diff --git a/launch/launch-node.py b/launch/launch-node.py
index 96001a2c5f..2bd28b1c22 100755
--- a/launch/launch-node.py
+++ b/launch/launch-node.py
@@ -133,7 +133,15 @@ def bootstrap_server(server, admin_pass, key, cert, environment, name,
         "--certname %s" % (environment, puppetmaster, certname), error_ok=True)
     utils.interpret_puppet_exitcodes(rc, output)
 
-    ssh_client.ssh("reboot")
+    try:
+        ssh_client.ssh("reboot")
+    except Exception as e:
+        # Some init system kill the connection too fast after reboot.
+        # Deal with it by ignoring ssh errors when rebooting.
+        if e.rc == -1:
+            pass
+        else:
+            raise
 
 
 def build_server(
diff --git a/launch/sshclient.py b/launch/sshclient.py
index f02e8f8789..81afe4301f 100644
--- a/launch/sshclient.py
+++ b/launch/sshclient.py
@@ -23,6 +23,12 @@ import sys
 import paramiko
 
 
+class SSHException(Exception):
+    def __init__(self, message, rc):
+        super(SSHException, self).__init__(message)
+        self.rc = rc
+
+
 class SSHClient(object):
     def __init__(self, ip, username, password=None, pkey=None):
         client = paramiko.SSHClient()
@@ -41,7 +47,7 @@ class SSHClient(object):
         ret = stdout.channel.recv_exit_status()
         print stderr.read()
         if (not error_ok) and ret:
-            raise Exception("Unable to %s" % command)
+            raise SSHException("Unable to %s" % command, ret)
         return ret, output
 
     def scp(self, source, dest):