diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index 621e48d2..669d6638 100755
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -244,6 +244,7 @@ install_data pdist/pdistd.socket                          "$DESTDIR$systemdunitd
 install_data pdist/pdistd@.service                        "$DESTDIR$systemdunitdir/pdistd@.service"
 install_exec pdist/pdist-bootcheck                        "$DESTDIR$usr_exec_prefix/libexec/pdist-bootcheck"
 install_data pdist/pdist-bootcheck.service                "$DESTDIR$systemdunitdir/pdist-bootcheck.service"
+install_exec wakeonlan/wake                               "$DESTDIR$usr_bindir/wake"
 
 postinstall
 exit
diff --git a/wakeonlan/wake b/wakeonlan/wake
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..ef610824
--- /dev/null
+++ b/wakeonlan/wake
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#! /bin/bash
+
+die() { echo "$*" >&2; exit 1; }
+usage() { die "usage: $0 hostname"; }
+(( $# == 1 )) || usage
+read -r ha rest <<< "$(getent ethers $1)"
+[ "$ha" ] || die "$1: hardware address unknown. Please write to helpdesk@molgen.mpg.de."
+/usr/sbin/wakeonlan $ha
+echo "If your machine doesn't come online in a minute, please write to helpdesk@molgen.mpg.de."