diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/netty/OpenChannelsHandler.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/netty/OpenChannelsHandler.java
index a38232597ed..65385e64172 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/netty/OpenChannelsHandler.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/netty/OpenChannelsHandler.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.common.netty;
 
+import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.ESLogger;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.metrics.CounterMetric;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.netty.channel.Channel;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.netty.channel.ChannelEvent;
@@ -39,25 +40,40 @@ import java.util.Set;
 @ChannelHandler.Sharable
 public class OpenChannelsHandler implements ChannelUpstreamHandler {
 
-    private Set<Channel> openChannels = ConcurrentCollections.newConcurrentSet();
-    private CounterMetric openChannelsMetric = new CounterMetric();
+    final Set<Channel> openChannels = ConcurrentCollections.newConcurrentSet();
+    final CounterMetric openChannelsMetric = new CounterMetric();
+    final CounterMetric totalChannelsMetric = new CounterMetric();
 
-    private final ChannelFutureListener remover = new ChannelFutureListener() {
+    final ESLogger logger;
+
+    public OpenChannelsHandler(ESLogger logger) {
+        this.logger = logger;
+    }
+
+    final ChannelFutureListener remover = new ChannelFutureListener() {
         public void operationComplete(ChannelFuture future) throws Exception {
             boolean removed = openChannels.remove(future.getChannel());
             if (removed) {
                 openChannelsMetric.dec();
             }
+            if (logger.isTraceEnabled()) {
+                logger.trace("channel closed: {}", future.getChannel());
+            }
         }
     };
 
     @Override public void handleUpstream(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, ChannelEvent e) throws Exception {
         if (e instanceof ChannelStateEvent) {
             ChannelStateEvent evt = (ChannelStateEvent) e;
-            if (evt.getState() == ChannelState.OPEN) {
+            // OPEN is also sent to when closing channel, but with FALSE on it to indicate it closes
+            if (evt.getState() == ChannelState.OPEN && Boolean.TRUE.equals(evt.getValue())) {
+                if (logger.isTraceEnabled()) {
+                    logger.trace("channel opened: {}", ctx.getChannel());
+                }
                 boolean added = openChannels.add(ctx.getChannel());
                 if (added) {
                     openChannelsMetric.inc();
+                    totalChannelsMetric.inc();
                     ctx.getChannel().getCloseFuture().addListener(remover);
                 }
             }
@@ -69,6 +85,10 @@ public class OpenChannelsHandler implements ChannelUpstreamHandler {
         return openChannelsMetric.count();
     }
 
+    public long totalChannels() {
+        return totalChannelsMetric.count();
+    }
+
     public void close() {
         for (Channel channel : openChannels) {
             channel.close().awaitUninterruptibly();
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/http/HttpStats.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/http/HttpStats.java
index a22dc5b6325..cf41e76ea79 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/http/HttpStats.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/http/HttpStats.java
@@ -30,13 +30,15 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 public class HttpStats implements Streamable, ToXContent {
 
     private long serverOpen;
+    private long totalOpen;
 
     HttpStats() {
 
     }
 
-    public HttpStats(long serverOpen) {
+    public HttpStats(long serverOpen, long totalOpen) {
         this.serverOpen = serverOpen;
+        this.totalOpen = totalOpen;
     }
 
     public long serverOpen() {
@@ -47,6 +49,14 @@ public class HttpStats implements Streamable, ToXContent {
         return serverOpen();
     }
 
+    public long totalOpen() {
+        return this.totalOpen;
+    }
+
+    public long getTotalOpen() {
+        return this.totalOpen;
+    }
+
     public static HttpStats readHttpStats(StreamInput in) throws IOException {
         HttpStats stats = new HttpStats();
         stats.readFrom(in);
@@ -55,15 +65,18 @@ public class HttpStats implements Streamable, ToXContent {
 
     @Override public void readFrom(StreamInput in) throws IOException {
         serverOpen = in.readVLong();
+        totalOpen = in.readVLong();
     }
 
     @Override public void writeTo(StreamOutput out) throws IOException {
         out.writeVLong(serverOpen);
+        out.writeVLong(totalOpen);
     }
 
     @Override public XContentBuilder toXContent(XContentBuilder builder, Params params) throws IOException {
         builder.startObject("http");
-        builder.field("server_open", serverOpen);
+        builder.field("current_open", serverOpen);
+        builder.field("total_opened", totalOpen);
         builder.endObject();
         return builder;
     }
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/http/netty/NettyHttpServerTransport.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/http/netty/NettyHttpServerTransport.java
index 5888596052c..ce627d5472e 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/http/netty/NettyHttpServerTransport.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/http/netty/NettyHttpServerTransport.java
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ public class NettyHttpServerTransport extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<HttpSer
     }
 
     @Override protected void doStart() throws ElasticSearchException {
-        this.serverOpenChannels = new OpenChannelsHandler();
+        this.serverOpenChannels = new OpenChannelsHandler(logger);
 
         if (blockingServer) {
             serverBootstrap = new ServerBootstrap(new OioServerSocketChannelFactory(
@@ -258,7 +258,7 @@ public class NettyHttpServerTransport extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<HttpSer
 
     @Override public HttpStats stats() {
         OpenChannelsHandler channels = serverOpenChannels;
-        return new HttpStats(channels == null ? 0 : channels.numberOfOpenChannels());
+        return new HttpStats(channels == null ? 0 : channels.numberOfOpenChannels(), channels == null ? 0 : channels.totalChannels());
     }
 
     void dispatchRequest(HttpRequest request, HttpChannel channel) {
@@ -277,8 +277,11 @@ public class NettyHttpServerTransport extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<HttpSer
                 return;
             }
             if (!NetworkExceptionHelper.isCloseConnectionException(e.getCause())) {
-                logger.warn("Caught exception while handling client http traffic, closing connection", e.getCause());
-                ctx.getChannel().disconnect();
+                logger.warn("Caught exception while handling client http traffic, closing connection {}", e.getCause(), ctx.getChannel());
+                ctx.getChannel().close();
+            } else {
+                logger.debug("Caught exception while handling client http traffic, closing connection {}", e.getCause(), ctx.getChannel());
+                ctx.getChannel().close();
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/netty/NettyTransport.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/netty/NettyTransport.java
index 339070475e9..4d1ed86b64b 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/netty/NettyTransport.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/netty/NettyTransport.java
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ public class NettyTransport extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<Transport> implem
             return;
         }
 
-        serverOpenChannels = new OpenChannelsHandler();
+        serverOpenChannels = new OpenChannelsHandler(logger);
         if (blockingServer) {
             serverBootstrap = new ServerBootstrap(new OioServerSocketChannelFactory(
                     Executors.newCachedThreadPool(daemonThreadFactory(settings, "transport_server_boss")),
diff --git a/plugins/transport/memcached/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/memcached/netty/NettyMemcachedServerTransport.java b/plugins/transport/memcached/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/memcached/netty/NettyMemcachedServerTransport.java
index 8c58d510121..54573670734 100644
--- a/plugins/transport/memcached/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/memcached/netty/NettyMemcachedServerTransport.java
+++ b/plugins/transport/memcached/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/memcached/netty/NettyMemcachedServerTransport.java
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ public class NettyMemcachedServerTransport extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<Me
     }
 
     @Override protected void doStart() throws ElasticSearchException {
-        this.serverOpenChannels = new OpenChannelsHandler();
+        this.serverOpenChannels = new OpenChannelsHandler(logger);
 
         if (blockingServer) {
             serverBootstrap = new ServerBootstrap(new OioServerSocketChannelFactory(