diff -up bind-dyndb-ldap-0.1.0a1/src/ldap_helper.c.reconnection bind-dyndb-ldap-0.1.0a1/src/ldap_helper.c
--- bind-dyndb-ldap-0.1.0a1/src/ldap_helper.c.reconnection	2009-09-04 14:45:52.088622308 +0200
+++ bind-dyndb-ldap-0.1.0a1/src/ldap_helper.c	2009-09-04 14:55:25.643684393 +0200
@@ -1521,10 +1521,11 @@ ldap_connect(ldap_instance_t *ldap_inst)
 	LDAP_OPT_CHECK(ret, "failed to set timeout: %s", ldap_err2string(ret));
 	*/
 
+	if (ldap_inst->handle != NULL)
+		ldap_unbind_ext_s(ldap_inst->handle, NULL, NULL);
 	ldap_inst->handle = ld;
-	ldap_reconnect(ldap_inst);
 
-	return ISC_R_SUCCESS;
+	return ldap_reconnect(ldap_inst);
 
 cleanup:
 
@@ -1636,11 +1637,10 @@ handle_connection_error(ldap_instance_t 
 		*result = ISC_R_SUCCESS;
 		ldap_inst->tries = 0;
 		return 0;
-	} else if (err_code == LDAP_SERVER_DOWN) {
+	} else if (err_code == LDAP_SERVER_DOWN || err_code == LDAP_CONNECT_ERROR) {
 		if (ldap_inst->tries == 0)
 			log_error("connection to the LDAP server was lost");
-		*result = ldap_reconnect(ldap_inst);
-		if (*result == ISC_R_SUCCESS)
+		if (ldap_connect(ldap_inst) == ISC_R_SUCCESS)
 			return 1;
 	} else {
 		err_string = ldap_err2string(err_code);