diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index a3f3673636..c976cbb117 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -275,6 +275,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "once_cell",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "boxfnonce"
+version = "0.1.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "5988cb1d626264ac94100be357308f29ff7cbdd3b36bda27f450a4ee3f713426"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "bumpalo"
 version = "3.6.1"
@@ -429,6 +435,16 @@ dependencies = [
  "syn",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "daemonize"
+version = "0.4.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "70c24513e34f53b640819f0ac9f705b673fcf4006d7aab8778bee72ebfc89815"
+dependencies = [
+ "boxfnonce",
+ "libc",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "digest"
 version = "0.9.0"
@@ -1120,6 +1136,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "chrono",
  "clap",
  "crossbeam-channel",
+ "daemonize",
  "futures",
  "lazy_static",
  "log",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index f4d02d2625..199a6e3e92 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ log = "0.4.14"
 clap = "2.33.0"
 termion = "1.5.6"
 tui = "0.14.0"
-
+daemonize = "0.4.1"
 rust-s3 = { git = "https://github.com/hlinnaka/rust-s3", features = ["no-verify-ssl"] }
 tokio = { version = "1.3.0", features = ["full"] }
 tokio-stream = { version = "0.1.4" }
diff --git a/src/bin/pageserver.rs b/src/bin/pageserver.rs
index f5f80e856a..94e5df7784 100644
--- a/src/bin/pageserver.rs
+++ b/src/bin/pageserver.rs
@@ -3,10 +3,13 @@
 //
 
 use log::*;
-use std::io::Error;
+use std::fs::File;
+use std::io;
+use std::path::PathBuf;
 use std::{net::IpAddr, thread};
 
 use clap::{App, Arg};
+use daemonize::Daemonize;
 
 use slog;
 use slog_stdlog;
@@ -20,7 +23,7 @@ use pageserver::walreceiver;
 use pageserver::walredo;
 use pageserver::PageServerConf;
 
-fn main() -> Result<(), Error> {
+fn main() -> Result<(), io::Error> {
     let arg_matches = App::new("Zenith page server")
         .about("Materializes WAL stream to pages and serves them to the postgres")
         .arg(Arg::with_name("datadir")
@@ -50,7 +53,7 @@ fn main() -> Result<(), Error> {
         .get_matches();
 
     let mut conf = PageServerConf {
-        data_dir: String::from("."),
+        data_dir: PathBuf::from("./"),
         daemonize: false,
         interactive: false,
         wal_producer_ip: "127.0.0.1".parse::<IpAddr>().unwrap(),
@@ -59,7 +62,7 @@ fn main() -> Result<(), Error> {
     };
 
     if let Some(dir) = arg_matches.value_of("datadir") {
-        conf.data_dir = String::from(dir);
+        conf.data_dir = PathBuf::from(dir);
     }
 
     if arg_matches.is_present("daemonize") {
@@ -70,6 +73,13 @@ fn main() -> Result<(), Error> {
         conf.interactive = true;
     }
 
+    if conf.daemonize && conf.interactive {
+        return Err(io::Error::new(
+            io::ErrorKind::InvalidInput,
+            "--daemonize is not allowed with --interactive: choose one",
+        ));
+    }
+
     if arg_matches.is_present("skip_recovery") {
         conf.skip_recovery = true;
     }
@@ -83,9 +93,7 @@ fn main() -> Result<(), Error> {
     start_pageserver(conf)
 }
 
-fn start_pageserver(conf: PageServerConf) -> Result<(), Error> {
-    let mut threads = Vec::new();
-
+fn start_pageserver(conf: PageServerConf) -> Result<(), io::Error> {
     // Initialize logger
     let _scope_guard;
     if !conf.interactive {
@@ -111,6 +119,26 @@ fn start_pageserver(conf: PageServerConf) -> Result<(), Error> {
         tui_thread = None;
     }
 
+    if conf.daemonize {
+        info!("daemonizing...");
+
+        let stdout = File::create(conf.data_dir.join("pageserver.log")).unwrap();
+        let stderr = File::create(conf.data_dir.join("pageserver.err.log")).unwrap();
+
+        let daemonize = Daemonize::new()
+            .pid_file(conf.data_dir.join("pageserver.pid"))
+            .working_directory(conf.data_dir.clone())
+            .stdout(stdout)
+            .stderr(stderr);
+
+        match daemonize.start() {
+            Ok(_) => info!("Success, daemonized"),
+            Err(e) => error!("Error, {}", e),
+        }
+    }
+
+    let mut threads = Vec::new();
+
     info!("starting...");
 
     // Initialize the WAL applicator
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 7fd0f63de6..1dfc13f74d 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 use std::net::IpAddr;
+use std::path::PathBuf;
 
 #[allow(dead_code)]
 pub mod control_plane;
@@ -13,8 +14,9 @@ pub mod tui;
 pub mod tui_event;
 mod tui_logger;
 
+#[allow(dead_code)]
 pub struct PageServerConf {
-    pub data_dir: String,
+    pub data_dir: PathBuf,
     pub daemonize: bool,
     pub interactive: bool,
     pub wal_producer_ip: IpAddr,