diff --git a/IPython/parallel/tests/test_view.py b/IPython/parallel/tests/test_view.py
index 3458f73..3858d2c 100644
--- a/IPython/parallel/tests/test_view.py
+++ b/IPython/parallel/tests/test_view.py
@@ -675,4 +675,22 @@ class TestView(ClusterTestCase, ParametricTestCase):
         drank = amr.get(5)
         self.assertEqual(drank, [ r*2 for r in ranks ])
         
+    def test_nested_getitem_setitem(self):
+        """get and set with view['a.b']"""
+        view = self.client[-1]
+        view.execute('\n'.join([
+            'class A(object): pass',
+            'a = A()',
+            'a.b = 128',
+            ]), block=True)
+        ra = pmod.Reference('a')
+
+        r = view.apply_sync(lambda x: x.b, ra)
+        self.assertEqual(r, 128)
+        self.assertEqual(view['a.b'], 128)
+
+        view['a.b'] = 0
 
+        r = view.apply_sync(lambda x: x.b, ra)
+        self.assertEqual(r, 0)
+        self.assertEqual(view['a.b'], 0)
diff --git a/IPython/parallel/util.py b/IPython/parallel/util.py
index 0e02fed..352dc81 100644
--- a/IPython/parallel/util.py
+++ b/IPython/parallel/util.py
@@ -229,21 +229,24 @@ def interactive(f):
 @interactive
 def _push(**ns):
     """helper method for implementing `client.push` via `client.apply`"""
-    globals().update(ns)
+    user_ns = globals()
+    tmp = '_IP_PUSH_TMP_'
+    while tmp in user_ns:
+        tmp = tmp + '_'
+    try:
+        for name, value in ns.iteritems():
+            user_ns[tmp] = value
+            exec "%s = %s" % (name, tmp) in user_ns
+    finally:
+        user_ns.pop(tmp, None)
 
 @interactive
 def _pull(keys):
     """helper method for implementing `client.pull` via `client.apply`"""
-    user_ns = globals()
     if isinstance(keys, (list,tuple, set)):
-        for key in keys:
-            if key not in user_ns:
-                raise NameError("name '%s' is not defined"%key)
-        return map(user_ns.get, keys)
+        return map(lambda key: eval(key, globals()), keys)
     else:
-        if keys not in user_ns:
-            raise NameError("name '%s' is not defined"%keys)
-        return user_ns.get(keys)
+        return eval(keys, globals())
 
 @interactive
 def _execute(code):