diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 237144e9..39e0d0a8 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ script:
 env:
   global:
     - secure: M3K3y9+D933tCda7+blW3qqVV8fA6PBDRdJoQvmQc1f0XYbWinJ+bAziFp6diKkF8sMQ+cPwLMONYJuaNT2h7/PkG+sIwF0PuUo5VVCbhGmSDrn2qOjmSnfawNs8wW31f44FQA8ICka1EFZcihohoIMf0e5xZ0tXA9jqw+ngPJiRnv4zyzC3r6t4JMAZcbS9w4KTYpIev5Yj72eCvk6lGjadSVCDVXo2sVs27tNt+BSgtMXiH6Sv8GLOnN2kFspGITgivHgB/jtU6QVtFXB+cbBJJAs3lUYnzmQZ5INecbjweYll07ilwFiCVNCX67+L15gpymKGJbQggloIGyTWrAOa2TMaB/bvblzwwQZ8wE5P3Rss5L0TFkUAcdU+3BUHM+TwV4e8F9x10v1PjgWNBRJQzd1sjKKgGUBCeyCY7VeYDKn9AXI5llISgY/AAfCZwm2cbckMHZZJciMjm+U3Q1FCF+rfhlvUcMG1VEj8r9cGpmWIRjFYVm0NmpUDDNjlC3/lUfTCOOJJyM254EUw63XxabbK6EtDN1yQe8kYRcXH//2rtEwgtMBgqHVY+OOkekzGz8Ra3EBkh6jXrAQL3zKu/GwRlK7/a1OU5MQ7dWcTjbx1AQ6Zfyjg5bZ+idqPgMbqM9Zn2+OaSby8HEEXS0QeZVooDVf/6wdYO4MQ/0A=
-    - verbose=t
 after_success:
 - openssl aes-256-cbc -K $encrypted_5a1cb914c6c9_key -iv $encrypted_5a1cb914c6c9_iv
   -in .snapcraft/travis_snapcraft.cfg -out .snapcraft/snapcraft.cfg -d
diff --git a/api/rest/restapi.go b/api/rest/restapi.go
index 3392286e..7b7eea34 100644
--- a/api/rest/restapi.go
+++ b/api/rest/restapi.go
@@ -379,23 +379,28 @@ func (api *API) peerRemoveHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 
 func (api *API) pinHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	if ps := parseCidOrError(w, r); ps.Cid != "" {
+		logger.Debugf("rest api pinHandler: %s", ps.Cid)
+
 		err := api.rpcClient.Call("",
 			"Cluster",
 			"Pin",
 			ps,
 			&struct{}{})
 		sendAcceptedResponse(w, err)
+		logger.Debug("rest api pinHandler done")
 	}
 }
 
 func (api *API) unpinHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	if ps := parseCidOrError(w, r); ps.Cid != "" {
+		logger.Debugf("rest api unpinHandler: %s", ps.Cid)
 		err := api.rpcClient.Call("",
 			"Cluster",
 			"Unpin",
 			ps,
 			&struct{}{})
 		sendAcceptedResponse(w, err)
+		logger.Debug("rest api unpinHandler done")
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/consensus/raft/raft.go b/consensus/raft/raft.go
index dde2db51..7c6b2e0c 100644
--- a/consensus/raft/raft.go
+++ b/consensus/raft/raft.go
@@ -40,6 +40,13 @@ var RaftLogCacheSize = 512
 // This is used below because raft Observers panic on 32-bit.
 const sixtyfour = uint64(^uint(0)) == ^uint64(0)
 
+// How long we wait for updates during shutdown before snapshotting
+var waitForUpdatesShutdownTimeout = 5 * time.Second
+var waitForUpdatesInterval = 100 * time.Millisecond
+
+// How many times to retry snapshotting when shutting down
+var maxShutdownSnapshotRetries = 5
+
 // raftWrapper performs all Raft-specific operations which are needed by
 // Cluster but are not fulfilled by the consensus interface. It should contain
 // most of the Raft-related stuff so it can be easily replaced in the future,
@@ -286,7 +293,7 @@ func (rw *raftWrapper) WaitForUpdates(ctx context.Context) error {
 			if lai == li {
 				return nil
 			}
-			time.Sleep(500 * time.Millisecond)
+			time.Sleep(waitForUpdatesInterval)
 		}
 	}
 }
@@ -333,13 +340,52 @@ func (rw *raftWrapper) Snapshot() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// snapshotOnShutdown attempts to take a snapshot before a shutdown.
+// Snapshotting might fail if the raft applied index is not the last index.
+// This waits for the updates and tries to take a snapshot when the
+// applied index is up to date.
+// It will retry if the snapshot still fails, in case more updates have arrived.
+// If waiting for updates times-out, it will not try anymore, since something
+// is wrong. This is a best-effort solution as there is no way to tell Raft
+// to stop processing entries because we want to take a snapshot before
+// shutting down.
+func (rw *raftWrapper) snapshotOnShutdown() error {
+	var err error
+	for i := 0; i < maxShutdownSnapshotRetries; i++ {
+		done := false
+		ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), waitForUpdatesShutdownTimeout)
+		err := rw.WaitForUpdates(ctx)
+		cancel()
+		if err != nil {
+			logger.Warning("timed out waiting for state updates before shutdown. Snapshotting may fail")
+			done = true // let's not wait for updates again
+		}
+
+		err = rw.Snapshot()
+		if err != nil {
+			err = errors.New("could not snapshot raft: " + err.Error())
+		} else {
+			err = nil
+			done = true
+		}
+
+		if done {
+			break
+		}
+		logger.Warningf("retrying to snapshot (%d/%d)...", i+1, maxShutdownSnapshotRetries)
+	}
+	return err
+}
+
 // Shutdown shutdown Raft and closes the BoltDB.
 func (rw *raftWrapper) Shutdown() error {
 	errMsgs := ""
-	err := rw.Snapshot()
+
+	err := rw.snapshotOnShutdown()
 	if err != nil {
-		errMsgs += "could not snapshot raft: " + err.Error() + ".\n"
+		errMsgs += err.Error() + ".\n"
 	}
+
 	future := rw.raft.Shutdown()
 	err = future.Error()
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/state/mapstate/map_state.go b/state/mapstate/map_state.go
index ab5f844d..fac8c429 100644
--- a/state/mapstate/map_state.go
+++ b/state/mapstate/map_state.go
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ func (st *MapState) Marshal() ([]byte, error) {
 	vCodec := make([]byte, 1)
 	vCodec[0] = byte(st.Version)
 	ret := append(vCodec, buf.Bytes()...)
-	logger.Debugf("Marshal-- The final marshaled bytes: %x", ret)
+	// logger.Debugf("Marshal-- The final marshaled bytes: %x", ret)
 	return ret, nil
 }
 
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ func (st *MapState) Marshal() ([]byte, error) {
 // version is not an error
 func (st *MapState) Unmarshal(bs []byte) error {
 	// Check version byte
-	logger.Debugf("The incoming bytes to unmarshal: %x", bs)
+	// logger.Debugf("The incoming bytes to unmarshal: %x", bs)
 	v := int(bs[0])
 	logger.Debugf("The interpreted version: %d", v)
 	if v != Version { // snapshot is out of date