diff --git a/lib/mdns.js b/lib/mdns.js
index 2c6ef0c..d41f25a 100644
--- a/lib/mdns.js
+++ b/lib/mdns.js
@@ -1,36 +1,8 @@
 'use strict';
 
 var PromiseA = require('bluebird');
-var fs = PromiseA.promisifyAll(require('fs'));
-var path = require('path');
-var idFilename = path.join(__dirname, '..', 'var', 'mdns-id');
 var queryName = '_cloud._tcp.local';
 
-var randomId = {
-  get: function () {
-    return fs.readFileAsync(idFilename)
-      .catch(function (err) {
-        if (err.code !== 'ENOENT') {
-          return PromiseA.reject(err);
-        }
-        var id = require('crypto').randomBytes(5).toString('hex');
-        return randomId.set(id);
-      });
-  }
-
-, set: function (value) {
-    return fs.mkdirAsync(path.dirname(idFilename)).catch(function (err) {
-      if (err.code !== 'EEXIST') {
-        console.error('failed to mkdir', path.dirname(idFilename), err.toString());
-      }
-    }).then(function () {
-      return fs.writeFileAsync(idFilename, value).then(function () {
-        return value;
-      });
-    });
-  }
-};
-
 function createResponse(name, ownerIds, packet, ttl, mainPort) {
   var rpacket = {
     header: {
@@ -148,7 +120,7 @@ module.exports.start = function (deps, config, mainPort) {
     }
 
     var proms = [
-      randomId.get()
+      deps.storage.mdnsId.get()
     , deps.storage.owners.all().then(function (owners) {
         // The ID is the sha256 hash of the PPID, which shouldn't be reversible and therefore
         // should be safe to expose without needing authentication.
diff --git a/lib/storage.js b/lib/storage.js
index 071aa12..4651f2d 100644
--- a/lib/storage.js
+++ b/lib/storage.js
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ var path = require('path');
 var fs = PromiseA.promisifyAll(require('fs'));
 
 module.exports.create = function (deps, conf) {
+  var hrIds = require('human-readable-ids').humanReadableIds;
   var scmp = require('scmp');
   var storageDir = path.join(__dirname, '..', 'var');
 
@@ -73,8 +74,31 @@ module.exports.create = function (deps, conf) {
     }
   };
 
+  var mdnsId = {
+    _filename: 'mdns-id'
+  , get: function () {
+      var self = this;
+      return read("mdns-id").then(function (result) {
+        if (typeof result !== 'string') {
+          throw new Error('mDNS ID not present');
+        }
+        return result;
+      }).catch(function () {
+        return self.set(hrIds.random());
+      });
+    }
+
+  , set: function (value) {
+      var self = this;
+      return write(self._filename, value).then(function () {
+        return self.get();
+      });
+    }
+  };
+
   return {
     owners: owners
   , config: config
+  , mdnsId: mdnsId
   };
 };
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 2fe2407..4a5e5ba 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
     "finalhandler": "^0.4.0",
     "greenlock": "git+https://git.daplie.com/Daplie/node-greenlock.git#master",
     "http-proxy": "^1.16.2",
+    "human-readable-ids": "git+https://git.daplie.com/Daplie/human-readable-ids-js#master",
     "ipaddr.js": "git+https://github.com/whitequark/ipaddr.js.git#v1.3.0",
     "ipify": "^1.1.0",
     "js-yaml": "^3.8.3",