diff --git a/elasticsearch/x-pack/shield/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/bench/HasherBenchmark.java b/elasticsearch/x-pack/shield/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/bench/HasherBenchmark.java
index 13940993f5f..3400aba7d1f 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/x-pack/shield/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/bench/HasherBenchmark.java
+++ b/elasticsearch/x-pack/shield/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/bench/HasherBenchmark.java
@@ -8,11 +8,13 @@ package org.elasticsearch.bench;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Randomness;
 
 import com.carrotsearch.randomizedtesting.generators.RandomStrings;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.SuppressForbidden;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.metrics.MeanMetric;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.shield.authc.support.Hasher;
 import org.elasticsearch.shield.authc.support.SecuredString;
 
+@SuppressForbidden(reason = "benchmark")
 public class HasherBenchmark {
 
     private static final int WARMING_ITERS = 1000;
@@ -63,6 +65,7 @@ public class HasherBenchmark {
         return metrics;
     }
 
+    @SuppressForbidden(reason = "benchmark")
     private static class Metrics {
 
         final String name;
diff --git a/elasticsearch/x-pack/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/actions/email/service/support/EmailServer.java b/elasticsearch/x-pack/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/actions/email/service/support/EmailServer.java
index 141dfd8f09f..f8379a6ec31 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/x-pack/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/actions/email/service/support/EmailServer.java
+++ b/elasticsearch/x-pack/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/actions/email/service/support/EmailServer.java
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ public class EmailServer {
 
     private final SMTPServer server;
 
-    public EmailServer(String host, int port, final String username, final String password) {
+    public EmailServer(String host, int port, final String username, final String password, final ESLogger logger) {
         server = new SMTPServer(new SimpleMessageListenerAdapter(new SimpleMessageListener() {
             @Override
             public boolean accept(String from, String recipient) {
@@ -58,8 +58,8 @@ public class EmailServer {
                         try {
                             listener.on(msg);
                         } catch (Exception e) {
+                            logger.error("Unexpected failure", e);
                             fail(e.getMessage());
-                            e.printStackTrace();
                         }
                     }
                 } catch (MessagingException me) {
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ public class EmailServer {
             @Override
             public boolean onPortNumber(int port) {
                 try {
-                    EmailServer server = new EmailServer("localhost", port, username, password);
+                    EmailServer server = new EmailServer("localhost", port, username, password, logger);
                     server.start();
                     emailServer.set(server);
                     return true;
diff --git a/elasticsearch/x-pack/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/test/bench/ScheduleEngineTriggerBenchmark.java b/elasticsearch/x-pack/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/test/bench/ScheduleEngineTriggerBenchmark.java
index 669d97d0c7f..45119805a49 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/x-pack/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/test/bench/ScheduleEngineTriggerBenchmark.java
+++ b/elasticsearch/x-pack/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/test/bench/ScheduleEngineTriggerBenchmark.java
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.watcher.test.bench;
 
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Randomness;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.SuppressForbidden;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.metrics.MeanMetric;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.watcher.support.clock.SystemClock;
@@ -33,6 +34,7 @@ import static org.elasticsearch.watcher.trigger.schedule.Schedules.interval;
 /**
  *
  */
+@SuppressForbidden(reason = "benchmark")
 public class ScheduleEngineTriggerBenchmark {
 
     public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
diff --git a/elasticsearch/x-pack/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/test/bench/WatcherScheduleEngineBenchmark.java b/elasticsearch/x-pack/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/test/bench/WatcherScheduleEngineBenchmark.java
index a1c5ac8a0c4..373f27d8c34 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/x-pack/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/test/bench/WatcherScheduleEngineBenchmark.java
+++ b/elasticsearch/x-pack/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/test/bench/WatcherScheduleEngineBenchmark.java
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ import static org.elasticsearch.watcher.trigger.schedule.Schedules.interval;
 
 /**
  */
+@SuppressForbidden(reason = "benchmark")
 public class WatcherScheduleEngineBenchmark {
 
     private final static Settings SETTINGS = Settings.builder()
@@ -64,7 +65,6 @@ public class WatcherScheduleEngineBenchmark {
             .put("http.cors.enabled", true)
             .build();
 
-    @SuppressForbidden(reason = "not really code or a test")
     public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
         System.setProperty("es.logger.prefix", "");
 
@@ -252,6 +252,7 @@ public class WatcherScheduleEngineBenchmark {
         }
     }
 
+    @SuppressForbidden(reason = "benchmark")
     private static class BenchStats {
 
         private final String name;