diff --git a/nilmdb/__init__.py b/nilmdb/__init__.py
index 7b884c1..332831b 100644
--- a/nilmdb/__init__.py
+++ b/nilmdb/__init__.py
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 """Main NilmDB import"""
 
-from nilmdb.server import NilmDB, Server
-from nilmdb.client import Client
+# These aren't imported automatically, because loading the server
+# stuff isn't always necessary.
+#from nilmdb.server import NilmDB, Server
+#from nilmdb.client import Client
 
 from nilmdb._version import get_versions
 __version__ = get_versions()['version']
diff --git a/nilmdb/client/client.py b/nilmdb/client/client.py
index c939aa6..fc8a62f 100644
--- a/nilmdb/client/client.py
+++ b/nilmdb/client/client.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 
 """Class for performing HTTP client requests via libcurl"""
 
-import nilmdb
 import nilmdb.utils
 import nilmdb.client.httpclient
 from nilmdb.client.errors import ClientError
diff --git a/nilmdb/client/httpclient.py b/nilmdb/client/httpclient.py
index 23d7257..87e9d6b 100644
--- a/nilmdb/client/httpclient.py
+++ b/nilmdb/client/httpclient.py
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 """HTTP client library"""
 
-import nilmdb
 import nilmdb.utils
 from nilmdb.client.errors import ClientError, ServerError, Error
 
diff --git a/nilmdb/cmdline/cmdline.py b/nilmdb/cmdline/cmdline.py
index 5bd54fa..30185a9 100644
--- a/nilmdb/cmdline/cmdline.py
+++ b/nilmdb/cmdline/cmdline.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 """Command line client functionality"""
 
-import nilmdb
+import nilmdb.client
+
 from nilmdb.utils.printf import *
 from nilmdb.utils import datetime_tz
 import nilmdb.utils.time
@@ -84,7 +85,7 @@ class Cmdline(object):
         if "verify" in self.args:
             self.args.verify(self)
 
-        self.client = nilmdb.Client(self.args.url)
+        self.client = nilmdb.client.Client(self.args.url)
 
         # Make a test connection to make sure things work,
         # unless the particular command requests that we don't.
diff --git a/nilmdb/cmdline/create.py b/nilmdb/cmdline/create.py
index fe4001a..9970462 100644
--- a/nilmdb/cmdline/create.py
+++ b/nilmdb/cmdline/create.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 from nilmdb.utils.printf import *
-import nilmdb
 import nilmdb.client
 
 from argparse import RawDescriptionHelpFormatter as raw_form
diff --git a/nilmdb/cmdline/destroy.py b/nilmdb/cmdline/destroy.py
index 8833779..70df00c 100644
--- a/nilmdb/cmdline/destroy.py
+++ b/nilmdb/cmdline/destroy.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 from nilmdb.utils.printf import *
-import nilmdb
 import nilmdb.client
 
 from argparse import ArgumentDefaultsHelpFormatter as def_form
diff --git a/nilmdb/cmdline/info.py b/nilmdb/cmdline/info.py
index 9b4ed54..1927611 100644
--- a/nilmdb/cmdline/info.py
+++ b/nilmdb/cmdline/info.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import nilmdb
+import nilmdb.client
 from nilmdb.utils.printf import *
 from nilmdb.utils import human_size
 
diff --git a/nilmdb/cmdline/insert.py b/nilmdb/cmdline/insert.py
index fd007e2..5798c33 100644
--- a/nilmdb/cmdline/insert.py
+++ b/nilmdb/cmdline/insert.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 from nilmdb.utils.printf import *
-import nilmdb
 import nilmdb.client
 import nilmdb.utils.timestamper as timestamper
 import nilmdb.utils.time
diff --git a/nilmdb/cmdline/remove.py b/nilmdb/cmdline/remove.py
index 6ce73d1..fe18f3b 100644
--- a/nilmdb/cmdline/remove.py
+++ b/nilmdb/cmdline/remove.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 from nilmdb.utils.printf import *
-import nilmdb
 import nilmdb.client
 
 def setup(self, sub):
diff --git a/nilmdb/scripts/nilmdb_server.py b/nilmdb/scripts/nilmdb_server.py
index 94f7acb..381c4bd 100755
--- a/nilmdb/scripts/nilmdb_server.py
+++ b/nilmdb/scripts/nilmdb_server.py
@@ -41,8 +41,8 @@ def main():
 
     # Create database object.  Needs to be serialized before passing
     # to the Server.
-    db = nilmdb.utils.serializer_proxy(nilmdb.NilmDB)(args.database,
-                                                      sync = not args.nosync)
+    db = nilmdb.utils.serializer_proxy(
+        nilmdb.server.NilmDB)(args.database, sync = not args.nosync)
 
     # Configure the server
     if args.quiet:
diff --git a/nilmdb/server/bulkdata.py b/nilmdb/server/bulkdata.py
index aae768d..193b7f0 100644
--- a/nilmdb/server/bulkdata.py
+++ b/nilmdb/server/bulkdata.py
@@ -4,9 +4,9 @@
 # nilmdb.py, but will pull the parent nilmdb module instead.
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 from __future__ import division
-import nilmdb
 from nilmdb.utils.printf import *
 from nilmdb.utils.time import float_time_to_string as ftts
+import nilmdb.utils
 
 import os
 import cPickle as pickle
diff --git a/nilmdb/server/nilmdb.py b/nilmdb/server/nilmdb.py
index db7df73..e849a20 100644
--- a/nilmdb/server/nilmdb.py
+++ b/nilmdb/server/nilmdb.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ Manages both the SQL database and the table storage backend.
 # Need absolute_import so that "import nilmdb" won't pull in
 # nilmdb.py, but will pull the parent nilmdb module instead.
 from __future__ import absolute_import
-import nilmdb
+import nilmdb.utils
 from nilmdb.utils.printf import *
 from nilmdb.server.interval import (Interval, DBInterval,
                                     IntervalSet, IntervalError)
diff --git a/nilmdb/server/pyrocket.py b/nilmdb/server/pyrocket.py
index 88f4849..30d6826 100644
--- a/nilmdb/server/pyrocket.py
+++ b/nilmdb/server/pyrocket.py
@@ -5,11 +5,11 @@
 # This is slow!  Use the C version instead.
 
 from __future__ import absolute_import
-import nilmdb
 import struct
 import cStringIO
 import itertools
 from . import layout as _layout
+import nilmdb.utils
 from nilmdb.utils.time import float_time_to_string as ftts
 
 ERR_UNKNOWN = 0
diff --git a/nilmdb/server/server.py b/nilmdb/server/server.py
index 0843c42..f40aae7 100644
--- a/nilmdb/server/server.py
+++ b/nilmdb/server/server.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # Need absolute_import so that "import nilmdb" won't pull in
 # nilmdb.py, but will pull the nilmdb module instead.
 from __future__ import absolute_import
-import nilmdb
+import nilmdb.server
 from nilmdb.utils.printf import *
 from nilmdb.server.errors import NilmDBError
 
diff --git a/tests/test_client.py b/tests/test_client.py
index faaed91..68f553a 100644
--- a/tests/test_client.py
+++ b/tests/test_client.py
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
-import nilmdb
+import nilmdb.server
+import nilmdb.client
+
 from nilmdb.utils.printf import *
 from nilmdb.utils import timestamper
 from nilmdb.client import ClientError, ServerError
@@ -33,11 +35,12 @@ def setup_module():
     recursive_unlink(testdb)
 
     # Start web app on a custom port
-    test_db = nilmdb.utils.serializer_proxy(nilmdb.NilmDB)(testdb, sync = False)
-    test_server = nilmdb.Server(test_db, host = "127.0.0.1",
-                                port = 32180, stoppable = False,
-                                fast_shutdown = True,
-                                force_traceback = True)
+    test_db = nilmdb.utils.serializer_proxy(
+        nilmdb.server.NilmDB)(testdb, sync = False)
+    test_server = nilmdb.server.Server(test_db, host = "127.0.0.1",
+                                       port = 32180, stoppable = False,
+                                       fast_shutdown = True,
+                                       force_traceback = True)
     test_server.start(blocking = False)
 
 def teardown_module():
@@ -50,24 +53,24 @@ class TestClient(object):
 
     def test_client_01_basic(self):
         # Test a fake host
-        client = nilmdb.Client(url = "http://localhost:1/")
+        client = nilmdb.client.Client(url = "http://localhost:1/")
         with assert_raises(nilmdb.client.ServerError):
             client.version()
         client.close()
 
         # Then a fake URL on a real host
-        client = nilmdb.Client(url = "http://localhost:32180/fake/")
+        client = nilmdb.client.Client(url = "http://localhost:32180/fake/")
         with assert_raises(nilmdb.client.ClientError):
             client.version()
         client.close()
 
         # Now a real URL with no http:// prefix
-        client = nilmdb.Client(url = "localhost:32180")
+        client = nilmdb.client.Client(url = "localhost:32180")
         version = client.version()
         client.close()
 
         # Now use the real URL
-        client = nilmdb.Client(url = testurl)
+        client = nilmdb.client.Client(url = testurl)
         version = client.version()
         eq_(distutils.version.LooseVersion(version),
             distutils.version.LooseVersion(test_server.version))
@@ -79,7 +82,7 @@ class TestClient(object):
 
     def test_client_02_createlist(self):
         # Basic stream tests, like those in test_nilmdb:test_stream
-        client = nilmdb.Client(url = testurl)
+        client = nilmdb.client.Client(url = testurl)
 
         # Database starts empty
         eq_(client.stream_list(), [])
@@ -100,7 +103,7 @@ class TestClient(object):
         for x in range(10):
             with assert_raises(ClientError):
                 client.http.post("/stream/list")
-        client = nilmdb.Client(url = testurl)
+        client = nilmdb.client.Client(url = testurl)
 
         # Create three streams
         client.stream_create("/newton/prep", "float32_8")
@@ -131,7 +134,7 @@ class TestClient(object):
         client.close()
 
     def test_client_03_metadata(self):
-        client = nilmdb.Client(url = testurl)
+        client = nilmdb.client.Client(url = testurl)
 
         # Set / get metadata
         eq_(client.stream_get_metadata("/newton/prep"), {})
@@ -175,7 +178,7 @@ class TestClient(object):
         client.close()
 
     def test_client_04_insert(self):
-        client = nilmdb.Client(url = testurl)
+        client = nilmdb.client.Client(url = testurl)
 
         # Limit _max_data to 1 MB, since our test file is 1.5 MB
         old_max_data = nilmdb.client.client.StreamInserter._max_data
@@ -280,7 +283,7 @@ class TestClient(object):
 
     def test_client_05_extractremove(self):
         # Misc tests for extract and remove.  Most of them are in test_cmdline.
-        client = nilmdb.Client(url = testurl)
+        client = nilmdb.client.Client(url = testurl)
 
         for x in client.stream_extract("/newton/prep", 999123, 999124):
             raise AssertionError("shouldn't be any data for this request")
@@ -296,7 +299,7 @@ class TestClient(object):
     def test_client_06_generators(self):
         # A lot of the client functionality is already tested by test_cmdline,
         # but this gets a bit more coverage that cmdline misses.
-        client = nilmdb.Client(url = testurl)
+        client = nilmdb.client.Client(url = testurl)
 
         # Trigger a client error in generator
         start = datetime_tz.datetime_tz.smartparse("20120323T2000")
@@ -332,7 +335,7 @@ class TestClient(object):
         # Pokes around in client.http internals a bit to look at the
         # response headers.
 
-        client = nilmdb.Client(url = testurl)
+        client = nilmdb.client.Client(url = testurl)
         http = client.http
 
         # Use a warning rather than returning a test failure for the
@@ -371,7 +374,7 @@ class TestClient(object):
         # Try both with and without posting JSON
         for post_json in (False, True):
             # Basic Unicode tests
-            client = nilmdb.Client(url = testurl, post_json = post_json)
+            client = nilmdb.client.Client(url = testurl, post_json = post_json)
 
             # Delete streams that exist
             for stream in client.stream_list():
@@ -420,20 +423,20 @@ class TestClient(object):
                                          "probably not closing properly.")
                 if test == 1:
                     # explicit close
-                    client = nilmdb.Client(url = testurl)
+                    client = nilmdb.client.Client(url = testurl)
                     with assert_raises(ClientError) as e:
                         client.stream_remove("/newton/prep", 123, 120)
                     client.close() # remove this to see the failure
                 elif test == 2:
                     # use the context manager
-                    with nilmdb.Client(url = testurl) as c:
+                    with nilmdb.client.Client(url = testurl) as c:
                         with assert_raises(ClientError) as e:
                             c.stream_remove("/newton/prep", 123, 120)
 
     def test_client_10_context(self):
         # Test using the client's stream insertion context manager to
         # insert data.
-        client = nilmdb.Client(testurl)
+        client = nilmdb.client.Client(testurl)
 
         client.stream_create("/context/test", "uint16_1")
         with client.stream_insert_context("/context/test") as ctx:
@@ -513,7 +516,7 @@ class TestClient(object):
         # Empty intervals are ok!  If recording detection events
         # by inserting rows into the database, we want to be able to
         # have an interval where no events occurred.  Test them here.
-        client = nilmdb.Client(testurl)
+        client = nilmdb.client.Client(testurl)
         client.stream_create("/empty/test", "uint16_1")
 
         def info():
@@ -607,7 +610,7 @@ class TestClient(object):
         # Check that connections are persistent when they should be.
         # This is pretty hard to test; we have to poke deep into
         # the Requests library.
-        with nilmdb.Client(url = testurl) as c:
+        with nilmdb.client.Client(url = testurl) as c:
             def connections():
                 try:
                     poolmanager = c.http._last_response.connection.poolmanager
diff --git a/tests/test_cmdline.py b/tests/test_cmdline.py
index 0793c9f..d7c021c 100644
--- a/tests/test_cmdline.py
+++ b/tests/test_cmdline.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
-import nilmdb
+import nilmdb.server
+
 from nilmdb.utils.printf import *
 import nilmdb.cmdline
 from nilmdb.utils import datetime_tz
@@ -22,14 +23,14 @@ testdb = "tests/cmdline-testdb"
 def server_start(max_results = None, bulkdata_args = {}):
     global test_server, test_db
     # Start web app on a custom port
-    test_db = nilmdb.utils.serializer_proxy(nilmdb.NilmDB)(
+    test_db = nilmdb.utils.serializer_proxy(nilmdb.server.NilmDB)(
         testdb, sync = False,
         max_results = max_results,
         bulkdata_args = bulkdata_args)
-    test_server = nilmdb.Server(test_db, host = "127.0.0.1",
-                                port = 32180, stoppable = False,
-                                fast_shutdown = True,
-                                force_traceback = False)
+    test_server = nilmdb.server.Server(test_db, host = "127.0.0.1",
+                                       port = 32180, stoppable = False,
+                                       fast_shutdown = True,
+                                       force_traceback = False)
     test_server.start(blocking = False)
 
 def server_stop():
diff --git a/tests/test_nilmdb.py b/tests/test_nilmdb.py
index 7750332..6805973 100644
--- a/tests/test_nilmdb.py
+++ b/tests/test_nilmdb.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import nilmdb
+import nilmdb.server
 
 from nose.tools import *
 from nose.tools import assert_raises
@@ -29,11 +29,11 @@ class Test00Nilmdb(object):  # named 00 so it runs first
         recursive_unlink(testdb)
 
         with assert_raises(IOError):
-            nilmdb.NilmDB("/nonexistant-db/foo")
+            nilmdb.server.NilmDB("/nonexistant-db/foo")
 
-        db = nilmdb.NilmDB(testdb)
+        db = nilmdb.server.NilmDB(testdb)
         db.close()
-        db = nilmdb.NilmDB(testdb, sync=False)
+        db = nilmdb.server.NilmDB(testdb, sync=False)
         db.close()
 
         # test timer, just to get coverage
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ class Test00Nilmdb(object):  # named 00 so it runs first
         in_("test: ", capture.getvalue())
 
     def test_stream(self):
-        db = nilmdb.NilmDB(testdb, sync=False)
+        db = nilmdb.server.NilmDB(testdb, sync=False)
         eq_(db.stream_list(), [])
 
         # Bad path
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ class Test00Nilmdb(object):  # named 00 so it runs first
 
 class TestBlockingServer(object):
     def setUp(self):
-        self.db = serializer_proxy(nilmdb.NilmDB)(testdb, sync=False)
+        self.db = serializer_proxy(nilmdb.server.NilmDB)(testdb, sync=False)
 
     def tearDown(self):
         self.db.close()
@@ -113,11 +113,11 @@ class TestBlockingServer(object):
         # Server should fail if the database doesn't have a "_thread_safe"
         # property.
         with assert_raises(KeyError):
-            nilmdb.Server(object())
+            nilmdb.server.Server(object())
 
         # Start web app on a custom port
-        self.server = nilmdb.Server(self.db, host = "127.0.0.1",
-                                    port = 32180, stoppable = True)
+        self.server = nilmdb.server.Server(self.db, host = "127.0.0.1",
+                                           port = 32180, stoppable = True)
 
         # Run it
         event = threading.Event()
@@ -145,9 +145,9 @@ class TestServer(object):
 
     def setUp(self):
         # Start web app on a custom port
-        self.db = serializer_proxy(nilmdb.NilmDB)(testdb, sync=False)
-        self.server = nilmdb.Server(self.db, host = "127.0.0.1",
-                                    port = 32180, stoppable = False)
+        self.db = serializer_proxy(nilmdb.server.NilmDB)(testdb, sync=False)
+        self.server = nilmdb.server.Server(self.db, host = "127.0.0.1",
+                                           port = 32180, stoppable = False)
         self.server.start(blocking = False)
 
     def tearDown(self):