diff -r fdb796435d7b -r e1c05bf6fdeb server/serverctl.py
--- a/server/serverctl.py	Tue Apr 10 17:03:19 2012 +0200
+++ b/server/serverctl.py	Wed Apr 04 16:51:09 2012 +0200
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 from cubicweb.toolsutils import Command, CommandHandler, underline_title
 from cubicweb.cwctl import CWCTL, check_options_consistency
 from cubicweb.server import SOURCE_TYPES
+from cubicweb.server.repository import Repository
 from cubicweb.server.serverconfig import (
     USER_OPTIONS, ServerConfiguration, SourceConfiguration,
     ask_source_config, generate_source_config)
@@ -633,7 +634,7 @@
 class StartRepositoryCommand(Command):
     """Start a CubicWeb RQL server for a given instance.
 
-    The server will be accessible through pyro
+    The server will be remotely accessible through pyro or ZMQ
 
     <instance>
       the identifier of the instance to initialize.
@@ -650,12 +651,30 @@
           'default': None, 'choices': ('debug', 'info', 'warning', 'error'),
           'help': 'debug if -D is set, error otherwise',
           }),
+        ('address',
+         {'short': 'a', 'type': 'string', 'metavar': '<protocol>://<host>:<port>',
+          'default': '',
+          'help': ('specify a ZMQ URI on which to bind, or use "pyro://"'
+                   'to create a pyro-based repository'),
+          }),
         )
 
+    def create_repo(self, config):
+        address = self['address']
+        if not address:
+            address = config.get('zmq-repository-address', 'pyro://')
+        if address.startswith('pyro://'):
+            from cubicweb.server.server import RepositoryServer
+            return RepositoryServer(config), config['host']
+        else:
+            from cubicweb.server.utils import TasksManager
+            from cubicweb.server.cwzmq import ZMQRepositoryServer
+            repo = Repository(config, TasksManager())
+            return ZMQRepositoryServer(repo), address
+
     def run(self, args):
         from logilab.common.daemon import daemonize, setugid
         from cubicweb.cwctl import init_cmdline_log_threshold
-        from cubicweb.server.server import RepositoryServer
         appid = args[0]
         debug = self['debug']
         if sys.platform == 'win32' and not debug:
@@ -665,7 +684,7 @@
         config = ServerConfiguration.config_for(appid, debugmode=debug)
         init_cmdline_log_threshold(config, self['loglevel'])
         # create the server
-        server = RepositoryServer(config)
+        server, address = self.create_repo(config)
         # ensure the directory where the pid-file should be set exists (for
         # instance /var/run/cubicweb may be deleted on computer restart)
         pidfile = config['pid-file']
@@ -679,7 +698,7 @@
         if uid is not None:
             setugid(uid)
         server.install_sig_handlers()
-        server.connect(config['host'], 0)
+        server.connect(address)
         server.run()