Index: oak-tarmk-standby/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/segment/standby/client/StandbyClient.java
===================================================================
--- oak-tarmk-standby/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/segment/standby/client/StandbyClient.java	(revision 1732269)
+++ oak-tarmk-standby/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/segment/standby/client/StandbyClient.java	(working copy)
@@ -197,17 +197,17 @@
     }
 
     private void shutdownNetty() {
-        if (group != null && !group.isShuttingDown()) {
-            group.shutdownGracefully(0, 1, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
-                    .syncUninterruptibly();
+        if (handler != null) {
+            handler.close();
+            handler = null;
         }
         if (executor != null && !executor.isShuttingDown()) {
             executor.shutdownGracefully(0, 1, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
                     .syncUninterruptibly();
         }
-        if (handler != null) {
-            handler.close();
-            handler = null;
+        if (group != null && !group.isShuttingDown()) {
+            group.shutdownGracefully(0, 1, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
+                    .syncUninterruptibly();
         }
     }
 
Index: oak-tarmk-standby/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/segment/standby/client/StandbyClientHandler.java
===================================================================
--- oak-tarmk-standby/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/segment/standby/client/StandbyClientHandler.java	(revision 1732269)
+++ oak-tarmk-standby/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/segment/standby/client/StandbyClientHandler.java	(working copy)
@@ -51,7 +51,6 @@
     private final boolean autoClean;
 
     private EventExecutorGroup loaderExecutor;
-    private ChannelHandlerContext ctx;
 
     public StandbyClientHandler(final StandbyStore store,
             CommunicationObserver observer, AtomicBoolean running,
@@ -65,7 +64,6 @@
 
     @Override
     public void channelActive(ChannelHandlerContext ctx) throws Exception {
-        this.ctx = ctx;
         log.debug("sending head request");
         ctx.writeAndFlush(newGetHeadReq(this.observer.getID()));
         log.debug("did send head request");
@@ -74,7 +72,7 @@
     @Override
     protected void channelRead0(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, RecordId msg)
             throws Exception {
-        setHead(msg);
+        setHead(ctx, msg);
     };
 
     @Override
@@ -82,7 +80,7 @@
         ctx.flush();
     }
 
-    synchronized void setHead(RecordId head) {
+    synchronized void setHead(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, RecordId head) {
 
         if (store.getHead().getRecordId().equals(head)) {
             // all sync'ed up
@@ -115,14 +113,6 @@
 
     @Override
     public synchronized void close() {
-        if (ctx != null) {
-            for (ChannelHandler h : ctx.pipeline().toMap().values()) {
-                ctx.pipeline().remove(h);
-            }
-
-            ctx.close();
-            ctx = null;
-        }
         if (loaderExecutor != null && !loaderExecutor.isShuttingDown()) {
             loaderExecutor.shutdownGracefully(0, 1, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
                     .syncUninterruptibly();