diff --git a/p2p/discover/database.go b/p2p/discover/database.go
index ece0618ff..c6f70972e 100644
--- a/p2p/discover/database.go
+++ b/p2p/discover/database.go
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@ import (
 	"github.com/syndtr/goleveldb/leveldb/storage"
 )
 
+// Special node ID to use as a nil element.
+var nodeDBNilNodeID = NodeID{}
+
 // nodeDB stores all nodes we know about.
 type nodeDB struct {
 	lvl *leveldb.DB
@@ -27,7 +30,7 @@ var (
 
 	nodeDBDiscoverRoot = ":discover"
 	nodeDBDiscoverPing = nodeDBDiscoverRoot + ":lastping"
-	nodeDBDiscoverBond = nodeDBDiscoverRoot + ":lastbond"
+	nodeDBDiscoverPong = nodeDBDiscoverRoot + ":lastpong"
 )
 
 // newNodeDB creates a new node database for storing and retrieving infos about
@@ -91,6 +94,9 @@ func newPersistentNodeDB(path string) (*nodeDB, error) {
 // makeKey generates the leveldb key-blob from a node id and its particular
 // field of interest.
 func makeKey(id NodeID, field string) []byte {
+	if bytes.Equal(id[:], nodeDBNilNodeID[:]) {
+		return []byte(field)
+	}
 	return append(nodeDBItemPrefix, append(id[:], field...)...)
 }
 
@@ -176,14 +182,14 @@ func (db *nodeDB) updateLastPing(id NodeID, instance time.Time) error {
 	return db.storeInt64(makeKey(id, nodeDBDiscoverPing), instance.Unix())
 }
 
-// lastBond retrieves the time of the last successful bonding with a remote node.
-func (db *nodeDB) lastBond(id NodeID) time.Time {
-	return time.Unix(db.fetchInt64(makeKey(id, nodeDBDiscoverBond)), 0)
+// lastPong retrieves the time of the last successful contact from remote node.
+func (db *nodeDB) lastPong(id NodeID) time.Time {
+	return time.Unix(db.fetchInt64(makeKey(id, nodeDBDiscoverPong)), 0)
 }
 
-// updateLastBond updates the last time we successfully bound to a remote node.
-func (db *nodeDB) updateLastBond(id NodeID, instance time.Time) error {
-	return db.storeInt64(makeKey(id, nodeDBDiscoverBond), instance.Unix())
+// updateLastPong updates the last time a remote node successfully contacted.
+func (db *nodeDB) updateLastPong(id NodeID, instance time.Time) error {
+	return db.storeInt64(makeKey(id, nodeDBDiscoverPong), instance.Unix())
 }
 
 // querySeeds retrieves a batch of nodes to be used as potential seed servers
diff --git a/p2p/discover/database_test.go b/p2p/discover/database_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..580b13d41
--- /dev/null
+++ b/p2p/discover/database_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,136 @@
+package discover
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"net"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+)
+
+var nodeDBKeyTests = []struct {
+	id    NodeID
+	field string
+	key   []byte
+}{
+	{
+		id:    NodeID{},
+		field: "version",
+		key:   []byte{0x76, 0x65, 0x72, 0x73, 0x69, 0x6f, 0x6e}, // field
+	},
+	{
+		id:    MustHexID("0x1dd9d65c4552b5eb43d5ad55a2ee3f56c6cbc1c64a5c8d659f51fcd51bace24351232b8d7821617d2b29b54b81cdefb9b3e9c37d7fd5f63270bcc9e1a6f6a439"),
+		field: ":discover",
+		key: []byte{0x6e, 0x3a, // prefix
+			0x1d, 0xd9, 0xd6, 0x5c, 0x45, 0x52, 0xb5, 0xeb, // node id
+			0x43, 0xd5, 0xad, 0x55, 0xa2, 0xee, 0x3f, 0x56, //
+			0xc6, 0xcb, 0xc1, 0xc6, 0x4a, 0x5c, 0x8d, 0x65, //
+			0x9f, 0x51, 0xfc, 0xd5, 0x1b, 0xac, 0xe2, 0x43, //
+			0x51, 0x23, 0x2b, 0x8d, 0x78, 0x21, 0x61, 0x7d, //
+			0x2b, 0x29, 0xb5, 0x4b, 0x81, 0xcd, 0xef, 0xb9, //
+			0xb3, 0xe9, 0xc3, 0x7d, 0x7f, 0xd5, 0xf6, 0x32, //
+			0x70, 0xbc, 0xc9, 0xe1, 0xa6, 0xf6, 0xa4, 0x39, //
+			0x3a, 0x64, 0x69, 0x73, 0x63, 0x6f, 0x76, 0x65, 0x72, // field
+		},
+	},
+}
+
+func TestNodeDBKeys(t *testing.T) {
+	for i, tt := range nodeDBKeyTests {
+		if key := makeKey(tt.id, tt.field); !bytes.Equal(key, tt.key) {
+			t.Errorf("make test %d: key mismatch: have 0x%x, want 0x%x", i, key, tt.key)
+		}
+		id, field := splitKey(tt.key)
+		if !bytes.Equal(id[:], tt.id[:]) {
+			t.Errorf("split test %d: id mismatch: have 0x%x, want 0x%x", i, id, tt.id)
+		}
+		if field != tt.field {
+			t.Errorf("split test %d: field mismatch: have 0x%x, want 0x%x", i, field, tt.field)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+var nodeDBInt64Tests = []struct {
+	key   []byte
+	value int64
+}{
+	{key: []byte{0x01}, value: 1},
+	{key: []byte{0x02}, value: 2},
+	{key: []byte{0x03}, value: 3},
+}
+
+func TestNodeDBInt64(t *testing.T) {
+	db, _ := newNodeDB("")
+
+	tests := nodeDBInt64Tests
+	for i := 0; i < len(tests); i++ {
+		// Insert the next value
+		if err := db.storeInt64(tests[i].key, tests[i].value); err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("test %d: failed to store value: %v", i, err)
+		}
+		// Check all existing and non existing values
+		for j := 0; j < len(tests); j++ {
+			num := db.fetchInt64(tests[j].key)
+			switch {
+			case j <= i && num != tests[j].value:
+				t.Errorf("test %d, item %d: value mismatch: have %v, want %v", i, j, num, tests[j].value)
+			case j > i && num != 0:
+				t.Errorf("test %d, item %d: value mismatch: have %v, want %v", i, j, num, 0)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestNodeDBFetchStore(t *testing.T) {
+	node := &Node{
+		ID:       MustHexID("0x1dd9d65c4552b5eb43d5ad55a2ee3f56c6cbc1c64a5c8d659f51fcd51bace24351232b8d7821617d2b29b54b81cdefb9b3e9c37d7fd5f63270bcc9e1a6f6a439"),
+		IP:       net.IP([]byte{192, 168, 0, 1}),
+		DiscPort: 31313,
+		TCPPort:  30303,
+	}
+	inst := time.Now()
+	db, _ := newNodeDB("")
+
+	// Check fetch/store operations on the startup object
+	if stored := db.startup(); stored.Unix() != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("startup: non-existing object: %v", stored)
+	}
+	if err := db.updateStartup(inst); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("startup: failed to update: %v", err)
+	}
+	if stored := db.startup(); stored.Unix() != inst.Unix() {
+		t.Errorf("startup: value mismatch: have %v, want %v", stored, inst)
+	}
+	// Check fetch/store operations on a node ping object
+	if stored := db.lastPing(node.ID); stored.Unix() != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("ping: non-existing object: %v", stored)
+	}
+	if err := db.updateLastPing(node.ID, inst); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("ping: failed to update: %v", err)
+	}
+	if stored := db.lastPing(node.ID); stored.Unix() != inst.Unix() {
+		t.Errorf("ping: value mismatch: have %v, want %v", stored, inst)
+	}
+	// Check fetch/store operations on a node pong object
+	if stored := db.lastPong(node.ID); stored.Unix() != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("pong: non-existing object: %v", stored)
+	}
+	if err := db.updateLastPong(node.ID, inst); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("pong: failed to update: %v", err)
+	}
+	if stored := db.lastPong(node.ID); stored.Unix() != inst.Unix() {
+		t.Errorf("pong: value mismatch: have %v, want %v", stored, inst)
+	}
+	// Check fetch/store operations on an actual node object
+	if stored := db.node(node.ID); stored != nil {
+		t.Errorf("node: non-existing object: %v", stored)
+	}
+	if err := db.updateNode(node); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("node: failed to update: %v", err)
+	}
+	if stored := db.node(node.ID); stored == nil {
+		t.Errorf("node: not found")
+	} else if !bytes.Equal(stored.ID[:], node.ID[:]) || !bytes.Equal(stored.IP, node.IP) ||
+		stored.DiscPort != node.DiscPort || stored.TCPPort != node.TCPPort {
+		t.Errorf("node: data mismatch: have %v, want %v", stored, node)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/p2p/discover/table.go b/p2p/discover/table.go
index e21d9f2f4..4058c7bb7 100644
--- a/p2p/discover/table.go
+++ b/p2p/discover/table.go
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ func (tab *Table) pingpong(w *bondproc, pinged bool, id NodeID, addr *net.UDPAdd
 		TCPPort:  int(tcpPort),
 	}
 	tab.db.updateNode(w.n)
-	tab.db.updateLastBond(id, time.Now())
+	tab.db.updateLastPong(id, time.Now())
 	close(w.done)
 }