diff --git a/puppet/files/puppet-check b/puppet/files/puppet-check
index 22958fb..2fe60ca 100755
--- a/puppet/files/puppet-check
+++ b/puppet/files/puppet-check
@@ -1,13 +1,31 @@
-#!/bin/sh
+#!/usr/bin/env ruby
 
-PID="`pgrep -f 'puppetd'`"
-if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
-    echo "puppetd not running on host `hostname`"
-    exit 1
-fi
+require "puppet"
+require "socket"
 
-MEMUSAGE=`ps -p ${PID} -o rss | tail -1`
-if [ ${MEMUSAGE} -gt 262144 ]; then
-    echo "puppetd process size is over 256 MB (${MEMUSAGE} KB), restart recommended"
-    exit 1
-fi
+Puppet.parse_config
+
+# get pid number for puppet or exit if not found
+pidfile = Puppet.settings.value("rundir") + "/puppetd.pid"
+begin
+    pid = File.new(pidfile, "r").read.to_i
+rescue Errno::ENOENT
+    exit
+end
+
+# check that process is still alive
+begin
+    Process.kill(0, pid)
+    exit
+rescue Errno::ESRCH
+    nil
+end
+
+# restart
+printf("puppetd dead but pid file exists on host '%s', restarting\n",
+       Socket.gethostname)
+begin
+    exec("service puppet start")
+rescue Errno::ENOENT
+    exec("puppetd")
+end