diff --git a/asterix-app/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/NCApplicationEntryPoint.java b/asterix-app/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/NCApplicationEntryPoint.java
index 96d0617..3502abb 100644
--- a/asterix-app/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/NCApplicationEntryPoint.java
+++ b/asterix-app/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/NCApplicationEntryPoint.java
@@ -129,16 +129,26 @@
 
         isMetadataNode = nodeId.equals(metadataProperties.getMetadataNodeName());
         if (isMetadataNode) {
-            registerRemoteMetadataNode(proxy);
-
             if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.INFO)) {
                 LOGGER.info("Bootstrapping metadata");
             }
-            MetadataManager.INSTANCE = new MetadataManager(proxy, metadataProperties);
-            MetadataManager.INSTANCE.init();
+            MetadataNode.INSTANCE.initialize(runtimeContext);
+
+            // This is a special case, we just give the metadataNode directly.
+            // This way we can delay the registration of the metadataNode until
+            // it is completely initialized.
+            MetadataManager.INSTANCE = new MetadataManager(proxy, MetadataNode.INSTANCE);
             MetadataBootstrap.startUniverse(((IAsterixPropertiesProvider) runtimeContext), ncApplicationContext,
                     systemState == SystemState.NEW_UNIVERSE);
             MetadataBootstrap.startDDLRecovery();
+
+            IMetadataNode stub = null;
+            stub = (IMetadataNode) UnicastRemoteObject.exportObject(MetadataNode.INSTANCE, 0);
+            proxy.setMetadataNode(stub);
+            
+            if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.INFO)) {
+                LOGGER.info("Metadata node bound");
+            }
         }
 
         if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.INFO)) {
@@ -166,17 +176,6 @@
         // reclaim storage for orphaned index artifacts in NCs.
     }
 
-    public void registerRemoteMetadataNode(IAsterixStateProxy proxy) throws RemoteException {
-        IMetadataNode stub = null;
-        MetadataNode.INSTANCE.initialize(runtimeContext);
-        stub = (IMetadataNode) UnicastRemoteObject.exportObject(MetadataNode.INSTANCE, 0);
-        proxy.setMetadataNode(stub);
-
-        if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.INFO)) {
-            LOGGER.info("Metadata node bound");
-        }
-    }
-
     /**
      * Shutdown hook that invokes {@link NCApplicationEntryPoint#stop() stop} method.
      */
diff --git a/asterix-metadata/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/metadata/MetadataManager.java b/asterix-metadata/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/metadata/MetadataManager.java
index 924a89c..bba6660 100644
--- a/asterix-metadata/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/metadata/MetadataManager.java
+++ b/asterix-metadata/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/metadata/MetadataManager.java
@@ -89,6 +89,16 @@
         this.metadataLatch = new ReentrantReadWriteLock(true);
     }
 
+    public MetadataManager(IAsterixStateProxy proxy, IMetadataNode metadataNode) {
+        if (metadataNode == null) {
+            throw new Error("Null metadataNode given to MetadataManager.");
+        }
+        this.proxy = proxy;
+        this.metadataProperties = null;
+        this.metadataNode = metadataNode;
+        this.metadataLatch = new ReentrantReadWriteLock(true);
+    }
+
     @Override
     public void init() throws RemoteException, MetadataException {
         // Could be synchronized on any object. Arbitrarily chose proxy.
@@ -99,7 +109,7 @@
             try {
                 int retry = 0;
                 int sleep = 64;
-                while (retry++ < 5) {
+                while (retry++ < 10) {
                     metadataNode = proxy.getMetadataNode();
                     if (metadataNode != null) {
                         break;