--- a/src/main/java/nl/cwi/monetdb/jdbc/MonetDriver.java.in
+++ b/src/main/java/nl/cwi/monetdb/jdbc/MonetDriver.java.in
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import nl.cwi.monetdb.mcl.protocol.Proto
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
+import java.net.SocketException;
 import java.net.URI;
 import java.net.URISyntaxException;
 import java.sql.Connection;
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@ import java.sql.DriverManager;
 import java.sql.DriverPropertyInfo;
 import java.sql.SQLException;
 import java.sql.SQLFeatureNotSupportedException;
+import java.sql.SQLNonTransientConnectionException;
 import java.sql.Types;
 import java.util.*;
 import java.util.Map.Entry;
@@ -91,6 +93,7 @@ public final class MonetDriver implement
 	 * @param url the URL of the database
 	 * @return true if this driver understands the given URL; false otherwise
 	 */
+	@Override
 	public boolean acceptsURL(String url) {
 		return url != null && url.startsWith(MONETURL);
 	}
@@ -100,6 +103,7 @@ public final class MonetDriver implement
 	 *
 	 * @return this driver's major version number
 	 */
+	@Override
 	public int getMajorVersion() {
 		return DRIVERMAJOR;
 	}
@@ -109,6 +113,7 @@ public final class MonetDriver implement
 	 *
 	 * @return this driver's minor version number
 	 */
+	@Override
 	public int getMinorVersion() {
 		return DRIVERMINOR;
 	}
@@ -128,6 +133,7 @@ public final class MonetDriver implement
 	 * @return an array of DriverPropertyInfo objects describing possible properties. This array may be an empty array
 	 * if no properties are required.
 	 */
+	@Override
 	public DriverPropertyInfo[] getPropertyInfo(String url, Properties info) {
 		if (!acceptsURL(url))
 			return null;
@@ -196,6 +202,7 @@ public final class MonetDriver implement
 	 *
 	 * @return true if this driver is JDBC Compliant; false otherwise
 	 */
+	@Override
 	public boolean jdbcCompliant() {
 		return MONETJDBCCOMPLIANT;
 	}
@@ -302,16 +309,17 @@ public final class MonetDriver implement
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * Return the parent Logger of all the Loggers used by this data
-	 * source.  This should be the Logger farthest from the root Logger
-	 * that is still an ancestor of all of the Loggers used by this data
-	 * source.  Configuring this Logger will affect all of the log
-	 * messages generated by the data source. In the worst case, this
-	 * may be the root Logger.
+	 * Return the parent Logger of all the Loggers used by this data source.
+	 * This should be the Logger farthest from the root Logger that is
+	 * still an ancestor of all of the Loggers used by this data source.
+	 * Configuring this Logger will affect all of the log messages
+	 * generated by the data source. In the worst case, this may be the root Logger.
 	 *
 	 * @return the parent Logger for this data source
 	 * @throws SQLFeatureNotSupportedException if the data source does not use java.util.logging
+	 * @since 1.7
 	 */
+	@Override
 	public Logger getParentLogger() throws SQLFeatureNotSupportedException {
 		throw new SQLFeatureNotSupportedException("java.util.logging not in use", "0A000");
 	}
@@ -331,9 +339,8 @@ public final class MonetDriver implement
 	 * "password" properties should be included in the Properties object.
 	 *
 	 * @param url the URL of the database to which to connect
-	 * @param info a list of arbitrary string tag/value pairs as connection
-	 *        arguments. Normally at least a "user" and "password" property
-	 *        should be included
+	 * @param info a list of arbitrary string tag/value pairs as connection  arguments. Normally at least a "user" and
+	 * "password" property  should be included
 	 * @return a Connection object that represents a connection to the URL
 	 * @throws SQLException if a database access error occurs
 	 */
@@ -415,7 +422,7 @@ public final class MonetDriver implement
 				if(embeddedConnectionClass == null) {
 					embeddedConnectionClass = Class.forName("nl.cwi.monetdb.embedded.jdbc.EmbeddedConnection");
 					if(embeddedConnectionClass == null) { //if it is still null then there is a problem!
-						throw new SQLException("EmbeddedConnection Class not found! Please add monetdb-java-lite jar to the CLASSPATH");
+						throw new SQLNonTransientConnectionException("EmbeddedConnection Class not found! Please add monetdb-java-lite jar to the CLASSPATH");
 					}
 				}
 				res = (MonetConnection) embeddedConnectionClass
@@ -423,7 +430,7 @@ public final class MonetDriver implement
 					.newInstance(props, hash, language, directory);
 			} catch (InvocationTargetException | InstantiationException | IllegalAccessException |
 					 NoSuchMethodException | ClassNotFoundException e) {
-				throw new SQLException(e);
+				throw new SQLNonTransientConnectionException(e);
 			}
 		} else {
 			String hostname = props.getProperty("host");
@@ -468,11 +475,7 @@ public final class MonetDriver implement
 				sockTimeout = 0;
 				props.setProperty("so_timeout", "0");
 			}
-			try {
-				res = new MapiConnection(props, hash, language, blobIsBinary, clobIsLongChar, hostname, port, database);
-			} catch (IOException e) {
-				throw new SQLException(e);
-			}
+			res = new MapiConnection(props, hash, language, blobIsBinary, clobIsLongChar, hostname, port, database);
 			if(failedparse1) {
 				res.addWarning("Unable to parse port number from: " + port, "M1M05");
 			}
@@ -485,7 +488,11 @@ public final class MonetDriver implement
 			if(negative2) {
 				res.addWarning("Negative socket timeout not allowed. Value ignored", "M1M05");
 			}
-			res.setSoTimeout(sockTimeout);
+			try {
+				res.setSoTimeout(sockTimeout);
+			} catch(SocketException ex) {
+			    res.addWarning("Failed to set socket timeout: " + ex.getMessage(), "M1M05");
+			}
 		}
 
 		try { //attempt to connect and authenticate the user
@@ -505,15 +512,15 @@ public final class MonetDriver implement
 				throw new SQLException("Unable to connect (" + con.getHostname() + ":"
 						+ con.getPort() + "): " + e.getMessage(), "08006");
 			} else {
-				throw new SQLException("Unable to connect: " + e.getMessage(), "08006");
+				throw new SQLNonTransientConnectionException("Unable to connect: " + e.getMessage(), "08006");
 			}
 		} catch (ProtocolException e) {
-			throw new SQLException(e.getMessage(), "08001");
+			throw new SQLNonTransientConnectionException(e.getMessage(), "08001");
 		} catch (MCLException e) {
 			String[] connex = e.getMessage().split("\n");
-			SQLException sqle = new SQLException(connex[0], "08001", e);
+			SQLException sqle = new SQLNonTransientConnectionException(connex[0], "08001", e);
 			for (int i = 1; i < connex.length; i++) {
-				sqle.setNextException(new SQLException(connex[1], "08001"));
+				sqle.setNextException(new SQLNonTransientConnectionException(connex[1], "08001"));
 			}
 			throw sqle;
 		}