diff --git a/servers/slapd/sasl.c b/servers/slapd/sasl.c
index fe640ff877..1043345f64 100644
--- a/servers/slapd/sasl.c
+++ b/servers/slapd/sasl.c
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ int sasl_init( void )
 	}
 
 	if( sasl_host == NULL ) {
-		char hostname[MAXHOSTNAMELEN+1];
+		static char hostname[MAXHOSTNAMELEN+1];
 
 		if( gethostname( hostname, MAXHOSTNAMELEN ) == 0 ) {
 			hostname[MAXHOSTNAMELEN] = '\0';