diff --git a/Netdisco/bin/netdisco-daemon b/Netdisco/bin/netdisco-daemon
index e887a27f..254178eb 100755
--- a/Netdisco/bin/netdisco-daemon
+++ b/Netdisco/bin/netdisco-daemon
@@ -1,19 +1,14 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env perl
 
-use strict;
-use warnings FATAL => 'all';
-
 use Dancer ':script';
 use Dancer::Plugin::DBIC 'schema';
 
-use Netdisco::DB;
-use SNMP::Info;
+# add dispatch methods for each port control action
+use base 'Netdisco::PortControl';
 
 use Daemon::Generic::While1;
-use Config::Tiny;
-use File::Slurp;
+use Netdisco::Util 'load_nd_config';
 use Try::Tiny;
-use feature 'say';
 
 newdaemon(
   progname => 'netdisco-daemon',
@@ -24,132 +19,24 @@ newdaemon(
 
 sub gd_preconfig {
   my $self = shift;
-  my $config = {};
+  my $config = load_nd_config($self->{configfile});
 
-  if (-e $self->{configfile}) {
-      # read file and alter line continuations to be single lines
-      my $config_content = read_file($self->{configfile});
-      $config_content =~ s/\\\n//sg;
-
-      # parse config naively as .ini
-      $config = Config::Tiny->new()->read_string($config_content);
-      $self->gd_error(Config::Tiny->errstr) unless defined $config;
-  }
-
-  $self->gd_error('No read-write community string has been set.')
+  $self->gd_error("No read-write community string has been set.")
     unless length $config->{_}->{community_rw};
 
-  # store for later access
-  var(nd_config => $config);
-
   # add local settings
   $config->{loc} = {
     sleep_time => 5,
   };
 
+  # store for later access
+  var(nd_config => $config);
+
   return (); # important
 }
 
-sub get_device {
-  my ($self, $device) = @_;
-
-  my $alias = schema('netdisco')->resultset('DeviceIp')
-    ->search({alias => $device})->first;
-  return if not eval { $alias->ip };
-
-  return schema('netdisco')->resultset('Device')
-    ->find({ip => $alias->ip});
-}
-
-sub build_mibdirs {
-  my $nd_config = var('nd_config');
-
-  my $mibhome  = $nd_config->{_}->{mibhome};
-  (my $mibdirs = $nd_config->{_}->{mibdirs}) =~ s/\s+//g;
-
-  $mibdirs =~ s/\$mibhome/$mibhome/g;
-  return [ split /,/, $mibdirs ];
-}
-
-sub snmp_connect {
-  my ($self, $device) = @_;
-  my $nd_config = var('nd_config');
-
-  # TODO: really only supporing v2c at the moment
-  my %snmp_args = (
-    DestHost => $device->ip,
-    Version => ($device->snmp_ver || $nd_config->{_}->{snmpver} || 2),
-    Retries => ($nd_config->{_}->{snmpretries} || 2),
-    Timeout => ($nd_config->{_}->{snmptimeout} || 1000000),
-    MibDirs => build_mibdirs(),
-    AutoSpecify => 1,
-    Debug => ($ENV{INFO_TRACE} || 0),
-  );
-
-  (my $comm = $nd_config->{_}->{community_rw}) =~ s/\s+//g;
-  my @communities = split /,/, $comm;
-
-  my $info = undef;
-  COMMUNITY: foreach my $c (@communities) {
-      try {
-          $info = SNMP::Info->new(%snmp_args, Community => $c);
-          last COMMUNITY if (
-            $info
-            and (not defined $info->error)
-            and length $info->uptime
-          );
-      };
-  }
-
-  return $info;
-}
-
-sub set_location {
-  my ($self, $job, $device, $info) = @_;
-  my $location = ($job->subaction || '');
-
-  try {
-      my $rv = $info->set_location($location);
-      if (!defined $rv) {
-          my $log = sprintf 'Failed to set location on [%s]: %s',
-            $job->device, ($info->error || '');
-          return ('error', $log);
-      }
-
-      # double check
-      $info->clear_cache;
-      my $new_location = ($info->location || '');
-      if ($new_location ne $location) {
-          my $log = sprintf 'Failed to update location on [%s] to [%s]',
-            $job->device, ($location);
-          return ('error', $log);
-      }
-
-      # update netdisco DB
-      $device->update({location => $location});
-
-      my $log = sprintf 'Updated location on [%s] to [%s]',
-        $job->device, $location;
-      return ('done', $log);
-  }
-  catch {
-      return( 'error',
-        (sprintf 'Failed to update location on [%s]: %s', $job->device, $_)
-      );
-  };
-}
-
-sub do_job {
+sub dispatch {
   my ($self, $job) = @_;
-  my $nd_config = var('nd_config');
-
-  # get device details from db
-  my $device = $self->get_device($job->device)
-    or return ();
-
-  # snmp connect using rw community
-  my $info = $self->snmp_connect($device)
-    or return ();
 
   # do update
   my %dispatch = (
@@ -160,7 +47,7 @@ sub do_job {
     or return ();
 
   # return results
-  return $self->$target($job, $device, $info);
+  return $self->$target($job);
 }
 
 sub gd_run_body {
@@ -216,7 +103,7 @@ sub gd_run_body {
       };
 
       # do job
-      my ($status, $log) = $self->do_job($job);
+      my ($status, $log) = $self->dispatch($job);
 
       # revert to queued status if we failed to connect to device
       if (not $status) {
diff --git a/Netdisco/lib/Netdisco/PortControl.pm b/Netdisco/lib/Netdisco/PortControl.pm
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b7d19e01
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Netdisco/lib/Netdisco/PortControl.pm
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+package Netdisco::PortControl;
+
+use strict;
+use warnings FATAL => 'all';
+
+use Netdisco::Util ':port_control';
+use Try::Tiny;
+
+sub set_location {
+  my ($self, $job) = @_;
+
+  try {
+      # snmp connect using rw community
+      my $info = snmp_connect($job->device)
+        or return ();
+
+      my $location = ($job->subaction || '');
+      my $rv = $info->set_location($location);
+
+      if (!defined $rv) {
+          my $log = sprintf 'Failed to set location on [%s]: %s',
+            $job->device, ($info->error || '');
+          return ('error', $log);
+      }
+
+      # double check
+      $info->clear_cache;
+      my $new_location = ($info->location || '');
+      if ($new_location ne $location) {
+          my $log = sprintf 'Failed to update location on [%s] to [%s]',
+            $job->device, ($location);
+          return ('error', $log);
+      }
+
+      # get device details from db
+      my $device = get_device($job->device)
+        or return ();
+
+      # update netdisco DB
+      $device->update({location => $location});
+
+      my $log = sprintf 'Updated location on [%s] to [%s]',
+        $job->device, $location;
+      return ('done', $log);
+  }
+  catch {
+      return( 'error',
+        (sprintf 'Failed to update location on [%s]: %s', $job->device, $_)
+      );
+  };
+}
+
+1;
diff --git a/Netdisco/lib/Netdisco/Util.pm b/Netdisco/lib/Netdisco/Util.pm
index 14f708a1..d5a7d9b8 100644
--- a/Netdisco/lib/Netdisco/Util.pm
+++ b/Netdisco/lib/Netdisco/Util.pm
@@ -1,19 +1,99 @@
 package Netdisco::Util;
 
+use strict;
+use warnings FATAL => 'all';
+
+use SNMP::Info;
+use Config::Tiny;
+use File::Slurp;
+use Try::Tiny;
+
+use base 'Exporter';
+our @EXPORT = ();
+our @EXPORT_OK = qw/load_nd_config get_device snmp_connect sort_port/;
+our %EXPORT_TAGS = (port_control => [qw/get_device snmp_connect/]);
+
+sub load_nd_config {
+  my $file = shift or die "missing netdisco config file name.\n";
+  my $config = {};
+
+  if (-e $file) {
+      # read file and alter line continuations to be single lines
+      my $config_content = read_file($file);
+      $config_content =~ s/\\\n//sg;
+
+      # parse config naively as .ini
+      $config = Config::Tiny->new()->read_string($config_content);
+      die (Config::Tiny->errstr ."\n") if !defined $config;
+  }
+
+  return $config;
+}
+
+sub get_device {
+  my $ip = shift;
+
+  my $alias = schema('netdisco')->resultset('DeviceIp')
+    ->search({alias => $ip})->first;
+  return if not eval { $alias->ip };
+
+  return schema('netdisco')->resultset('Device')
+    ->find({ip => $alias->ip});
+}
+
+sub build_mibdirs {
+  my $nd_config = var('nd_config')
+    or die "Cannot call build_mibdirs without Dancer and nd_config.\n";
+
+  my $mibhome  = $nd_config->{_}->{mibhome};
+  (my $mibdirs = $nd_config->{_}->{mibdirs}) =~ s/\s+//g;
+
+  $mibdirs =~ s/\$mibhome/$mibhome/g;
+  return [ split /,/, $mibdirs ];
+}
+
+sub snmp_connect {
+  my $ip = shift;
+  my $nd_config = var('nd_config')
+    or die "Cannot call snmp_connect without Dancer and nd_config.\n";
+
+  # get device details from db
+  my $device = get_device($ip)
+    or return ();
+
+  # TODO: really only supporing v2c at the moment
+  my %snmp_args = (
+    DestHost => $device->ip,
+    Version => ($device->snmp_ver || $nd_config->{_}->{snmpver} || 2),
+    Retries => ($nd_config->{_}->{snmpretries} || 2),
+    Timeout => ($nd_config->{_}->{snmptimeout} || 1000000),
+    MibDirs => build_mibdirs(),
+    AutoSpecify => 1,
+    Debug => ($ENV{INFO_TRACE} || 0),
+  );
+
+  (my $comm = $nd_config->{_}->{community_rw}) =~ s/\s+//g;
+  my @communities = split /,/, $comm;
+
+  my $info = undef;
+  COMMUNITY: foreach my $c (@communities) {
+      try {
+          $info = SNMP::Info->new(%snmp_args, Community => $c);
+          last COMMUNITY if (
+            $info
+            and (not defined $info->error)
+            and length $info->uptime
+          );
+      };
+  }
+
+  return $info;
+}
+
 =head2 sort_port( $a, $b )
 
-Sort port names with the following formatting types:
-
-    A5
-    5
-    FastEthernet0/1
-    FastEthernet0/1-atm
-    Slot: 0 Port: 15 Gigabit
-    5.5
-    Port:3
-
-Interface is as Perl's own C<sort> - two input args and an integer return
-value. Code taken from netdisco.pm.
+Sort port names of various types used by device vendors. Interface is as
+Perl's own C<sort> - two input args and an integer return value.
 
 =cut