diff --git a/include/types/server.h b/include/types/server.h
index 89c123d95..6e94c7dd9 100644
--- a/include/types/server.h
+++ b/include/types/server.h
@@ -68,8 +68,7 @@ struct server {
 #ifdef CONFIG_HAP_CTTPROXY
 	struct sockaddr_in tproxy_addr;	/* non-local address we want to bind to for connect() */
 #endif
-	struct sockaddr_in check_addr;
-	int set_check_addr ;
+	struct sockaddr_in check_addr;		/* the address to check, if different from <addr> */
 	short check_port;			/* the port to use for the health checks */
 	int health;				/* 0->rise-1 = bad; rise->rise+fall-1 = good */
 	int rise, fall;			/* time in iterations */
diff --git a/src/cfgparse.c b/src/cfgparse.c
index ff1c927cb..cfb2e7e00 100644
--- a/src/cfgparse.c
+++ b/src/cfgparse.c
@@ -1197,7 +1197,7 @@ int cfg_parse_listen(const char *file, int linenum, char **args)
 		newsrv->rise = DEF_RISETIME;
 		newsrv->fall = DEF_FALLTIME;
 		newsrv->health = newsrv->rise; /* up, but will fall down at first failure */
-		newsrv->set_check_addr = 0;
+
 		cur_arg = 3;
 		while (*args[cur_arg]) {
 			if (!strcmp(args[cur_arg], "cookie")) {
@@ -1220,7 +1220,6 @@ int cfg_parse_listen(const char *file, int linenum, char **args)
 			}
 			else if (!strcmp(args[cur_arg], "addr")) {
 				newsrv->check_addr = *str2sa(args[cur_arg + 1]);
-				newsrv->set_check_addr = 1;
 				cur_arg += 2;
 			}
 			else if (!strcmp(args[cur_arg], "port")) {
@@ -1306,13 +1305,16 @@ int cfg_parse_listen(const char *file, int linenum, char **args)
 			}
 #endif
 			else {
-				Alert("parsing [%s:%d] : server %s only supports options 'backup', 'cookie', 'check', 'inter', 'rise', 'fall', 'port', 'source', 'minconn', 'maxconn' and 'weight'.\n",
+				Alert("parsing [%s:%d] : server %s only supports options 'backup', 'cookie', 'check', 'inter', 'rise', 'fall', 'addr', 'port', 'source', 'minconn', 'maxconn' and 'weight'.\n",
 				      file, linenum, newsrv->id);
 				return -1;
 			}
 		}
 
 		if (do_check) {
+			if (!newsrv->check_port && newsrv->check_addr.sin_port)
+				newsrv->check_port = newsrv->check_addr.sin_port;
+
 			if (!newsrv->check_port && !(newsrv->state & SRV_MAPPORTS))
 				newsrv->check_port = realport; /* by default */
 			if (!newsrv->check_port) {
diff --git a/src/checks.c b/src/checks.c
index 295be1527..1e72743f9 100644
--- a/src/checks.c
+++ b/src/checks.c
@@ -249,16 +249,13 @@ int process_chk(struct task *t)
 				//fprintf(stderr, "process_chk: 3\n");
 
 				
-				 if ( s->set_check_addr == 1 )
-				{
-				/* we'll connect to the check addr specified on the server */
+				if (s->check_addr.sin_addr.s_addr)
+					/* we'll connect to the check addr specified on the server */
 					sa = s->check_addr;
-				}
 				else
-				{
-				/* we'll connect to the addr on the server */
+					/* we'll connect to the addr on the server */
 					sa = s->addr;
-				}
+
 				/* we'll connect to the check port on the server */
 				sa.sin_port = htons(s->check_port);