diff --git a/confluent_server/bin/osdeploy b/confluent_server/bin/osdeploy
index 97281f94..d3f68647 100644
--- a/confluent_server/bin/osdeploy
+++ b/confluent_server/bin/osdeploy
@@ -255,12 +255,8 @@ def initialize(cmdset):
         sys.exit(1)
     if cmdset.t or cmdset.s or cmdset.a or cmdset.u:
         neededuid = os.stat('/etc/confluent').st_uid
-        try:
-            os.makedirs('/var/lib/confluent')
-            os.chown('/var/lib/confluent', neededuid, -1)
-        except OSError as e:
-            if e.errno != 17:
-                raise
+        util.mkdirp('/var/lib/confluent')
+        os.chown('/var/lib/confluent', neededuid, -1)
     if cmdset.u:
         didsomething = True
         if not glob.glob('/root/.ssh/*.pub'):
diff --git a/confluent_server/confluent/util.py b/confluent_server/confluent/util.py
index e3f5bfb3..52726302 100644
--- a/confluent_server/confluent/util.py
+++ b/confluent_server/confluent/util.py
@@ -29,6 +29,14 @@ import struct
 import eventlet.green.subprocess as subprocess
 
 
+def mkdirp(path):
+    try:
+        os.makedirs(path)
+    except OSError as e:
+        if e.errno != 17:
+            raise
+
+
 def run(cmd):
     process = subprocess.Popen(cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
     stdout, stderr = process.communicate()