diff --git a/scripts/autotest_common.sh b/scripts/autotest_common.sh
index 14eeda642..abe37f787 100755
--- a/scripts/autotest_common.sh
+++ b/scripts/autotest_common.sh
@@ -231,15 +231,15 @@ function start_stub() {
 	$rootdir/test/app/stub/stub $1 &
 	stubpid=$!
 	echo Waiting for stub to ready for secondary processes...
-	while ! [ -e /var/run/.spdk0_config ]; do
-		sleep 0.1s
+	while ! [ -e /var/run/spdk_stub0 ]; do
+		sleep 1s
 	done
 	echo done.
 }
 
 function kill_stub() {
 	kill $stubpid
-	rm -rf /var/run/.spdk0_config
+	rm -rf /var/run/spdk_stub0
 }
 
 function run_test() {
diff --git a/test/app/stub/stub.c b/test/app/stub/stub.c
index 09c124b16..bdae3e140 100644
--- a/test/app/stub/stub.c
+++ b/test/app/stub/stub.c
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@
 #include "spdk/env.h"
 #include "spdk/nvme.h"
 
+static char g_path[256];
+
 static void
 usage(char *executable_name)
 {
@@ -105,6 +107,12 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 		exit(1);
 	}
 
+	snprintf(g_path, sizeof(g_path), "/var/run/spdk_stub%d", opts.shm_id);
+	if (mknod(g_path, S_IFREG, 0) != 0) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "could not create sentinel file %s\n", g_path);
+		exit(1);
+	}
+
 	while (1) {
 		sleep(1);
 	}