diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterConfiguration.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterConfiguration.groovy
index 94893126a7c..b05929ac4c3 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterConfiguration.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterConfiguration.groovy
@@ -62,6 +62,14 @@ class ClusterConfiguration {
     @Input
     boolean debug = false
 
+    /**
+     * Whether to stop the nodes in the cluster upon task completion. The only reason to
+     * set this to false is if you want the nodes in the cluster to hang around and you
+     * will clean them up later by calling the `taskName#nodeX.stop` task explicitly.
+     */
+    @Input
+    boolean stopNodesOnCompletion = true
+
     @Input
     String jvmArgs = "-Xms" + System.getProperty('tests.heap.size', '512m') +
             " " + "-Xmx" + System.getProperty('tests.heap.size', '512m') +
@@ -95,8 +103,11 @@ class ClusterConfiguration {
     @Input
     Closure waitCondition = { NodeInfo node, AntBuilder ant ->
         File tmpFile = new File(node.cwd, 'wait.success')
-        ant.echo("==> Current time: " + new Date());
-        ant.get(src: "http://${node.httpUri()}/_cluster/health?wait_for_nodes=${numNodes}",
+        ant.echo("==> [${new Date()}] checking health: http://${node.httpUri()}/_cluster/health?wait_for_nodes>=${numNodes}")
+        // checking here for wait_for_nodes to be >= the number of nodes because its possible
+        // this cluster is attempting to connect to nodes created by another task (same cluster name),
+        // so there will be more nodes in that case in the cluster state
+        ant.get(src: "http://${node.httpUri()}/_cluster/health?wait_for_nodes>=${numNodes}",
                 dest: tmpFile.toString(),
                 ignoreerrors: true, // do not fail on error, so logging buffers can be flushed by the wait task
                 retries: 10)
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy
index 208edd63d1d..d89f094acdc 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy
@@ -173,9 +173,9 @@ class ClusterFormationTasks {
 
         Task start = configureStartTask(taskName(task, node, 'start'), project, setup, node)
 
-        if (node.config.daemonize) {
+        Task stop = configureStopTask(taskName(task, node, 'stop'), project, [], node)
+        if (node.config.daemonize && node.config.stopNodesOnCompletion) {
             // if we are running in the background, make sure to stop the server when the task completes
-            Task stop = configureStopTask(taskName(task, node, 'stop'), project, [], node)
             task.finalizedBy(stop)
         }
         return start
diff --git a/qa/rolling-upgrade/build.gradle b/qa/rolling-upgrade/build.gradle
index a5cb25c0038..227d526a2ef 100644
--- a/qa/rolling-upgrade/build.gradle
+++ b/qa/rolling-upgrade/build.gradle
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ task oldClusterTest(type: RestIntegTestTask) {
     //numBwcNodes = 2
     numNodes = 2
     clusterName = 'rolling-upgrade'
+    stopNodesOnCompletion = false
   }
   systemProperty 'tests.rest.suite', 'old_cluster'
   systemProperty 'tests.rest.preserve_indices', 'true'
@@ -45,6 +46,7 @@ task mixedClusterTest(type: RestIntegTestTask) {
     clusterName = 'rolling-upgrade'
     unicastTransportUri = { seedNode, node, ant -> oldClusterTest.nodes.get(0).transportUri() }
     dataDir = "${-> oldClusterTest.nodes[1].dataDir}"
+    stopNodesOnCompletion = false
   }
   systemProperty 'tests.rest.suite', 'mixed_cluster'
   systemProperty 'tests.rest.preserve_indices', 'true'
@@ -61,7 +63,10 @@ task upgradedClusterTest(type: RestIntegTestTask) {
   systemProperty 'tests.rest.suite', 'upgraded_cluster'
 }
 
+// only need to kill the mixed cluster tests node here because we explicitly told it to not stop nodes upon completion
+upgradedClusterTest.finalizedBy 'mixedClusterTest#stop'
+
 task integTest {
-  dependsOn = [oldClusterTest, mixedClusterTest, upgradedClusterTest]
+  dependsOn = [upgradedClusterTest]
 }
 check.dependsOn(integTest)