a/jupyterhub/utils.py b/jupyterhub/utils.py
index 811e7812..9de48598 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/utils.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/utils.py
@@ -30,22 +30,32 @@ def random_port():
 ISO8601_ms = '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.%fZ'
 ISO8601_s = '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ'
 
+def can_connect(ip, port):
+    """Check if we can connect to an ip:port
+    
+    return True if we can connect, False otherwise.
+    """
+    try:
+        socket.create_connection((ip, port))
+    except socket.error as e:
+        if e.errno != errno.ECONNREFUSED:
+            app_log.error("Unexpected error connecting to %s:%i %s",
+                ip, port, e
+            )
+        return False
+    else:
+        return True
+
 @gen.coroutine
 def wait_for_server(ip, port, timeout=10):
     """wait for any server to show up at ip:port"""
     loop = ioloop.IOLoop.current()
     tic = loop.time()
     while loop.time() - tic < timeout:
-        try:
-            socket.create_connection((ip, port))
-        except socket.error as e:
-            if e.errno != errno.ECONNREFUSED:
-                app_log.error("Unexpected error waiting for %s:%i %s",
-                    ip, port, e
-                )
-            yield gen.sleep(0.1)
-        else:
+        if can_connect(ip, port):
             return
+        else:
+            yield gen.sleep(0.1)
     raise TimeoutError("Server at {ip}:{port} didn't respond in {timeout} seconds".format(
         **locals()
     ))