diff --git a/test_runner/fixtures/zenith_fixtures.py b/test_runner/fixtures/zenith_fixtures.py
index d5c528a5da..b71317f37d 100644
--- a/test_runner/fixtures/zenith_fixtures.py
+++ b/test_runner/fixtures/zenith_fixtures.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import psycopg2
 import pytest
 import shutil
 import signal
+import socket
 import subprocess
 import time
 import filecmp
@@ -157,14 +158,38 @@ def worker_base_port(worker_seq_no: int):
     return BASE_PORT + worker_seq_no * WORKER_PORT_NUM
 
 
+def can_bind(host: str, port: int) -> bool:
+    """
+    Check whether a host:port is available to bind for listening
+
+    Inspired by the can_bind() perl function used in Postgres tests, in
+    vendor/postgres/src/test/perl/PostgresNode.pm
+    """
+    with closing(socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)) as sock:
+        # TODO: The pageserver and safekeepers don't use SO_REUSEADDR at the
+        # moment. If that changes, we should use start using SO_REUSEADDR here
+        # too, to allow reusing ports more quickly.
+        # See https://github.com/zenithdb/zenith/issues/801
+        #sock.setsockopt(socket.SOL_SOCKET, socket.SO_REUSEADDR, 1)
+
+        try:
+            sock.bind((host, port))
+            sock.listen()
+            return True
+        except socket.error:
+            log.info(f"Port {port} is in use, skipping")
+            return False
+
+
 class PortDistributor:
     def __init__(self, base_port: int, port_number: int) -> None:
         self.iterator = iter(range(base_port, base_port + port_number))
 
     def get_port(self) -> int:
-        try:
-            return next(self.iterator)
-        except StopIteration:
+        for port in self.iterator:
+            if can_bind("localhost", port):
+                return port
+        else:
             raise RuntimeError(
                 'port range configured for test is exhausted, consider enlarging the range')