diff --git a/xCAT-server/sbin/xcatd b/xCAT-server/sbin/xcatd
index a2e6cd70e..d869b51ab 100755
--- a/xCAT-server/sbin/xcatd
+++ b/xCAT-server/sbin/xcatd
@@ -846,21 +846,22 @@ my $tconn;
 until ($quit) {
   $SIG{CHLD} = \&ssl_reaper; #set here to ensure that signal handler is not corrupted during loop
   if (@pendingconnections) {
-	while ($listenwatcher->can_read(0)) { #grab everything we ca
+	while ($listenwatcher->can_read(0)) { #grab everything we can, but don't spend any time waiting for more
 		$tconn = $listener->accept;
-		unless ($tconn) { next; }
+		unless ($tconn) { next; } 
 		push @pendingconnections,$tconn;
 	}
   } else {
-	$tconn = $listener->accept;
-	unless ($tconn) { next; }
+	$tconn = $listener->accept; #we have no connections pending, no rush, just wait until the next connection attempt comes in
+	unless ($tconn) { next; } #sometimes we get 'undef', in which case carry on with our lives...
 	push @pendingconnections,$tconn;
   }
-  unless (scalar @pendingconnections) { next; }
-  if ($sslclients > $maxsslclients) { #THROTTLE
+  unless (scalar @pendingconnections) { next; } #if for some reason we landed here without any accepted connections, carry on..
+  if ($sslclients > $maxsslclients) { #we have enough children, wait for some to exit before spawning more
       $listenwatcher->can_read(0.1); #when next connection tries to come in or a tenth of a second, whichever comes first
       next; #just keep pulling things off listen queue onto our own
   }
+  #we have a pending connection and we are under the threshold, grab one from the list and process it...
   my $cnnection=shift @pendingconnections;
   my $connection;
   my $child = xCAT::Utils->xfork(); #Yes we fork, IO::Socket::SSL is not threadsafe..