diff --git a/repmgr.c b/repmgr.c
index 7ddc6465..51cf2ebd 100644
--- a/repmgr.c
+++ b/repmgr.c
@@ -157,9 +157,6 @@ static PQconninfoOption *opts = NULL;
 /* conninfo params for the node we're cloning from */
 t_conninfo_param_list source_conninfo;
 
-
-
-
 static bool	config_file_required = true;
 
 /* Initialization of runtime options */
@@ -6670,6 +6667,10 @@ check_upstream_config(PGconn *conn, int server_version_num, bool exit_on_error)
 		config_ok = false;
 	}
 
+	/*
+	 * work out how many replication connections we'll be making (1 or 2)
+	 */
+
 	i = guc_set_typed(conn, "max_wal_senders", ">", "0", "integer");
 	if (i == 0 || i == -1)
 	{
@@ -6688,6 +6689,81 @@ check_upstream_config(PGconn *conn, int server_version_num, bool exit_on_error)
 		config_ok = false;
 	}
 
+	if (!runtime_options.rsync_only)
+	{
+		t_basebackup_options  backup_options = T_BASEBACKUP_OPTIONS_INITIALIZER;
+		PGconn	  **connections;
+		bool		xlog_stream = true;
+		int			i;
+
+		int			min_replication_connections = 1,
+					possible_replication_connections = 0;
+
+		t_conninfo_param_list repl_conninfo;
+
+		parse_pg_basebackup_options(options.pg_basebackup_options, &backup_options);
+
+		/* Make a copy of the connection parameter arrays, and append "replication" */
+
+		initialize_conninfo_params(&repl_conninfo, false);
+
+		conn_to_param_list(conn, &repl_conninfo);
+
+		param_set(&repl_conninfo, "replication", "1");
+
+		/*
+		 * work out how many replication connections are required (1 or 2)
+		 */
+
+		/*
+		 * --xlog-method set by user to something other than "stream" (should be "fetch",
+		 * but we're just checking it's not "stream")
+		 */
+		if (strlen(backup_options.xlog_method) && strcmp(backup_options.xlog_method, "stream") != 0)
+			xlog_stream = false;
+
+		if (xlog_stream == true)
+			min_replication_connections += 1;
+
+		log_verbose(LOG_NOTICE, "checking for available walsenders (%i required)\n", min_replication_connections);
+
+		connections = pg_malloc0(sizeof(PGconn *) * min_replication_connections);
+
+		/* Attempt to create the minimum number of required concurrent connections */
+		for (i = 0; i < min_replication_connections; i++)
+		{
+			PGconn *replication_conn;
+
+			replication_conn = establish_db_connection_by_params((const char**)repl_conninfo.keywords, (const char**)repl_conninfo.values, false);
+
+			if (PQstatus(replication_conn) == CONNECTION_OK)
+			{
+				connections[i] = replication_conn;
+				possible_replication_connections++;
+			}
+		}
+
+		/* Close previously created connections */
+		for (i = 0; i < possible_replication_connections; i++)
+		{
+			PQfinish(connections[i]);
+		}
+
+		if (possible_replication_connections < min_replication_connections)
+		{
+			config_ok = false;
+			log_err(_("unable to establish necessary replication connections\n"));
+			log_hint(_("increase 'max_wal_senders' by at least %i\n"), min_replication_connections - possible_replication_connections);
+
+
+			if (exit_on_error == true)
+			{
+				PQfinish(conn);
+				exit(ERR_BAD_CONFIG);
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
 	return config_ok;
 }
 
@@ -7009,9 +7085,9 @@ format_db_cli_params(const char *conninfo, char *output)
 	strncpy(output, buf.data, MAXLEN);
 
 	termPQExpBuffer(&buf);
-
 }
 
+
 bool
 copy_file(const char *old_filename, const char *new_filename)
 {
@@ -7053,8 +7129,6 @@ copy_file(const char *old_filename, const char *new_filename)
 }
 
 
-
-
 static void
 initialize_conninfo_params(t_conninfo_param_list *param_list, bool set_defaults)
 {
@@ -7138,6 +7212,11 @@ param_set(t_conninfo_param_list *param_list, const char *param, const char *valu
 }
 
 
+/*
+ * Parse a conninfo string into a t_conninfo_param_list
+ *
+ * See conn_to_param_list() to do the same for a PQconn
+ */
 static bool
 parse_conninfo_string(const char *conninfo_str, t_conninfo_param_list *param_list, char *errmsg)
 {
@@ -7163,6 +7242,11 @@ parse_conninfo_string(const char *conninfo_str, t_conninfo_param_list *param_lis
 }
 
 
+/*
+ * Parse a PQconn into a t_conninfo_param_list
+ *
+ * See parse_conninfo_string() to do the same for a conninfo string
+ */
 static void
 conn_to_param_list(PGconn *conn, t_conninfo_param_list *param_list)
 {