diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 2b06870..1ce5e86 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 source ENV['GEM_SOURCE'] || 'https://rubygems.org'
 
 gem 'json', '>= 1.8'
+gem 'pickup', '~> 0.0.11'
 gem 'puma', '~> 3.11'
 gem 'rack', '~> 2.0'
 gem 'rake', '~> 12.3'
diff --git a/lib/vmpooler.rb b/lib/vmpooler.rb
index fe1480b..0b05599 100644
--- a/lib/vmpooler.rb
+++ b/lib/vmpooler.rb
@@ -1,15 +1,16 @@
 module Vmpooler
   require 'date'
   require 'json'
-  require 'open-uri'
   require 'net/ldap'
+  require 'open-uri'
+  require 'pickup'
   require 'rbvmomi'
   require 'redis'
+  require 'set'
   require 'sinatra/base'
   require 'time'
   require 'timeout'
   require 'yaml'
-  require 'set'
 
   %w[api graphite logger pool_manager statsd dummy_statsd generic_connection_pool].each do |lib|
     require "vmpooler/#{lib}"
diff --git a/lib/vmpooler/api/v1.rb b/lib/vmpooler/api/v1.rb
index 9915a60..694a05e 100644
--- a/lib/vmpooler/api/v1.rb
+++ b/lib/vmpooler/api/v1.rb
@@ -36,16 +36,46 @@ module Vmpooler
       validate_token(backend)
     end
 
-    def fetch_single_vm(template)
-      vm = backend.spop('vmpooler__ready__' + template)
-      return [vm, template] if vm
+    def pool_backend(pool)
+      pool_index = pool_index(pools)
+      pool_config = pools[pool_index[pool]]
+      backend = pool_config['clone_target'] || config['clone_target'] || 'default'
+      return backend
+    end
 
+    def fetch_single_vm(template)
+      template_backends = [template]
       aliases = Vmpooler::API.settings.config[:alias]
-      if aliases && aliased_template = aliases[template]
-        vm = backend.spop('vmpooler__ready__' + aliased_template)
-        return [vm, aliased_template] if vm
+      if aliases
+        template_backends << aliases[template] if aliases[template]
+
+        pool_index = pool_index(pools)
+        weighted_pools = {}
+        template_backends.each do |t|
+          next unless pool_index.key? t
+          index = pool_index[t]
+          clone_target = pools[index]['clone_target'] || config['clone_target']
+          next unless config.key?('backend_weight')
+          weight = config['backend_weight'][clone_target]
+          if weight
+            weighted_pools[t] = weight
+          end
+        end
+
+        if weighted_pools.count == template_backends.count
+          pickup = Pickup.new(weighted_pools)
+          selection = pickup.pick
+          template_backends.delete(selection)
+          template_backends.unshift(selection)
+        else
+          template_backends = template_backends.sample(template_backends.count)
+        end
       end
 
+      template_backends.each do |t|
+        vm = backend.spop('vmpooler__ready__' + t)
+        return [vm, t] if vm
+      end
       [nil, nil]
     end
 
diff --git a/lib/vmpooler/pool_manager.rb b/lib/vmpooler/pool_manager.rb
index d42bbb2..66ac8b6 100644
--- a/lib/vmpooler/pool_manager.rb
+++ b/lib/vmpooler/pool_manager.rb
@@ -149,25 +149,34 @@ module Vmpooler
       # Periodically check that the VM is available
       mutex = vm_mutex(vm)
       return if mutex.locked?
-      mutex.synchronize do
-        check_stamp = $redis.hget('vmpooler__vm__' + vm, 'check')
-        return if check_stamp && (((Time.now - Time.parse(check_stamp)) / 60) <= $config[:config]['vm_checktime'])
+      begin
+        mutex.synchronize do
+          stage = 'stamp check'
+          check_stamp = $redis.hget('vmpooler__vm__' + vm, 'check')
+          return if check_stamp && (((Time.now - Time.parse(check_stamp)) / 60) <= $config[:config]['vm_checktime'])
 
-        $redis.hset('vmpooler__vm__' + vm, 'check', Time.now)
-        # Check if the hosts TTL has expired
-        if ttl > 0
-          # host['boottime'] may be nil if host is not powered on
-          if ((Time.now - host['boottime']) / 60).to_s[/^\d+\.\d{1}/].to_f > ttl
-            $redis.smove('vmpooler__ready__' + pool['name'], 'vmpooler__completed__' + pool['name'], vm)
+          $redis.hset('vmpooler__vm__' + vm, 'check', Time.now)
+          # Check if the hosts TTL has expired
+          stage = 'ttl'
+          if ttl > 0
+            # host['boottime'] may be nil if host is not powered on
+            if ((Time.now - host['boottime']) / 60).to_s[/^\d+\.\d{1}/].to_f > ttl
+              $redis.smove('vmpooler__ready__' + pool['name'], 'vmpooler__completed__' + pool['name'], vm)
 
-            $logger.log('d', "[!] [#{pool['name']}] '#{vm}' reached end of TTL after #{ttl} minutes, removed from 'ready' queue")
-            return
+              $logger.log('d', "[!] [#{pool['name']}] '#{vm}' reached end of TTL after #{ttl} minutes, removed from 'ready' queue")
+              return
+            end
           end
+
+          stage = 'hostname mismatch'
+          return if has_mismatched_hostname?(vm, pool, provider)
+
+          stage = 'still ready'
+          vm_still_ready?(pool['name'], vm, provider)
         end
-
-        return if has_mismatched_hostname?(vm, pool, provider)
-
-        vm_still_ready?(pool['name'], vm, provider)
+      rescue => err
+        $logger.log('s', "Failed at stage #{stage} for #{vm}")
+        raise
       end
     end
 
@@ -190,6 +199,7 @@ module Vmpooler
       vm_hash = provider.get_vm(pool['name'], vm)
       hostname = vm_hash['hostname']
 
+      return if hostname.nil?
       return if hostname.empty?
       return if hostname == vm
       $redis.smove('vmpooler__ready__' + pool['name'], 'vmpooler__completed__' + pool['name'], vm)
@@ -865,12 +875,12 @@ module Vmpooler
       end
     end
 
-    def check_ready_pool_vms(pool_name, provider, pool_check_response, inventory, pool_ttl = 0)
+    def check_ready_pool_vms(pool_name, provider, pool_check_response, inventory, pool_ttl)
       $redis.smembers("vmpooler__ready__#{pool_name}").each do |vm|
         if inventory[vm]
           begin
             pool_check_response[:checked_ready_vms] += 1
-            check_ready_vm(vm, pool_name, pool_ttl, provider)
+            check_ready_vm(vm, pool_name, pool_ttl || 0, provider)
           rescue => err
             $logger.log('d', "[!] [#{pool_name}] _check_pool failed with an error while evaluating ready VMs: #{err}")
           end
diff --git a/lib/vmpooler/providers/vsphere.rb b/lib/vmpooler/providers/vsphere.rb
index e139459..fd95ccf 100644
--- a/lib/vmpooler/providers/vsphere.rb
+++ b/lib/vmpooler/providers/vsphere.rb
@@ -428,7 +428,7 @@ module Vmpooler
 
         def vm_ready?(_pool_name, vm_name)
           begin
-            open_socket(vm_name)
+            open_socket(vm_name, global_config[:config]['domain'])
           rescue => _err
             return false
           end
diff --git a/vmpooler.gemspec b/vmpooler.gemspec
index 4df9609..c8b0433 100644
--- a/vmpooler.gemspec
+++ b/vmpooler.gemspec
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.bindir        = 'bin'
   s.executables   = 'vmpooler'
   s.require_paths = ["lib"]
+  s.add_dependency 'pickup', '~> 0.0.11'
   s.add_dependency 'puma', '~> 3.11'
   s.add_dependency 'rack', '~> 2.0'
   s.add_dependency 'rake', '~> 12.3'