diff --git a/helper/testhelpers/testhelpers.go b/helper/testhelpers/testhelpers.go
index 61d2a219ab8b..3f95f25bac60 100644
--- a/helper/testhelpers/testhelpers.go
+++ b/helper/testhelpers/testhelpers.go
@@ -453,3 +453,18 @@ func WaitForNCoresSealed(t testing.T, cluster *vault.TestCluster, n int) {
 
 	t.Fatalf("%d cores were not sealed", n)
 }
+
+func WaitForActiveNode(t testing.T, cluster *vault.TestCluster) *vault.TestClusterCore {
+	for i := 0; i < 10; i++ {
+		for _, core := range cluster.Cores {
+			if standby, _ := core.Core.Standby(); !standby {
+				return core
+			}
+		}
+
+		time.Sleep(time.Second)
+	}
+
+	t.Fatalf("node did not become active")
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/vault/cluster.go b/vault/cluster.go
index 00445f825586..4ea6a446b39f 100644
--- a/vault/cluster.go
+++ b/vault/cluster.go
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ type ClusterHandler interface {
 	CALookup(context.Context) (*x509.Certificate, error)
 
 	// Handoff is used to pass the connection lifetime off to
-	// the storage backend
+	// the handler
 	Handoff(context.Context, *sync.WaitGroup, chan struct{}, *tls.Conn) error
 	Stop() error
 }
@@ -366,6 +366,7 @@ func (cl *ClusterListener) TLSConfig(ctx context.Context) (*tls.Config, error) {
 			}
 		}
 
+		cl.logger.Warn("no TLS certs found for ALPN", "ALPN", clientHello.SupportedProtos)
 		return nil, errors.New("unsupported protocol")
 	}
 
@@ -381,6 +382,7 @@ func (cl *ClusterListener) TLSConfig(ctx context.Context) (*tls.Config, error) {
 			}
 		}
 
+		cl.logger.Warn("no client information found")
 		return nil, errors.New("no client cert found")
 	}
 
@@ -412,6 +414,7 @@ func (cl *ClusterListener) TLSConfig(ctx context.Context) (*tls.Config, error) {
 			}
 		}
 
+		cl.logger.Warn("no TLS config found for ALPN", "ALPN", clientHello.SupportedProtos)
 		return nil, errors.New("unsupported protocol")
 	}
 
diff --git a/vault/init.go b/vault/init.go
index c4ad07ecf028..b996a1d459c7 100644
--- a/vault/init.go
+++ b/vault/init.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/hex"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"sync/atomic"
 
 	"github.com/hashicorp/errwrap"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/vault/helper/namespace"
@@ -30,7 +31,8 @@ type InitResult struct {
 }
 
 var (
-	initPTFunc = func(c *Core) func() { return nil }
+	initPTFunc     = func(c *Core) func() { return nil }
+	initInProgress uint32
 )
 
 // Initialized checks if the Vault is already initialized
@@ -97,6 +99,8 @@ func (c *Core) generateShares(sc *SealConfig) ([]byte, [][]byte, error) {
 // Initialize is used to initialize the Vault with the given
 // configurations.
 func (c *Core) Initialize(ctx context.Context, initParams *InitParams) (*InitResult, error) {
+	atomic.StoreUint32(&initInProgress, 1)
+	defer atomic.StoreUint32(&initInProgress, 0)
 	barrierConfig := initParams.BarrierConfig
 	recoveryConfig := initParams.RecoveryConfig
 
diff --git a/vault/request_forwarding.go b/vault/request_forwarding.go
index ad8c6d42fccf..da743cf4d035 100644
--- a/vault/request_forwarding.go
+++ b/vault/request_forwarding.go
@@ -189,6 +189,8 @@ func (rf *requestForwardingHandler) Handoff(ctx context.Context, shutdownWg *syn
 
 // Stop stops the request forwarding server and closes connections.
 func (rf *requestForwardingHandler) Stop() error {
+	// Give some time for existing RPCs to drain.
+	time.Sleep(clusterListenerAcceptDeadline)
 	close(rf.stopCh)
 	rf.fwRPCServer.Stop()
 	return nil
diff --git a/vault/request_forwarding_rpc.go b/vault/request_forwarding_rpc.go
index 24adfac663fd..9a27adde90ae 100644
--- a/vault/request_forwarding_rpc.go
+++ b/vault/request_forwarding_rpc.go
@@ -61,7 +61,9 @@ func (s *forwardedRequestRPCServer) ForwardRequest(ctx context.Context, freq *fo
 		}
 	}
 
-	resp.LastRemoteWal = LastRemoteWAL(s.core)
+	// Performance standby nodes will use this value to do wait for WALs to ship
+	// in order to do a best-effort read after write gurantee
+	resp.LastRemoteWal = LastWAL(s.core)
 
 	return resp, nil
 }