diff --git a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/cluster/ClusterController.java b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/cluster/ClusterController.java
index 42fcf75c0e..d6d948e88b 100644
--- a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/cluster/ClusterController.java
+++ b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/cluster/ClusterController.java
@@ -92,6 +92,9 @@ public class ClusterController implements ActiveMQComponent {
 
    @Override
    public void start() throws Exception {
+      if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
+         logger.debug("Starting Cluster Controller " + System.identityHashCode(this) + " for server " + server);
+      }
       if (started)
          return;
       //set the default locator that will be used to connecting to the default cluster.
@@ -129,13 +132,17 @@ public class ClusterController implements ActiveMQComponent {
 
    @Override
    public void stop() throws Exception {
+      if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
+
+         logger.debug("Stopping Cluster Controller " + System.identityHashCode(this) + " for server " + this.server);
+      }
+      started = false;
       //close all the locators
       for (ServerLocatorInternal serverLocatorInternal : locators.values()) {
          serverLocatorInternal.close();
       }
       //stop the quorum manager
       quorumManager.stop();
-      started = false;
    }
 
    @Override
@@ -428,14 +435,20 @@ public class ClusterController implements ActiveMQComponent {
       @Override
       public void run() {
          try {
-            serverLocator.connect();
-            if (serverLocator == replicationLocator) {
-               replicationClusterConnectedLatch.countDown();
+            if (started) {
+               serverLocator.connect();
+               if (serverLocator == replicationLocator) {
+                  replicationClusterConnectedLatch.countDown();
+               }
             }
          } catch (ActiveMQException e) {
             if (!started) {
                return;
             }
+            if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
+
+               logger.debug("retry on Cluster Controller " + System.identityHashCode(ClusterController.this) + " server = " + server);
+            }
             server.getScheduledPool().schedule(this, serverLocator.getRetryInterval(), TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
          }
       }
diff --git a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/impl/ActiveMQServerImpl.java b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/impl/ActiveMQServerImpl.java
index 8e5af5b65e..798d7d9a69 100644
--- a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/impl/ActiveMQServerImpl.java
+++ b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/impl/ActiveMQServerImpl.java
@@ -1059,7 +1059,9 @@ public class ActiveMQServerImpl implements ActiveMQServer {
     */
    void stop(boolean failoverOnServerShutdown, final boolean criticalIOError, boolean restarting, boolean isShutdown) {
 
-      logger.debug("Stopping server");
+      if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
+         logger.debug("Stopping server " + this);
+      }
 
       synchronized (this) {
          if (state == SERVER_STATE.STOPPED || state == SERVER_STATE.STOPPING) {
@@ -3899,7 +3901,9 @@ public class ActiveMQServerImpl implements ActiveMQServer {
       public void run() {
          lockActivation();
          try {
-            runnable.run();
+            if (state != SERVER_STATE.STOPPED && state != SERVER_STATE.STOPPING) {
+               runnable.run();
+            }
          } finally {
             unlockActivation();
          }
diff --git a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/impl/SharedNothingBackupActivation.java b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/impl/SharedNothingBackupActivation.java
index 3c199d2594..36c9c9f8d8 100644
--- a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/impl/SharedNothingBackupActivation.java
+++ b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/impl/SharedNothingBackupActivation.java
@@ -275,8 +275,11 @@ public final class SharedNothingBackupActivation extends Activation {
                         if (logger.isTraceEnabled()) {
                            logger.trace("Calling activeMQServer.stop() and start() to restart the server");
                         }
-                        activeMQServer.stop();
-                        activeMQServer.start();
+                        if (activeMQServer.getState() != ActiveMQServer.SERVER_STATE.STOPPED &&
+                            activeMQServer.getState() != ActiveMQServer.SERVER_STATE.STOPPING) {
+                           activeMQServer.stop();
+                           activeMQServer.start();
+                        }
                      } catch (Exception e) {
                         ActiveMQServerLogger.LOGGER.errorRestartingBackupServer(e, activeMQServer);
                      }
diff --git a/tests/integration-tests/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/tests/integration/cluster/failover/BackupAuthenticationTest.java b/tests/integration-tests/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/tests/integration/cluster/failover/BackupAuthenticationTest.java
index 822defd28a..de0ff593df 100644
--- a/tests/integration-tests/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/tests/integration/cluster/failover/BackupAuthenticationTest.java
+++ b/tests/integration-tests/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/tests/integration/cluster/failover/BackupAuthenticationTest.java
@@ -44,7 +44,8 @@ public class BackupAuthenticationTest extends FailoverTestBase {
    }
 
    @Test
-   public void testPasswordSetting() throws Exception {
+   public void testWrongPasswordSetting() throws Exception {
+      Wait.assertTrue(liveServer.getServer()::isActive);
       waitForServerToStart(liveServer.getServer());
       backupServer.start();
       assertTrue(latch.await(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS));
@@ -54,9 +55,8 @@ public class BackupAuthenticationTest extends FailoverTestBase {
        */
       Wait.waitFor(() -> !backupServer.isStarted());
       assertFalse("backup should have stopped", backupServer.isStarted());
-      backupConfig.setClusterPassword(CLUSTER_PASSWORD);
-      backupServer.start();
-      waitForRemoteBackup(null, 5, true, backupServer.getServer());
+      backupServer.stop();
+      liveServer.stop();
    }
 
    @Override