diff --git a/sql-clients/jdbc-proto/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/jdbc/net/protocol/MetaColumnRequest.java b/sql-clients/jdbc-proto/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/jdbc/net/protocol/MetaColumnRequest.java
index f2d15fe0951..a5ec38278c6 100644
--- a/sql-clients/jdbc-proto/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/jdbc/net/protocol/MetaColumnRequest.java
+++ b/sql-clients/jdbc-proto/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/jdbc/net/protocol/MetaColumnRequest.java
@@ -50,6 +50,6 @@ public class MetaColumnRequest extends Request {
 
     @Override
     public String toString() {
-        return format(Locale.ROOT, "MetaColumn[index=%, table=%s, column=%s", type, column);
+        return "MetaColumn[index=" + index + ", type=" + type + " column=" + column + "]";
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/sql-clients/jdbc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/jdbc/jdbc/JdbcDatabaseMetaData.java b/sql-clients/jdbc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/jdbc/jdbc/JdbcDatabaseMetaData.java
index fdb8c9873be..7d42a546b21 100644
--- a/sql-clients/jdbc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/jdbc/jdbc/JdbcDatabaseMetaData.java
+++ b/sql-clients/jdbc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/jdbc/jdbc/JdbcDatabaseMetaData.java
@@ -826,7 +826,7 @@ class JdbcDatabaseMetaData implements DatabaseMetaData, JdbcWrapper {
             row[ 3] = col.name;
             row[ 4] = col.type;
             row[ 5] = JdbcUtils.nameOf(col.type);
-            row[ 6] = col.position;
+            row[ 6] = col.position; // NOCOMMIT this doesn't seem right
             row[ 7] = null;
             row[ 8] = null;
             row[ 9] = 10;
diff --git a/sql-clients/jdbc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/jdbc/net/client/HttpClient.java b/sql-clients/jdbc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/jdbc/net/client/HttpClient.java
index 53081974c34..79d53e70a64 100644
--- a/sql-clients/jdbc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/jdbc/net/client/HttpClient.java
+++ b/sql-clients/jdbc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/jdbc/net/client/HttpClient.java
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ class HttpClient {
     }
 
     BytesArray put(DataOutputConsumer os) throws SQLException {
-        return put("_jdbc/", os);
+        return put("_jdbc?error_trace=true", os); // NOCOMMIT Do something with the error trace. Useful for filing bugs and debugging.
     }
 
     BytesArray put(String path, DataOutputConsumer os) throws SQLException { // NOCOMMIT remove path?
diff --git a/sql-clients/jdbc/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/jdbc/DatabaseMetaDataIT.java b/sql-clients/jdbc/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/jdbc/DatabaseMetaDataIT.java
index c04c883b6b9..4e8772f044c 100644
--- a/sql-clients/jdbc/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/jdbc/DatabaseMetaDataIT.java
+++ b/sql-clients/jdbc/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/jdbc/DatabaseMetaDataIT.java
@@ -11,8 +11,6 @@ import java.sql.ResultSetMetaData;
 import java.sql.SQLException;
 import java.sql.Types;
 
-import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.is;
-import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.notNullValue;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.startsWith;
 
 /**
@@ -167,13 +165,30 @@ public class DatabaseMetaDataIT extends JdbcIntegrationTestCase {
             assertEquals("test.doc", results.getString(i++));
             assertEquals("name", results.getString(i++));
             assertEquals(Types.VARCHAR, results.getInt(i++));
+            assertEquals("VARCHAR", results.getString(i++));
+            assertEquals(1, results.getInt(i++));
+            assertEquals(null, results.getString(i++));
+            assertEquals(null, results.getString(i++));
+            assertEquals(10, results.getInt(i++)); // NOCOMMIT 10 seems wrong to hard code for stuff like strings
+            // NOCOMMIT I think it'd be more correct to return DatabaseMetaData.columnNullable because all fields are nullable in es
+            assertEquals(DatabaseMetaData.columnNullableUnknown, results.getInt(i++));
             assertEquals(null, results.getString(i++));
             assertEquals(null, results.getString(i++));
             assertEquals(null, results.getString(i++));
             assertEquals(null, results.getString(i++));
             assertEquals(null, results.getString(i++));
+            assertEquals(1, results.getInt(i++));
+            assertEquals("", results.getString(i++));
+            assertEquals(null, results.getString(i++));
+            assertEquals(null, results.getString(i++));
+            assertEquals(null, results.getString(i++));
+            assertEquals(null, results.getString(i++));
+            assertEquals("", results.getString(i++));
+            assertEquals("", results.getString(i++));
             assertFalse(results.next());
         });
+
+        // NOCOMMIT add some more columns and test that.
     }
 
     private static void assertColumn(String name, String type, ResultSetMetaData meta, int index) throws SQLException {
diff --git a/sql-clients/net-client/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/net/client/jre/JreHttpUrlConnection.java b/sql-clients/net-client/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/net/client/jre/JreHttpUrlConnection.java
index 0c82b0c2e40..131972afd03 100644
--- a/sql-clients/net-client/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/net/client/jre/JreHttpUrlConnection.java
+++ b/sql-clients/net-client/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/net/client/jre/JreHttpUrlConnection.java
@@ -71,7 +71,6 @@ public class JreHttpUrlConnection implements Closeable {
                 if (err == null) {
                     response = "server did not return a response";
                 } else {
-                    // NOCOMMIT figure out why this returns weird characters. Can reproduce with unauthorized.
                     response = new String(IOUtils.asBytes(err).bytes(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
                 }
                 throw new ClientException("Protocol/client error; server returned [" + con.getResponseMessage() + "]: " + response);