diff --git a/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/AbstractRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala b/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/AbstractRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala
index cf6b629d1c..0bc6d33f68 100755
--- a/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/AbstractRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/AbstractRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ trait AbstractRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec {
   def commonConfig: Config
 
   def remotes: Seq[String] = {
-    val arrayOpt = Option(System.getProperty("test.hosts")).map(_ split ",")
+    val arrayOpt = Option(AkkaRemoteSpec.testNodes).map(_ split ",")
     (arrayOpt getOrElse Array.fill(NrOfNodes)("localhost")).toSeq
   }
 
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/AkkaRemoteSpec.scala b/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/AkkaRemoteSpec.scala
index 2c9274c84f..2a38a33402 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/AkkaRemoteSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/AkkaRemoteSpec.scala
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ object AkkaRemoteSpec {
           .withFallback(ConfigFactory.defaultReference).resolve(ConfigResolveOptions.defaults)
     }
   }
+
+  val testNodes = System.getProperty("test.hosts")
 }
 
 abstract class AkkaRemoteSpec(config: Config)
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/MultiJvmSync.scala b/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/MultiJvmSync.scala
index 4a35d8c03f..3eeab35bd0 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/MultiJvmSync.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/MultiJvmSync.scala
@@ -38,17 +38,12 @@ object MultiJvmSync {
 
   def end(className: String, count: Int) = barrier(EndBarrier, count, className)
 
-  def testName(className: String) = {
-    val i = className.indexOf(TestMarker)
-    if (i >= 0) className.substring(0, i) else className
-  }
-
-  def nodeName(className: String) = {
-    val i = className.indexOf(TestMarker)
-    if (i >= 0) className.substring(i + TestMarker.length) else className
-  }
-
   def barrier(name: String, count: Int, className: String, timeout: Duration = FileBasedBarrier.DefaultTimeout) = {
-    new FileBasedBarrier(name, count, testName(className), nodeName(className), timeout).await()
+    val Array(testName, nodeName) = className split TestMarker
+    val barrier = if (AkkaRemoteSpec.testNodes eq null)
+      new FileBasedBarrier(name, count, testName, nodeName, timeout)
+    else
+      new ZkClient.ZkBarrier(name + "_" + nodeName, count, testName)
+    barrier.await()
   }
 }
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/ZKClient.scala b/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/ZKClient.scala
index bfbe64b663..225be41d76 100755
--- a/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/ZKClient.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/ZKClient.scala
@@ -7,12 +7,10 @@ import com.typesafe.config.Config
 import org.apache.zookeeper._
 import ZooDefs.Ids
 
-object ZKClient extends Watcher {
+object ZkClient extends Watcher {
   // Don't forget to close!
   lazy val zk: ZooKeeper = {
-    val remoteNodes = AkkaRemoteSpec.testConf.getString("akka.test.remote.nodes") split ',' map {
-      case hostport => hostport.split(":")(0)
-    }
+    val remoteNodes = AkkaRemoteSpec.testNodes split ','
   
     // ZkServers are configured to listen on a specific port.
     val connectString = remoteNodes map (_+":2181") mkString ","
@@ -32,9 +30,9 @@ object ZKClient extends Watcher {
       zk.create(root + "/" + name, Array[Byte](), Ids.OPEN_ACL_UNSAFE,
                 CreateMode.EPHEMERAL)
       while (true) {
-        ZKClient.this.synchronized {
+        ZkClient.this.synchronized {
           if (zk.getChildren(root, true).size < count) {
-            ZKClient.this.wait()
+            ZkClient.this.wait()
           }
         }
       }
@@ -43,9 +41,9 @@ object ZKClient extends Watcher {
     def leave() {
       zk.delete(root + "/" + name, -1)
       while (true) {
-        ZKClient.this.synchronized {
+        ZkClient.this.synchronized {
           if (!zk.getChildren(root, true).isEmpty) {
-            ZKClient.this.wait()
+            ZkClient.this.wait()
           }
         }
       }