while (!$sock && $conn_tries < 2*@{$opts{servers}}) {
    debug("Connecting to $opts{servers}->[0]...");
    my %sockinfo = (PeerAddr => $opts{servers}->[0],
                    PeerPort => 6667);
    if ($opts{localaddr}) { $sockinfo{LocalAddr} = $opts{localaddr}; }
    $sock = IO::Socket::INET->new(%sockinfo) or
        debug("Error: failed to connect: $!\n");
    ++$conn_tries;
    if (!$sock) {
        # cycle front server to back if connection failed
        push(@{$opts{servers}},shift(@{$opts{servers}}));
    }
    else { debug("Connected."); }
}

if (!$sock) {
    debug("Error: Too many connection failures, exhausted server list.\n",1);
}