diff --git a/base.py b/base.py
index 60a9b64..10fa7e9 100644
--- a/base.py
+++ b/base.py
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ class ServiceManager:
 
     def __init__(self):
         self.env = {}
+        self.remote_hosts = {}
         self.commands = {}
         # self.revcmd = {}
         self.info = {}
@@ -138,6 +139,8 @@ class ServiceManager:
             section = dict(parser[ins])
             if ins == 'MAIN':
                 ins = self.main_ins = basename(expanduser('~'))
+            if 'REMOTE_HOST' in section:
+                self.remote_hosts[ins] = section['REMOTE_HOST']
             command = section.get('%s_command' % self.group)
             self.revcmd[command] = self.group
             nr = section.get(self.group)
@@ -205,6 +208,8 @@ class ServiceManager:
         if ins not in self.info:
             raise KeyError("don't know %r" % ins)
         sp_ins = ' ' + ins if ins != self.main_ins else ''
+        if ins in self.remote_hosts:
+            return
         if not self.get_procs().get(ins, {}).get(service):
             startcmd = '%s start%s' % (self.group, sp_ins)
             raise ServiceDown('%s%s is not running - please use %r' % (self.group, sp_ins, startcmd))
@@ -271,6 +276,8 @@ class ServiceManager:
             service_ports = self.get_ins_info(ins)
         except ValueError:
             raise ValueError('do not know %r' % ins)
+        if ins in self.remote_hosts:
+            raise ValueError('can not start, %s is running on a remote host' % self.group)
         services = list(service_ports) if service is None else [service]
         if restart:
             self.stop(ins, service)
diff --git a/nicosman.py b/nicosman.py
index a1dc686..eee6489 100644
--- a/nicosman.py
+++ b/nicosman.py
@@ -231,22 +231,22 @@ class NicosManager(ServiceManager):
         os.chdir(join(os.environ['NICOS_ROOT'], env['NICOS_PACKAGE']))
         sys.path.insert(0, os.environ['NICOS_ROOT'])
 
-    def run_client(self, ins, main, app, **kwargs):
-        serverhost = os.environ.get('NICOS_SERVER_HOST', 'localhost')
-        sys.argv[:] = [app, 'guest:guest@%s:%d' % (serverhost, self.info[ins]['daemon'])]
+    def run_client(self, ins, main, clientapp, **kwargs):
+        serverhost = os.environ.get('REMOTE_HOST', 'localhost')
+        login = os.environ.get('REMOTE_LOGIN', 'guest:guest')
+        sys.argv[:] = [clientapp, '%s@%s:%d' % (login, serverhost, self.info[ins]['daemon'])]
         sys.exit(main(sys.argv, **kwargs))
 
     def do_cli(self, ins):
         self.prepare_client(ins)
         from nicos.clients.cli import main
         os.environ['NICOS_HISTORY_FILE'] = expanduser('~/.nicoshistory_%s' % ins)
-        self.run_client(ins, main, 'nicos-client',
-                        userpath=expanduser('~/.config/nicos_client_%s' % ins))
+        self.run_client(ins, main, 'nicos-client')
 
     def do_gui(self, ins):
         self.prepare_client(ins)
         from nicos.clients.gui.main import main
-        userpath =  expanduser('~/.config/nicos_%s' % ins)
+        userpath = expanduser('~/.config/nicos_%s' % ins)
         print('starting nicos gui %s' % ins, userpath)
-        self.run_client(ins, main, 'nicos-gui', userpath=userpath)
+        self.run_client(ins, main, 'nicos-gui', userpath=userpath, app='gui_' + ins)