diff --git a/merger/src/main/java/com/metamx/druid/merger/common/actions/RemoteTaskActionClient.java b/merger/src/main/java/com/metamx/druid/merger/common/actions/RemoteTaskActionClient.java
index 5cebc6ee1ec..4ee65327451 100644
--- a/merger/src/main/java/com/metamx/druid/merger/common/actions/RemoteTaskActionClient.java
+++ b/merger/src/main/java/com/metamx/druid/merger/common/actions/RemoteTaskActionClient.java
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package com.metamx.druid.merger.common.actions;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.type.TypeReference;
 import com.google.common.base.Charsets;
 import com.google.common.base.Throwables;
+import com.metamx.common.ISE;
 import com.metamx.common.logger.Logger;
 import com.metamx.druid.merger.common.task.Task;
 import com.metamx.http.client.HttpClient;
@@ -63,6 +64,10 @@ public class RemoteTaskActionClient implements TaskActionClient
     final int port;
     final String path = "/mmx/merger/v1/action";
 
+    if (instance == null) {
+      throw new ISE("Cannot find instance of indexer to talk to!");
+    }
+
     host = instance.getAddress();
 
     if (instance.getSslPort() != null && instance.getSslPort() > 0) {
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/com/metamx/druid/master/DruidMaster.java b/server/src/main/java/com/metamx/druid/master/DruidMaster.java
index 74b9d17d57b..dff4d93d10c 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/com/metamx/druid/master/DruidMaster.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/com/metamx/druid/master/DruidMaster.java
@@ -526,6 +526,7 @@ public class DruidMaster
           final Integer binaryVersion = dataSegment.getBinaryVersion();
 
           if (binaryVersion == null || binaryVersion < IndexIO.CURRENT_VERSION_ID) {
+            log.info("Upgrading version on segment[%s]", dataSegment.getIdentifier());
             indexingServiceClient.upgradeSegment(dataSegment);
           }
         }