diff --git a/hyracks/hyracks-storage-am-lsm-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/storage/am/lsm/common/impls/AbstractDiskLSMComponent.java b/hyracks/hyracks-storage-am-lsm-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/storage/am/lsm/common/impls/AbstractDiskLSMComponent.java
index 6307012..e814540 100644
--- a/hyracks/hyracks-storage-am-lsm-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/storage/am/lsm/common/impls/AbstractDiskLSMComponent.java
+++ b/hyracks/hyracks-storage-am-lsm-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/storage/am/lsm/common/impls/AbstractDiskLSMComponent.java
@@ -25,9 +25,7 @@
 
     @Override
     public boolean threadEnter(LSMOperationType opType, boolean isMutableComponent) {
-        if (state == ComponentState.INACTIVE) {
-            return false;
-        }
+        assert state != ComponentState.INACTIVE;
 
         switch (opType) {
             case FORCE_MODIFICATION:
@@ -37,6 +35,9 @@
                 break;
             case MERGE:
                 if (state == ComponentState.READABLE_MERGING) {
+                    // This should never happen unless there are two concurrent merges that were scheduled 
+                    // concurrently and they have interleaving components to be merged. 
+                    // This should be handled properly by the merge policy, but we guard against that here anyway.
                     return false;
                 }
                 state = ComponentState.READABLE_MERGING;
diff --git a/hyracks/hyracks-storage-am-lsm-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/storage/am/lsm/common/impls/AbstractMemoryLSMComponent.java b/hyracks/hyracks-storage-am-lsm-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/storage/am/lsm/common/impls/AbstractMemoryLSMComponent.java
index 33ad39b..7b96de0 100644
--- a/hyracks/hyracks-storage-am-lsm-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/storage/am/lsm/common/impls/AbstractMemoryLSMComponent.java
+++ b/hyracks/hyracks-storage-am-lsm-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/storage/am/lsm/common/impls/AbstractMemoryLSMComponent.java
@@ -86,6 +86,9 @@
                 }
                 break;
             case FLUSH:
+                // There should not be two flush requests of the same component at the same time.
+                assert state != ComponentState.READABLE_UNWRITABLE_FLUSHING
+                        && state != ComponentState.UNREADABLE_UNWRITABLE;
                 if (state == ComponentState.READABLE_WRITABLE || state == ComponentState.READABLE_UNWRITABLE) {
                     assert writerCount == 0;
                     state = ComponentState.READABLE_UNWRITABLE_FLUSHING;
diff --git a/hyracks/hyracks-storage-am-lsm-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/storage/am/lsm/common/impls/LSMHarness.java b/hyracks/hyracks-storage-am-lsm-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/storage/am/lsm/common/impls/LSMHarness.java
index b2ac681..1cc5143 100644
--- a/hyracks/hyracks-storage-am-lsm-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/storage/am/lsm/common/impls/LSMHarness.java
+++ b/hyracks/hyracks-storage-am-lsm-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/storage/am/lsm/common/impls/LSMHarness.java
@@ -50,18 +50,22 @@
 
     private boolean getAndEnterComponents(ILSMIndexOperationContext ctx, LSMOperationType opType, boolean tryOperation)
             throws HyracksDataException {
-        boolean entranceSuccessful = false;
-
-        while (!entranceSuccessful) {
-            synchronized (opTracker) {
+        synchronized (opTracker) {
+            while (true) {
                 lsmIndex.getOperationalComponents(ctx);
-                entranceSuccessful = enterComponents(ctx, opType);
-                if (tryOperation && !entranceSuccessful) {
+                boolean entranceSuccessful = enterComponents(ctx, opType);
+                if (entranceSuccessful) {
+                    return true;
+                } else if (tryOperation && !entranceSuccessful) {
                     return false;
                 }
+                try {
+                    opTracker.wait();
+                } catch (InterruptedException e) {
+                    throw new HyracksDataException(e);
+                }
             }
         }
-        return true;
     }
 
     private boolean enterComponents(ILSMIndexOperationContext ctx, LSMOperationType opType) throws HyracksDataException {
@@ -92,19 +96,18 @@
                 return false;
             }
         }
-        opTracker.beforeOperation(lsmIndex, opType, ctx.getSearchOperationCallback(), ctx.getModificationCallback());
-
         // Check if there is any action that is needed to be taken based on the operation type
         switch (opType) {
             case FLUSH:
                 // Changing the flush status should *always* precede changing the mutable component.
                 lsmIndex.changeFlushStatusForCurrentMutableCompoent(false);
                 lsmIndex.changeMutableComponent();
+                opTracker.notifyAll();
                 break;
             default:
                 break;
         }
-
+        opTracker.beforeOperation(lsmIndex, opType, ctx.getSearchOperationCallback(), ctx.getModificationCallback());
         return true;
     }
 
@@ -117,7 +120,6 @@
                 for (ILSMComponent c : ctx.getComponentHolder()) {
                     boolean isMutableComponent = i == 0 && c.getType() == LSMComponentType.MEMORY ? true : false;
                     c.threadExit(opType, failedOperation, isMutableComponent);
-
                     if (c.getType() == LSMComponentType.MEMORY) {
                         switch (c.getState()) {
                             case READABLE_UNWRITABLE:
@@ -128,6 +130,7 @@
                                 break;
                             case INACTIVE:
                                 ((AbstractMemoryLSMComponent) c).reset();
+                                opTracker.notifyAll();
                                 break;
                             default:
                                 break;
@@ -143,7 +146,6 @@
                     }
                     i++;
                 }
-
                 // Then, perform any action that is needed to be taken based on the operation type.
                 switch (opType) {
                     case FLUSH:
@@ -162,7 +164,6 @@
                     default:
                         break;
                 }
-
             } finally {
                 opTracker.afterOperation(lsmIndex, opType, ctx.getSearchOperationCallback(),
                         ctx.getModificationCallback());
@@ -269,6 +270,7 @@
     public void scheduleMerge(ILSMIndexOperationContext ctx, ILSMIOOperationCallback callback)
             throws HyracksDataException, IndexException {
         LSMOperationType opType = LSMOperationType.MERGE;
+        // Merge should always be a try operation, because it should never fail to enter the components unless the merge policy is erroneous.
         if (!getAndEnterComponents(ctx, opType, true)) {
             return;
         }