diff --git a/include/maxscale/server.h b/include/maxscale/server.h
index a67199fe2..b58377c5d 100644
--- a/include/maxscale/server.h
+++ b/include/maxscale/server.h
@@ -234,13 +234,12 @@ extern void server_update_ssl(SERVER *server, const char *key, const char *value
  * @brief Serialize a server to a file
  *
  * This converts @c server into an INI format file. This allows created servers
- * to be persisted to disk. A new file is only created if the file pointed by
- * @c filename does not exist at the time this function is called.
+ * to be persisted to disk. This will replace any existing files with the same
+ * name.
  *
  * @param server Server to serialize
- * @param filename Path to a file where the server is persisted
  * @return False if the serialization of the server fails, true if it was successful
  */
-bool server_serialize(SERVER *server, const char *filename);
+bool server_serialize(SERVER *server);
 
 MXS_END_DECLS
diff --git a/server/core/server.c b/server/core/server.c
index 2e5359eef..a2abb488d 100644
--- a/server/core/server.c
+++ b/server/core/server.c
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@
 #include <maxscale/gw_ssl.h>
 #include <maxscale/alloc.h>
 #include <maxscale/modules.h>
+#include <maxscale/gwdirs.h>
 
 static SPINLOCK server_spin = SPINLOCK_INIT;
 static SERVER *allServers = NULL;
@@ -1062,7 +1063,14 @@ bool server_set_version_string(SERVER* server, const char* string)
     return rval;
 }
 
-bool server_serialize(SERVER *server, const char *filename)
+/**
+ * Creates a server configuration at the location pointed by @c filename
+ *
+ * @param server Server to serialize into a configuration
+ * @param filename Filename where configuration is written
+ * @return True on success, false on error
+ */
+static bool create_server_config(SERVER *server, const char *filename)
 {
     int file = open(filename, O_EXCL | O_CREAT | O_WRONLY, S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR | S_IRGRP | S_IROTH);
 
@@ -1162,6 +1170,43 @@ bool server_serialize(SERVER *server, const char *filename)
     return true;
 }
 
+bool server_serialize(SERVER *server)
+{
+    bool rval = false;
+    char filename[PATH_MAX];
+    snprintf(filename, sizeof(filename), "%s/%s.cnf.tmp", get_config_persistdir(),
+             server->unique_name);
+
+    if (unlink(filename) == -1 && errno != ENOENT)
+    {
+        char err[MXS_STRERROR_BUFLEN];
+        MXS_ERROR("Failed to remove temporary server configuration at '%s': %d, %s",
+                  filename, errno, strerror_r(errno, err, sizeof(err)));
+    }
+    else if (create_server_config(server, filename))
+    {
+        char final_filename[PATH_MAX];
+        strcpy(final_filename, filename);
+
+        char *dot = strrchr(final_filename, '.');
+        ss_dassert(dot);
+        *dot = '\0';
+
+        if (rename(filename, final_filename) == 0)
+        {
+            rval = true;
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            char err[MXS_STRERROR_BUFLEN];
+            MXS_ERROR("Failed to rename temporary server configuration at '%s': %d, %s",
+                      filename, errno, strerror_r(errno, err, sizeof(err)));
+        }
+    }
+
+    return rval;
+}
+
 bool server_is_ssl_parameter(const char *key)
 {
     // TODO: Implement this
diff --git a/server/core/test/testserver.c b/server/core/test/testserver.c
index 5a1f6f0ba..bb195885e 100644
--- a/server/core/test/testserver.c
+++ b/server/core/test/testserver.c
@@ -140,31 +140,37 @@ bool test_load_config(const char *input, SERVER *server)
 bool test_serialize()
 {
     char name[] = "serialized-server";
+    char config_name[] = "serialized-server.cnf";
+    char old_config_name[] = "serialized-server.cnf.old";
+    char *persist_dir = MXS_STRDUP_A("./");
+    set_config_persistdir(persist_dir);
     SERVER *server = server_alloc("127.0.0.1", "HTTPD", 9876, "NullAuthAllow", "fake=option");
     TEST(server, "Server allocation failed");
     server_set_unique_name(server, name);
 
-    /** Make sure the file doesn't exist */
-    unlink("./server.cnf");
+    /** Make sure the files don't exist */
+    unlink(config_name);
+    unlink(old_config_name);
 
     /** Serialize server to disk */
-    TEST(server_serialize(server, "./server.cnf"), "Failed to synchronize original server");
+    TEST(server_serialize(server), "Failed to synchronize original server");
 
     /** Load it again */
-    TEST(test_load_config("./server.cnf", server), "Failed to load the serialized server");
+    TEST(test_load_config(config_name, server), "Failed to load the serialized server");
 
     /** We should have two identical servers */
     SERVER *created = server_find_by_unique_name(name);
     TEST(created->next == server, "We should end up with two servers");
 
-    /** Make sure the file doesn't exist */
-    unlink("./server-created.cnf");
+    rename(config_name, old_config_name);
 
     /** Serialize the loaded server to disk */
-    TEST(server_serialize(created, "./server-created.cnf"), "Failed to synchronize the copied server");
+    TEST(server_serialize(created), "Failed to synchronize the copied server");
 
     /** Check that they serialize to identical files */
-    TEST(system("diff ./server.cnf ./server-created.cnf") == 0, "The files are not identical");
+    char cmd[1024];
+    sprintf(cmd, "diff ./%s ./%s", config_name, old_config_name);
+    TEST(system(cmd) == 0, "The files are not identical");
 
     return true;
 }
diff --git a/server/modules/routing/debugcli/debugcmd.c b/server/modules/routing/debugcli/debugcmd.c
index a59785d91..3c0fb17dc 100644
--- a/server/modules/routing/debugcli/debugcmd.c
+++ b/server/modules/routing/debugcli/debugcmd.c
@@ -987,6 +987,17 @@ struct subcommand flushoptions[] =
 /** This is used to prevent concurrent creation or removal of servers */
 static SPINLOCK server_mod_lock = SPINLOCK_INIT;
 
+/**
+ * Create a new server
+ *
+ * @param dcb Client DCB
+ * @param name Server name
+ * @param address Server network address
+ * @param port Server port
+ * @param protocol Protocol, NULL for default (MySQLBackend)
+ * @param authenticator Authenticator module, NULL for default (MySQLBackendAuth)
+ * @param authenticator_options Authenticator options, NULL for no options
+ */
 static void createServer(DCB *dcb, char *name, char *address, char *port,
                          char *protocol, char *authenticator, char *authenticator_options)
 {
@@ -1005,8 +1016,18 @@ static void createServer(DCB *dcb, char *name, char *address, char *port,
         if (server)
         {
             server_set_unique_name(server, name);
-            // TODO: Serialize the server to disk
-            dcb_printf(dcb, "Created server '%s'\n", name);
+
+            if (server_serialize(server))
+            {
+                dcb_printf(dcb, "Created server '%s'\n", name);
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                dcb_printf(dcb, "WARNING: The server was added to the runtime "
+                           "configuration but persisting the new server to disk "
+                           "failed. This server will NOT be loaded when MaxScale "
+                           "is restarted. See log file for more details on why it failed.\n");
+            }
         }
         else
         {