diff --git a/src/libstore/download.cc b/src/libstore/download.cc
index d8c52b151..8e0d7d42a 100644
--- a/src/libstore/download.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/download.cc
@@ -363,9 +363,10 @@ struct CurlDownloader : public Downloader
                 } else if (httpStatus == 401 || httpStatus == 403 || httpStatus == 407) {
                     // Don't retry on authentication/authorization failures
                     err = Forbidden;
-                } else if (httpStatus >= 400 && httpStatus < 500 && httpStatus != 408) {
+                } else if (httpStatus >= 400 && httpStatus < 500 && httpStatus != 408 && httpStatus != 429) {
                     // Most 4xx errors are client errors and are probably not worth retrying:
                     //   * 408 means the server timed out waiting for us, so we try again
+                    //   * 429 means too many requests, so we retry (with a delay)
                     err = Misc;
                 } else if (httpStatus == 501 || httpStatus == 505 || httpStatus == 511) {
                     // Let's treat most 5xx (server) errors as transient, except for a handful:
diff --git a/src/libstore/ssh-store.cc b/src/libstore/ssh-store.cc
index 42ee06501..af99ad40a 100644
--- a/src/libstore/ssh-store.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/ssh-store.cc
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ public:
 
     const Setting<Path> sshKey{(Store*) this, "", "ssh-key", "path to an SSH private key"};
     const Setting<bool> compress{(Store*) this, false, "compress", "whether to compress the connection"};
+    const Setting<Path> remoteProgram{this, "nix-daemon", "remote-program", "path to the nix-daemon executable on the remote system"};
+    const Setting<std::string> remoteStore{this, "", "remote-store", "URI of the store on the remote system"};
 
     SSHStore(const std::string & host, const Params & params)
         : Store(params)
@@ -82,7 +84,9 @@ ref<FSAccessor> SSHStore::getFSAccessor()
 ref<RemoteStore::Connection> SSHStore::openConnection()
 {
     auto conn = make_ref<Connection>();
-    conn->sshConn = master.startCommand("nix-daemon --stdio");
+    conn->sshConn = master.startCommand(
+        fmt("%s --stdio", remoteProgram)
+        + (remoteStore.get() == "" ? "" : " --store " + shellEscape(remoteStore.get())));
     conn->to = FdSink(conn->sshConn->in.get());
     conn->from = FdSource(conn->sshConn->out.get());
     initConnection(*conn);