diff --git a/collector/f2b/collector.go b/collector/f2b/collector.go
index aeccfa1..4ec1936 100644
--- a/collector/f2b/collector.go
+++ b/collector/f2b/collector.go
@@ -20,17 +20,7 @@ type Collector struct {
 
 func NewExporter(appSettings *cfg.AppSettings, exporterVersion string) *Collector {
 	log.Printf("reading fail2ban metrics socket file: %s", appSettings.Fail2BanSocketPath)
-	s, err := socket.ConnectToSocket(appSettings.Fail2BanSocketPath)
-	if err != nil {
-		log.Printf("error connecting to socket: %v", err)
-	} else {
-		version, err := s.GetServerVersion()
-		if err != nil {
-			log.Printf("error interacting with socket: %v", err)
-		} else {
-			log.Printf("successfully connected to fail2ban socket! fail2ban version: %s", version)
-		}
-	}
+	printFail2BanServerVersion(appSettings.Fail2BanSocketPath)
 	return &Collector{
 		socketPath:                 appSettings.Fail2BanSocketPath,
 		exporterVersion:            exporterVersion,
@@ -70,3 +60,17 @@ func (c *Collector) Collect(ch chan<- prometheus.Metric) {
 	}
 	c.collectErrorCountMetric(ch)
 }
+
+func printFail2BanServerVersion(socketPath string) {
+	s, err := socket.ConnectToSocket(socketPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Printf("error connecting to socket: %v", err)
+	} else {
+		version, err := s.GetServerVersion()
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Printf("error interacting with socket: %v", err)
+		} else {
+			log.Printf("successfully connected to fail2ban socket! fail2ban version: %s", version)
+		}
+	}
+}