diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-replication/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/replication/management/NetworkingUtil.java b/asterixdb/asterix-replication/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/replication/management/NetworkingUtil.java
index d572ba2..97dd049 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-replication/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/replication/management/NetworkingUtil.java
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-replication/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/replication/management/NetworkingUtil.java
@@ -34,9 +34,13 @@
 
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.comm.NetworkAddress;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.network.ISocketChannel;
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
 
 public class NetworkingUtil {
 
+    private static final Logger LOGGER = LogManager.getLogger();
+
     private NetworkingUtil() {
         throw new AssertionError("This util class should not be initialized.");
     }
@@ -72,9 +76,15 @@
         long fileSize = fileChannel.size();
         long count = fileSize;
         long numTransferred = 0;
-        while ((numTransferred += fileChannel.transferFrom(socketChannel, pos, count)) < fileSize) {
-            pos += numTransferred;
-            count -= numTransferred;
+        try {
+            while ((numTransferred += fileChannel.transferFrom(socketChannel, pos, count)) < fileSize) {
+                pos += numTransferred;
+                count -= numTransferred;
+            }
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            LOGGER.info("failed to download file; file size {}, pos {}, count {}, numTransferred {}", fileSize, pos,
+                    count, numTransferred);
+            throw e;
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-replication/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/replication/messaging/ReplicateFileTask.java b/asterixdb/asterix-replication/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/replication/messaging/ReplicateFileTask.java
index 35dbd49..5f7bee6 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-replication/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/replication/messaging/ReplicateFileTask.java
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-replication/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/replication/messaging/ReplicateFileTask.java
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@
     @Override
     public void perform(INcApplicationContext appCtx, IReplicationWorker worker) {
         try {
+            LOGGER.info("attempting to replicate {}", this);
             final IIOManager ioManager = appCtx.getIoManager();
             // resolve path
             final FileReference localPath = ioManager.resolve(file);
@@ -127,4 +128,10 @@
         final boolean isMetadata = input.readBoolean();
         return new ReplicateFileTask(s, i, isMetadata);
     }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return "ReplicateFileTask{" + "file='" + file + '\'' + ", size=" + size + ", indexMetadata=" + indexMetadata
+                + '}';
+    }
 }
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-replication/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/replication/sync/FileSynchronizer.java b/asterixdb/asterix-replication/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/replication/sync/FileSynchronizer.java
index f0a4229..7bb2858 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-replication/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/replication/sync/FileSynchronizer.java
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-replication/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/replication/sync/FileSynchronizer.java
@@ -32,9 +32,12 @@
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.io.FileReference;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.io.IIOManager;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.network.ISocketChannel;
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
 
 public class FileSynchronizer {
 
+    private static final Logger LOGGER = LogManager.getLogger();
     private final INcApplicationContext appCtx;
     private final PartitionReplica replica;
 
@@ -53,6 +56,7 @@
             final ISocketChannel channel = replica.getChannel();
             final FileReference filePath = ioManager.resolve(file);
             ReplicateFileTask task = new ReplicateFileTask(file, filePath.getFile().length(), metadata);
+            LOGGER.info("attempting to replicate {} to replica {}", task, replica);
             ReplicationProtocol.sendTo(replica, task);
             // send the file itself
             try (RandomAccessFile fromFile = new RandomAccessFile(filePath.getFile(), "r");