diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/CCApplication.java b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/CCApplication.java
index 2b21ec1..b7ef0dc 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/CCApplication.java
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/CCApplication.java
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void configureLoggingLevel(Level level) {
+    public void configureLoggingLevel(Level level) {
         super.configureLoggingLevel(level);
         LoggingConfigUtil.defaultIfMissing(GlobalConfig.ASTERIX_LOGGER_NAME, level);
     }
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/NCApplication.java b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/NCApplication.java
index 997090e..4213509 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/NCApplication.java
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/NCApplication.java
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void configureLoggingLevel(Level level) {
+    public void configureLoggingLevel(Level level) {
         super.configureLoggingLevel(level);
         LoggingConfigUtil.defaultIfMissing(GlobalConfig.ASTERIX_LOGGER_NAME, level);
     }
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-om/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/dataflow/data/nontagged/printers/PrintTools.java b/asterixdb/asterix-om/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/dataflow/data/nontagged/printers/PrintTools.java
index b8e1b43..a9c4d15 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-om/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/dataflow/data/nontagged/printers/PrintTools.java
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-om/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/dataflow/data/nontagged/printers/PrintTools.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.OutputStream;
 import java.io.PrintStream;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 
 import org.apache.asterix.dataflow.data.nontagged.serde.ADoubleSerializerDeserializer;
 import org.apache.asterix.dataflow.data.nontagged.serde.AFloatSerializerDeserializer;
@@ -399,7 +400,7 @@
         }
         final char lowSurrogate = UTF8StringUtil.charAt(src, lowSurrogatePos);
         final int lowSurrogateSize = UTF8StringUtil.charSize(src, lowSurrogatePos);
-        os.write(new String(new char[] { highSurrogate, lowSurrogate }).getBytes());
+        os.write(new String(new char[] { highSurrogate, lowSurrogate }).getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
         return highSurrogateSize + lowSurrogateSize;
     }
 
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-server/src/test/resources/NCServiceExecutionIT/cc.conf b/asterixdb/asterix-server/src/test/resources/NCServiceExecutionIT/cc.conf
index f721ae5..2a92c5d 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-server/src/test/resources/NCServiceExecutionIT/cc.conf
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-server/src/test/resources/NCServiceExecutionIT/cc.conf
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 iodevices=../asterix-server/target/tmp/asterix_nc1/iodevice1,../asterix-server/target/tmp/asterix_nc1/iodevice2
 nc.api.port=19004
 #jvm.args=-agentlib:jdwp=transport=dt_socket,server=y,suspend=y,address=5006
+jvm.args=-Dfile.encoding=iso-8859-1
 
 [nc/asterix_nc2]
 ncservice.port=9091
@@ -29,6 +30,7 @@
 iodevices=../asterix-server/target/tmp/asterix_nc2/iodevice1,../asterix-server/target/tmp/asterix_nc2/iodevice2
 nc.api.port=19005
 #jvm.args=-agentlib:jdwp=transport=dt_socket,server=y,suspend=y,address=5007
+jvm.args=-Dfile.encoding=us-ascii
 
 [nc]
 address=127.0.0.1
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/api/application/IApplication.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/api/application/IApplication.java
index 1d22f85..bbc7163 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/api/application/IApplication.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/api/application/IApplication.java
@@ -19,10 +19,12 @@
 package org.apache.hyracks.api.application;
 
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.config.IConfigManager;
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.Level;
 import org.kohsuke.args4j.OptionHandlerFilter;
 
 @SuppressWarnings("squid:S00112") // define and throw specific class of Exception
 public interface IApplication {
+
     void init(IServiceContext serviceCtx) throws Exception;
 
     void start(String[] args) throws Exception;
@@ -38,4 +40,11 @@
     default OptionHandlerFilter getUsageFilter() {
         return OptionHandlerFilter.PUBLIC;
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Configures the application loggers with the given level.
+     *
+     * @param level the logging level desired.
+     */
+    void configureLoggingLevel(Level level);
 }
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/BaseCCApplication.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/BaseCCApplication.java
index 46adda3..fbce29d 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/BaseCCApplication.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/BaseCCApplication.java
@@ -83,7 +83,8 @@
         return null;
     }
 
-    protected void configureLoggingLevel(Level level) {
+    @Override
+    public void configureLoggingLevel(Level level) {
         LoggingConfigUtil.defaultIfMissing(HyracksConstants.HYRACKS_LOGGER_NAME, level);
     }
 
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/BaseNCApplication.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/BaseNCApplication.java
index db7b533..882c396 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/BaseNCApplication.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/BaseNCApplication.java
@@ -101,7 +101,8 @@
         return new DefaultDeviceResolver();
     }
 
-    protected void configureLoggingLevel(Level level) {
+    @Override
+    public void configureLoggingLevel(Level level) {
         LoggingConfigUtil.defaultIfMissing(HyracksConstants.HYRACKS_LOGGER_NAME, level);
     }
 
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-examples/btree-example/btreehelper/pom.xml b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-examples/btree-example/btreehelper/pom.xml
index 294a79e..a9221a6 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-examples/btree-example/btreehelper/pom.xml
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-examples/btree-example/btreehelper/pom.xml
@@ -58,6 +58,10 @@
       <artifactId>hyracks-storage-common</artifactId>
       <version>${project.version}</version>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
+      <artifactId>log4j-api</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
   </dependencies>
 
   <build>
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-examples/btree-example/btreehelper/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/examples/btree/helper/TestNCApplication.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-examples/btree-example/btreehelper/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/examples/btree/helper/TestNCApplication.java
index 5259856..7ba2050 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-examples/btree-example/btreehelper/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/examples/btree/helper/TestNCApplication.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-examples/btree-example/btreehelper/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/examples/btree/helper/TestNCApplication.java
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.control.CcId;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.io.IFileDeviceResolver;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.job.resource.NodeCapacity;
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.Level;
 
 public class TestNCApplication implements INCApplication {
 
@@ -82,6 +83,11 @@
     }
 
     @Override
+    public void configureLoggingLevel(Level level) {
+        // No-op
+    }
+
+    @Override
     public IConfigManager getConfigManager() {
         return configManager;
     }
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-ipc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/ipc/impl/IPCConnectionManager.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-ipc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/ipc/impl/IPCConnectionManager.java
index 64881dc..58aa39e 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-ipc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/ipc/impl/IPCConnectionManager.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-ipc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/ipc/impl/IPCConnectionManager.java
@@ -143,6 +143,17 @@
         ipcHandleMap.put(handle.getRemoteAddress(), handle);
     }
 
+    synchronized void unregisterHandle(IPCHandle handle) {
+        final InetSocketAddress remoteAddress = handle.getRemoteAddress();
+        if (remoteAddress != null) {
+            final IPCHandle ipcHandle = ipcHandleMap.get(remoteAddress);
+            // remove only if in closed state to avoid removing a new handle that was created for the same destination
+            if (ipcHandle != null && ipcHandle.getState() == HandleState.CLOSED) {
+                ipcHandleMap.remove(remoteAddress);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     synchronized void write(Message msg) {
         if (LOGGER.isTraceEnabled()) {
             LOGGER.trace("Enqueued message: " + msg);
@@ -434,7 +445,9 @@
             if (key != null) {
                 final Object attachment = key.attachment();
                 if (attachment != null) {
-                    ((IPCHandle) attachment).close();
+                    final IPCHandle handle = (IPCHandle) attachment;
+                    handle.close();
+                    unregisterHandle(handle);
                 }
                 key.cancel();
             }
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-ipc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/ipc/impl/IPCHandle.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-ipc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/ipc/impl/IPCHandle.java
index 5d92960..25abfe1 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-ipc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/ipc/impl/IPCHandle.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-ipc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/ipc/impl/IPCHandle.java
@@ -169,7 +169,6 @@
             final boolean error = message.getFlag() == Message.ERROR;
             if (!error && state == HandleState.CONNECT_RECEIVED) {
                 remoteAddress = (InetSocketAddress) message.getPayload();
-                system.getConnectionManager().registerHandle(this);
                 setState(HandleState.CONNECTED);
                 system.getConnectionManager().ack(this, message);
             } else if (!error && state == HandleState.CONNECT_SENT) {
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hyracks/test/server/process/HyracksCCProcess.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hyracks/test/server/process/HyracksCCProcess.java
index 2ac6f2b..a79d033 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hyracks/test/server/process/HyracksCCProcess.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hyracks/test/server/process/HyracksCCProcess.java
@@ -49,5 +49,6 @@
         args.add("-Xmx1024m");
         cList.addAll(args);
         // cList.add("-agentlib:jdwp=transport=dt_socket,server=y,suspend=y,address=5005");
+        cList.add("-Dfile.encoding=us-ascii");
     }
 }