diff --git a/ocaml/xapi/xapi_globs.ml b/ocaml/xapi/xapi_globs.ml
index 5137862c83f..3fa03d200ee 100644
--- a/ocaml/xapi/xapi_globs.ml
+++ b/ocaml/xapi/xapi_globs.ml
@@ -610,7 +610,7 @@ let old_hp_bios_strings =
 	 "hp-rombios", "COMPAQ"]
 
 
-let permanent_master_failure_retry_timeout = 5. *. 60. (* 5 minutes *)
+let permanent_master_failure_retry_timeout = 1. *. 60. (* 1 minute *)
 
 (** {2 CPUID feature masking} *)
 
diff --git a/ocaml/xapi/xapi_pool.ml b/ocaml/xapi/xapi_pool.ml
index 84f86337430..0feb455df46 100644
--- a/ocaml/xapi/xapi_pool.ml
+++ b/ocaml/xapi/xapi_pool.ml
@@ -831,7 +831,11 @@ let designate_new_master ~__context ~host =
 		if Db.Pool.get_ha_enabled ~__context ~self:pool
 		then raise (Api_errors.Server_error(Api_errors.ha_is_enabled, []));
 
-		sync_database ~__context;
+		(* Only the master can sync the *current* database; only the master
+		   knows the current generation count etc. *)
+		Helpers.call_api_functions ~__context
+			(fun rpc session_id ->
+				Client.Pool.sync_database rpc session_id);
 
 		let all_hosts = Db.Host.get_all ~__context in
 		(* We make no attempt to demand a quorum or anything. *)