diff --git a/lib/bdev.py b/lib/bdev.py
index 8910f8006856f1c32a1945b0038252455304d345..2d16666bb606bc2dbea44dca4043dfdb82d4f606 100644
--- a/lib/bdev.py
+++ b/lib/bdev.py
@@ -1253,7 +1253,8 @@ class DRBD8(BaseDRBD):
         res_r = self._AssembleNet(minor,
                                   (self._lhost, self._lport,
                                    self._rhost, self._rport),
-                                  "C", hmac=constants.DRBD_HMAC_ALG,
+                                  constants.DRBD_NET_PROTOCOL,
+                                  hmac=constants.DRBD_HMAC_ALG,
                                   secret=self._secret
                                   )
         if res_r:
@@ -1283,7 +1284,8 @@ class DRBD8(BaseDRBD):
         # local storage (i.e. one or more of the _[lr](host|port) is
         # None)
         if (self._AssembleNet(minor, (self._lhost, self._lport,
-                                      self._rhost, self._rport), "C",
+                                      self._rhost, self._rport),
+                              constants.DRBD_NET_PROTOCOL,
                               hmac=constants.DRBD_HMAC_ALG,
                               secret=self._secret) and
             self._MatchesNet(self._GetDevInfo(self._GetShowData(minor)))):
@@ -1337,7 +1339,8 @@ class DRBD8(BaseDRBD):
       result = self._AssembleNet(minor,
                                  (self._lhost, self._lport,
                                   self._rhost, self._rport),
-                                 "C", hmac=constants.DRBD_HMAC_ALG,
+                                 constants.DRBD_NET_PROTOCOL,
+                                 hmac=constants.DRBD_HMAC_ALG,
                                  secret=self._secret)
       if not result:
         if need_localdev_teardown:
diff --git a/lib/constants.py b/lib/constants.py
index f830f1437be90d3fdef5182aa7dc57f73af1a14d..c5bf7d6bbf01b7f1bda94e2bca55c56f49fbac75 100644
--- a/lib/constants.py
+++ b/lib/constants.py
@@ -178,6 +178,7 @@ LD_FILE = "file"
 
 # drbd constants
 DRBD_HMAC_ALG = "md5"
+DRBD_NET_PROTOCOL = "C"
 
 # file backend driver
 FD_LOOP = "loop"