diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 8ecc8ed..473387e 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1493,6 +1493,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "mad",
  "prost",
  "prost-types",
+ "rand",
  "serde",
  "sqlx",
  "tokio",
diff --git a/crates/nodata/Cargo.toml b/crates/nodata/Cargo.toml
index d1ec9e1..9c0d941 100644
--- a/crates/nodata/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/nodata/Cargo.toml
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ prost-types.workspace = true
 chrono = { version = "0.4.38", features = ["serde"] }
 tokio-stream = "0.1.15"
 dagger-sdk = "0.11.10"
+rand = "0.8.5"
 
 [dev-dependencies]
-tracing-test = "0.2.5"
+tracing-test = { version = "0.2.5" } #, features = ["no-env-filter"] }
diff --git a/crates/nodata/src/dagger_engine.rs b/crates/nodata/src/dagger_engine.rs
index cc8e5b2..8703ac2 100644
--- a/crates/nodata/src/dagger_engine.rs
+++ b/crates/nodata/src/dagger_engine.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 use std::sync::Arc;
 
 use anyhow::Context;
-use dagger_sdk::{PortForward, ServiceUpOptsBuilder};
+use dagger_sdk::{PortForward, ServiceEndpointOpts, ServiceUpOpts};
 use tokio::net::TcpListener;
 use tokio_util::sync::CancellationToken;
 
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ impl DaggerConn {
 
         // Bind to the os, and let it select a random port above > 30000
         let component_listener = match TcpListener::bind("127.0.0.1:0").await {
+            // FIXME: dagger doesn't support isize for some reason?
             Ok(listener) => listener,
             Err(e) => {
                 tracing::warn!(error = e.to_string(), "failed to allocate port");
@@ -42,6 +43,9 @@ impl DaggerConn {
             .context("failed to find a valid random port, you may've run out")?
             .port();
 
+        // free up reserved listener
+        drop(component_listener);
+
         // Let the blocking container run in the background, maintained by the cancellation token handle in the dagger container
         let container_name = name.to_string();
         let container_token = cancellation_token.child_token();
@@ -58,11 +62,12 @@ impl DaggerConn {
             }
         });
 
-        let grpc = match GrpcComponentClient::new(format!("127.0.0.1:{}", port)).await {
+        let grpc = match GrpcComponentClient::new(format!("http://127.0.0.1:{}", port)).await {
             Ok(grpc) => grpc,
             Err(e) => {
                 tracing::warn!(
                     error = e.to_string(),
+                    port = port,
                     "failed to bootstrap grpc component, service may not be up yet."
                 );
 
@@ -70,17 +75,21 @@ impl DaggerConn {
             }
         };
 
-        match grpc.ping().await {
-            Ok(_) => {
-                // TODO: Finally send something back to the caller
-            }
-            Err(e) => {
-                tracing::warn!(
-                    error = e.to_string(),
-                    "failed to ping grpc server, service may not be up yet."
-                );
+        for i in 1..5 {
+            match grpc.ping().await {
+                Ok(_) => {
+                    // TODO: Finally send something back to the caller
+                    break;
+                }
+                Err(e) => {
+                    tracing::warn!(
+                        error = e.to_string(),
+                        port = port,
+                        "failed to ping grpc server, service may not be up yet."
+                    );
 
-                anyhow::bail!("failed to ping container");
+                    tokio::time::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_secs(i)).await;
+                }
             }
         }
 
@@ -212,6 +221,12 @@ async fn spawn_container(
     image: &str,
     outer_port: u16,
 ) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+    tracing::debug!(
+        image = image,
+        outer_port = outer_port as isize,
+        "spawning container"
+    );
+
     let service = client
         .container()
         .from(image)
@@ -220,15 +235,14 @@ async fn spawn_container(
         .as_service();
 
     service
-        .up_opts(
-            ServiceUpOptsBuilder::default()
-                .ports(vec![PortForward {
-                    backend: 7900,
-                    frontend: outer_port as isize,
-                    protocol: dagger_sdk::NetworkProtocol::Tcp,
-                }])
-                .build()?,
-        )
+        .up_opts(ServiceUpOpts {
+            ports: Some(vec![PortForward {
+                frontend: outer_port as isize,
+                backend: 7900,
+                protocol: dagger_sdk::NetworkProtocol::Tcp,
+            }]),
+            random: Some(false),
+        })
         .await?;
 
     Ok(())
@@ -252,7 +266,7 @@ mod tests {
         let container = dagger_engine
             .start_container(
                 "some_name",
-                "kasperhermansen/nodata-transformer-test:main-1723938077",
+                "docker.io/kasperhermansen/nodata-transformer-test:main-1723938433",
             )
             .await?;
 
diff --git a/crates/nodata/src/main.rs b/crates/nodata/src/main.rs
index 062d796..6ff49fb 100644
--- a/crates/nodata/src/main.rs
+++ b/crates/nodata/src/main.rs
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ use broker::Broker;
 use chrono::{Datelike, Timelike};
 use clap::{Parser, Subcommand};
 use grpc::{GetKeysRequest, GetTopicsRequest, GrpcServer, PublishEventRequest, SubscribeRequest};
+use grpc_component::GrpcComponentClient;
 use http::HttpServer;
 use mad::Mad;
 use state::SharedState;
@@ -75,6 +76,10 @@ enum ClientCommands {
         #[arg(long)]
         key: String,
     },
+    ComponentPing {
+        #[arg(long)]
+        host: String,
+    },
 }
 
 #[tokio::main]
@@ -174,6 +179,13 @@ async fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
                     )
                 }
             }
+            ClientCommands::ComponentPing { host } => {
+                tracing::info!(host = host, "creating client");
+                let client = GrpcComponentClient::new(&host).await?;
+
+                tracing::info!(host = host, "sending ping");
+                client.ping().await?;
+            }
         },
     }