diff --git a/qa/scripts/setupSmokeTest.sh b/qa/scripts/setupSmokeTest.sh
index 91e00650c..4df2ca052 100755
--- a/qa/scripts/setupSmokeTest.sh
+++ b/qa/scripts/setupSmokeTest.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -x
+# how often should we try to do our terraform setup?
+max_tries=3
 
 # To run script: ./setupSmokeTest.sh <BRANCH_NAME>
 ADMIN_TOKEN=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJuYW1lIjoiYWRtaW4ifQ.I1iCgk1VU7m6e-En4ACTHIs6V2dZpy_8j2blSSo7K3U
@@ -19,7 +21,35 @@ pushd ./qa/tf/ci/smoketest
 echo "Running terraform init..."
 terraform init -input=false
 echo "Running terraform apply..."
-terraform apply -input=false -auto-approve
+
+okay=false
+# This logic is gratuitously complicated because I want visibility
+# into how it's working, or not-working. The chances are this should
+# just be a test against the exit status of terraform apply.
+tries=1
+while ! $okay && [ $tries -le $max_tries ] ; do
+	echo "Try $tries/$max_tries, running terraform..."
+	terraform apply -input=false -auto-approve
+	tf=$?
+	terraform output -json > outputs.json
+	echo "Outputs:"
+	cat outputs.json
+	must_get_value outputs.json TMP_I .ingest_ips 0 '"value"' 0
+	must_get_value outputs.json TMP_D .data_node_ips 0 '"value"' 0
+	echo "TF status: $tf, ingest_ips $TMP_I, data_node_ips $TMP_D"
+	case $TMP_I.$TMP_D in
+	*null*)	echo >&2 "looks like we failed, null in IPs."
+		tries=$(expr $tries + 1)
+		;;
+	*)	okay=true
+		;;
+	esac
+done
+echo "okay $okay, tries $tries"
+if ! $okay; then
+	echo >&2 "didn't start terraform successfully, giving up"
+	exit 1
+fi
 terraform output -json > outputs.json
 echo "Outputs:"
 cat outputs.json
diff --git a/qa/scripts/utilCluster.sh b/qa/scripts/utilCluster.sh
index d7f51a787..819c26579 100755
--- a/qa/scripts/utilCluster.sh
+++ b/qa/scripts/utilCluster.sh
@@ -649,6 +649,12 @@ setupConsumerNode(){
 # do so and returns a non-zero status. Note the quoting to get the double
 # quotes around "value".
 get_value() {
+    flags=$-
+    set +x
+    case $flags in
+    *x*)	restore="set -x";;
+    *)		restore="";;
+    esac
     file=$1
     var=$2
     shift 2
@@ -663,15 +669,18 @@ get_value() {
     tmp=$(jq -r "$expr" < $file)
     if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
         echo >&2 "jq failed parsing input file"
+	$restore
         return 1
     fi
     case $tmp in
     null)
       echo >&2 "reading IPs for ${node}: got null"
+      $restore
       return 1
       ;;
     *)
       eval $var=\$tmp
+      $restore
       return 0
       ;;
     esac
@@ -686,4 +695,4 @@ must_get_value() {
     if ! get_value "$@"; then
         exit 1
     fi
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}