diff --git a/src/networking.c b/src/networking.c
index c131c9c6..d128646f 100644
--- a/src/networking.c
+++ b/src/networking.c
@@ -701,8 +701,10 @@ void freeClient(redisClient *c) {
     /* Master/slave cleanup.
      * Case 1: we lost the connection with a slave. */
     if (c->flags & REDIS_SLAVE) {
-        if (c->replstate == REDIS_REPL_SEND_BULK && c->repldbfd != -1)
-            close(c->repldbfd);
+        if (c->replstate == REDIS_REPL_SEND_BULK) {
+            if (c->repldbfd != -1) close(c->repldbfd);
+            if (c->replpreamble) sdsfree(c->replpreamble);
+        }
         list *l = (c->flags & REDIS_MONITOR) ? server.monitors : server.slaves;
         ln = listSearchKey(l,c);
         redisAssert(ln != NULL);
diff --git a/src/redis.h b/src/redis.h
index 058fa7d3..b5241b3f 100644
--- a/src/redis.h
+++ b/src/redis.h
@@ -470,6 +470,7 @@ typedef struct redisClient {
     int repldbfd;           /* replication DB file descriptor */
     long repldboff;         /* replication DB file offset */
     off_t repldbsize;       /* replication DB file size */
+    sds replpreamble;       /* replication DB preamble. */
     long long reploff;      /* replication offset if this is our master */
     long long repl_ack_off; /* replication ack offset, if this is a slave */
     long long repl_ack_time;/* replication ack time, if this is a slave */
diff --git a/src/replication.c b/src/replication.c
index 2d7ee809..d9e26039 100644
--- a/src/replication.c
+++ b/src/replication.c
@@ -628,23 +628,28 @@ void sendBulkToSlave(aeEventLoop *el, int fd, void *privdata, int mask) {
     char buf[REDIS_IOBUF_LEN];
     ssize_t nwritten, buflen;
 
-    if (slave->repldboff == 0) {
-        /* Write the bulk write count before to transfer the DB. In theory here
-         * we don't know how much room there is in the output buffer of the
-         * socket, but in practice SO_SNDLOWAT (the minimum count for output
-         * operations) will never be smaller than the few bytes we need. */
-        sds bulkcount;
-
-        bulkcount = sdscatprintf(sdsempty(),"$%lld\r\n",(unsigned long long)
-            slave->repldbsize);
-        if (write(fd,bulkcount,sdslen(bulkcount)) != (signed)sdslen(bulkcount))
-        {
-            sdsfree(bulkcount);
+    /* Before sending the RDB file, we send the preamble as configured by the
+     * replication process. Currently the preamble is just the bulk count of
+     * the file in the form "$<length>\r\n". */
+    if (slave->replpreamble) {
+        nwritten = write(fd,slave->replpreamble,sdslen(slave->replpreamble));
+        if (nwritten == -1) {
+            redisLog(REDIS_VERBOSE,"Write error sending RDB preamble to slave: %s",
+                strerror(errno));
             freeClient(slave);
             return;
         }
-        sdsfree(bulkcount);
+        sdsrange(slave->replpreamble,nwritten,-1);
+        if (sdslen(slave->replpreamble) == 0) {
+            sdsfree(slave->replpreamble);
+            slave->replpreamble = NULL;
+            /* fall through sending data. */
+        } else {
+            return;
+        }
     }
+
+    /* If the preamble was already transfered, send the RDB bulk data. */
     lseek(slave->repldbfd,slave->repldboff,SEEK_SET);
     buflen = read(slave->repldbfd,buf,REDIS_IOBUF_LEN);
     if (buflen <= 0) {
@@ -711,6 +716,9 @@ void updateSlavesWaitingBgsave(int bgsaveerr) {
             slave->repldboff = 0;
             slave->repldbsize = buf.st_size;
             slave->replstate = REDIS_REPL_SEND_BULK;
+            slave->replpreamble = sdscatprintf(sdsempty(),"$%lld\r\n",
+                (unsigned long long) slave->repldbsize);
+
             aeDeleteFileEvent(server.el,slave->fd,AE_WRITABLE);
             if (aeCreateFileEvent(server.el, slave->fd, AE_WRITABLE, sendBulkToSlave, slave) == AE_ERR) {
                 freeClient(slave);