diff --git a/src/server/app.js b/src/server/app.js
index 2f3d069131414..9f85fe0afba5c 100644
--- a/src/server/app.js
+++ b/src/server/app.js
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ var express = require('express');
 var path = require('path');
 var favicon = require('serve-favicon');
 var requestLogger = require('./lib/requestLogger');
+var appHeaders = require('./lib/appHeaders');
 var cookieParser = require('cookie-parser');
 var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
 var compression = require('compression');
@@ -15,9 +16,11 @@ var app = express();
 // view engine setup
 app.set('views', path.join(__dirname, 'views'));
 app.set('view engine', 'jade');
+app.set('x-powered-by', false);
 
 app.use(favicon(path.join(config.public_folder, 'styles', 'theme', 'elk.ico')));
 app.use(requestLogger());
+app.use(appHeaders());
 
 if (app.get('env') === 'development') {
   require('./dev')(app);
diff --git a/src/server/lib/appHeaders.js b/src/server/lib/appHeaders.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..4cebe2201083e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/server/lib/appHeaders.js
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+var path = require('path');
+var pkgPath = path.resolve(__dirname, '..', '..', '..', 'package.json');
+var pkg = require(pkgPath);
+
+module.exports = function () {
+  return function (req, res, next) {
+    res.header('X-App-Name', 'kibana');
+    res.header('X-App-Version', pkg.version);
+    next();
+  };
+};
diff --git a/tasks/kibana_server.js b/tasks/kibana_server.js
index 11c40c6e8e71c..b0cbab896442e 100644
--- a/tasks/kibana_server.js
+++ b/tasks/kibana_server.js
@@ -4,7 +4,9 @@ module.exports = function (grunt) {
     var config = require('../src/server/config');
     config.quiet = true;
     var server = require('../src/server');
+
     server.start(function () {
+      grunt.log.ok('Server started on port', config.kibana.port);
       if (keepalive !== 'keepalive') done();
     });
   });
diff --git a/tasks/maybe_connect_dev.js b/tasks/maybe_start_kibana.js
similarity index 55%
rename from tasks/maybe_connect_dev.js
rename to tasks/maybe_start_kibana.js
index 8e44084a73217..187875e5995a2 100644
--- a/tasks/maybe_connect_dev.js
+++ b/tasks/maybe_start_kibana.js
@@ -1,25 +1,38 @@
 module.exports = function (grunt) {
+  var config = require('../src/server/config');
+
   var maybeStartServer = function (options) {
     return function () {
       var http = require('http');
-
-      var req = http.request({
+      var opts = {
         method: 'HEAD',
         path: '/',
         host: 'localhost',
         port: options.port
-      });
+      };
+
+      grunt.log.debug('checking for server', JSON.stringify(opts));
+
+      var req = http.request(opts);
 
       function onResponse(res) {
-        if (res.statusCode === 200) {
-          grunt.log.writeln('server already started');
+        grunt.log.debug('Server responded with', res.statusCode);
+        var app = res.headers['x-app-name'];
+
+        if (res.statusCode === 200 && app && app === 'kibana') {
+          grunt.log.ok('Kibana server already started on port', options.port);
         } else {
-          grunt.log.error('another server is already running at localhost:8000!');
+          grunt.log.error('Another server is already running on port', options.port);
+          process.exit(1);
         }
         done(res);
       }
 
-      function onError() {
+      function onError(err) {
+        if (err.code !== 'ECONNREFUSED') {
+          grunt.log.error('Kibana server check failed', err);
+        }
+
         grunt.config.set(options.name, true);
         grunt.task.run(options.tasks);
         done();
@@ -39,9 +52,10 @@ module.exports = function (grunt) {
       req.end();
     };
   };
+
   grunt.registerTask('maybe_start_kibana', maybeStartServer({
     name: 'kibana-server',
-    port: 5601,
+    port: config.kibana.port,
     tasks: ['kibana_server']
   }));
 };