diff --git a/fanout.c b/fanout.c
index 1d7c9bea6df42e97bd2e35f83f16ba854df3ea7f..6e041adb595a1b16c1e838320c79664b4f10a2b3 100644
--- a/fanout.c
+++ b/fanout.c
@@ -552,6 +552,7 @@ resetting counter\n");
                     fanout_error ("epoll_ctl: srvsock");
                 }
 
+                optval = 1;
                 if ((setsockopt (client_i->fd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_KEEPALIVE,
                       &optval, optlen)) == -1)
                     fanout_error ("failed setting keepalive");