diff --git a/ci/unit/test_main_node.sh b/ci/unit/test_main_node.sh
index 1ebbfb43e2a..bdda1ea0e3d 100755
--- a/ci/unit/test_main_node.sh
+++ b/ci/unit/test_main_node.sh
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ if grep /mnt/daos\  /proc/mounts; then
 fi
 sudo mkdir -p /mnt/daos
 
-sudo mount -t tmpfs -o size=16G tmpfs /mnt/daos
 sudo mkdir -p "$DAOS_BASE"
 sudo mount -t nfs "$HOSTNAME":"$HOSTPWD" "$DAOS_BASE"
 sudo cp "$DAOS_BASE/install/bin/daos_admin" /usr/bin/daos_admin
@@ -46,8 +45,10 @@ fi
 cd "$DAOS_BASE"
 if ${NLT:-false}; then
     mkdir -p vm_test
+    # NLT will mount /mnt/daos itself.
     ./utils/node_local_test.py --output-file=vm_test/nlt-errors.json all
 else
+    sudo mount -t tmpfs -o size=16G tmpfs /mnt/daos
     IS_CI=true OLD_CI=false RUN_TEST_VALGRIND="$WITH_VALGRIND" utils/run_test.sh
 
     if [ "$WITH_VALGRIND" == 'memcheck' ]; then
diff --git a/src/rdb/rdb_raft.c b/src/rdb/rdb_raft.c
index a8501b0b66d..d19e9092d07 100644
--- a/src/rdb/rdb_raft.c
+++ b/src/rdb/rdb_raft.c
@@ -2558,6 +2558,10 @@ rdb_raft_resign(struct rdb *db, uint64_t term)
 	struct rdb_raft_state	state;
 	int			rc;
 
+	if (db == NULL) {
+		D_ERROR("db cannot be NULL\n");
+		return;
+	}
 	ABT_mutex_lock(db->d_raft_mutex);
 	if (term != raft_get_current_term(db->d_raft) ||
 	    !raft_is_leader(db->d_raft)) {
diff --git a/utils/nlt_server.yaml b/utils/nlt_server.yaml
index 37e6fbc8804..14e56a54da3 100644
--- a/utils/nlt_server.yaml
+++ b/utils/nlt_server.yaml
@@ -23,4 +23,4 @@ servers:
   - FI_SOCKETS_CONN_TIMEOUT=2000
   scm_mount: /mnt/daos
   scm_class: ram
-  scm_size: 4
+  scm_size: 32
diff --git a/utils/node_local_test.py b/utils/node_local_test.py
index 77e654dc0af..82066327694 100755
--- a/utils/node_local_test.py
+++ b/utils/node_local_test.py
@@ -358,8 +358,7 @@ def start(self):
                                                 server_env['PATH'])
 
         cmd = [daos_server, '--config={}'.format(self._yaml_file.name),
-               'start', '-t' '4', '--insecure', '-d', self.agent_dir,
-               '--recreate-superblocks']
+               'start', '-t' '4', '--insecure', '-d', self.agent_dir]
 
         server_env['DAOS_DISABLE_REQ_FWD'] = '1'
         self._sp = subprocess.Popen(cmd, env=server_env)
@@ -382,8 +381,33 @@ def start(self):
         self.conf.agent_dir = self.agent_dir
         self.running = True
 
-        # Use dmg to block until the server is ready to respond to requests.
+        # Configure the storage.  DAOS wants to mount /mnt/daos itself if not
+        # already mounted, so let it do that.
+        # This code supports three modes of operation:
+        # /mnt/daos is not mounted.  It will be mounted and formatted.
+        # /mnt/daos is mounted but empty.  It will be remounted and formatted
+        # /mnt/daos exists and has data in.  It will be used as is.
         start = time.time()
+
+        cmd = ['storage', 'format']
+        while True:
+            time.sleep(0.5)
+            rc = self.run_dmg(cmd)
+            ready = False
+            if rc.returncode == 1:
+                for line in rc.stdout.decode('utf-8').splitlines():
+                    if 'format storage of running instance' in line:
+                        ready = True
+                    if 'format request for already-formatted storage and reformat not specified' in line:
+                        cmd = ['storage', 'format', '--reformat']
+            if ready:
+                break
+            if time.time() - start > 20:
+                raise Exception("Failed to format")
+
+        print('Format completion in {:.2f} seconds'.format(time.time() - start))
+
+        # How wait until the system is up, basically the format to happen.
         while True:
             time.sleep(0.5)
             rc = self.run_dmg(['system', 'query'])
@@ -391,7 +415,7 @@ def start(self):
             if rc.returncode == 0:
                 for line in rc.stdout.decode('utf-8').splitlines():
                     if line.startswith('status'):
-                        if 'Ready' in line or 'Joined' in line:
+                        if 'Joined' in line:
                             ready = True
 
             if ready:
@@ -409,6 +433,28 @@ def stop(self):
 
         if not self._sp:
             return
+        rc = self.run_dmg(['system', 'stop'])
+        assert rc.returncode == 0
+
+        start = time.time()
+        while True:
+            time.sleep(0.5)
+            rc = self.run_dmg(['system', 'query'])
+            ready = False
+            if rc.returncode == 0:
+                for line in rc.stdout.decode('utf-8').splitlines():
+                    if line.startswith('status'):
+                        if 'Stopped' in line:
+                            ready = True
+                        if 'Stopping' in line:
+                            ready = True
+
+            if ready:
+                break
+            if time.time() - start > 20:
+                print('Failed to stop')
+                break
+        print('Server stopped in {:.2f} seconds'.format(time.time() - start))
 
         # daos_server does not correctly shutdown daos_io_server yet
         # so find and kill daos_io_server directly.  This may cause
@@ -458,10 +504,6 @@ def stop(self):
             except ProcessLookupError:
                 pass
 
-        # Workaround for DAOS-5648
-        if ret == 2:
-            ret = 0
-
         # Show errors from server logs bug suppress memory leaks as the server
         # often segfaults at shutdown.
         if os.path.exists(self._log_file):
@@ -477,7 +519,9 @@ def run_dmg(self, cmd):
         exe_cmd.append('--insecure')
         exe_cmd.extend(cmd)
 
-        return subprocess.run(exe_cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
+        return subprocess.run(exe_cmd,
+                              stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+                              stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
 
 def il_cmd(dfuse, cmd, check_read=True, check_write=True):
     """Run a command under the interception library