diff --git a/include/ReplicaThread.h b/include/ReplicaThread.h
index bb87e00c7c..2f3701a6eb 100644
--- a/include/ReplicaThread.h
+++ b/include/ReplicaThread.h
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ class ReplicaThread
 {
 public:
     ReplicaThread(int _follower_id):follower_id(_follower_id), _finalize(false),
-        _pending_requests(false), retry_timeout(2)
+        _pending_requests(false), retry_timeout(1e8)
     {
         pthread_mutex_init(&mutex, 0);
 
diff --git a/src/raft/FedReplicaManager.cc b/src/raft/FedReplicaManager.cc
index 1bef300c29..914ee0f37f 100644
--- a/src/raft/FedReplicaManager.cc
+++ b/src/raft/FedReplicaManager.cc
@@ -509,6 +509,12 @@ int FedReplicaManager::xmlrpc_replicate_log(int zone_id, bool& success,
         return -1;
     }
 
+    if ( zservers.size() == 0 )
+    {
+        error = "No servers defined in the zone";
+        return -1;
+    }
+
     // -------------------------------------------------------------------------
     // Get parameters to call append entries on follower
     // -------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/src/raft/ReplicaThread.cc b/src/raft/ReplicaThread.cc
index c7c7cc51ba..bafeda238b 100644
--- a/src/raft/ReplicaThread.cc
+++ b/src/raft/ReplicaThread.cc
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 // -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-const time_t ReplicaThread::max_retry_timeout = 300;
+const time_t ReplicaThread::max_retry_timeout = 2.5e9;
 
 // -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -79,8 +79,8 @@ void ReplicaThread::do_replication()
         {
             struct timespec timeout;
 
-            timeout.tv_sec  = time(NULL) + retry_timeout;
-            timeout.tv_nsec = 0;
+            timeout.tv_sec  = time(NULL);
+            timeout.tv_nsec = retry_timeout;
 
             if ( pthread_cond_timedwait(&cond, &mutex, &timeout) == ETIMEDOUT )
             {
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ void ReplicaThread::do_replication()
         }
         else
         {
-            retry_timeout = 2;
+            retry_timeout = 1e8;
             retry_request = false;
         }
     }