diff --git a/vmware_nsxlib/tests/unit/v3/nsxlib_testcase.py b/vmware_nsxlib/tests/unit/v3/nsxlib_testcase.py
index f63a1266..27c01fe0 100644
--- a/vmware_nsxlib/tests/unit/v3/nsxlib_testcase.py
+++ b/vmware_nsxlib/tests/unit/v3/nsxlib_testcase.py
@@ -239,7 +239,8 @@ class NsxClientTestCase(NsxLibTestCase):
                 nsx_api_managers=nsx_api_managers or [NSX_MANAGER],
                 plugin_scope=PLUGIN_SCOPE,
                 plugin_tag=PLUGIN_TAG,
-                plugin_ver=PLUGIN_VER)
+                plugin_ver=PLUGIN_VER,
+                cluster_unavailable_retry=True)
 
             super(NsxClientTestCase.MockNSXClusteredAPI, self).__init__(
                 nsxlib_config)
diff --git a/vmware_nsxlib/tests/unit/v3/test_cluster.py b/vmware_nsxlib/tests/unit/v3/test_cluster.py
index 9ea14192..5140de0d 100644
--- a/vmware_nsxlib/tests/unit/v3/test_cluster.py
+++ b/vmware_nsxlib/tests/unit/v3/test_cluster.py
@@ -392,6 +392,7 @@ class ClusteredAPITestCase(nsxlib_testcase.NsxClientTestCase):
         max_attempts = 3
         api = self.mock_nsx_clustered_api(nsx_api_managers=conf_managers,
                                           max_attempts=max_attempts)
+        api.nsxlib_config.cluster_unavailable_retry = False
         api._validate = mock.Mock()
         eps = list(api._endpoints.values())
 
diff --git a/vmware_nsxlib/v3/cluster.py b/vmware_nsxlib/v3/cluster.py
index dc17b3d7..bfa42d66 100644
--- a/vmware_nsxlib/v3/cluster.py
+++ b/vmware_nsxlib/v3/cluster.py
@@ -460,6 +460,7 @@ class ClusteredAPI(object):
 
         self._http_provider = http_provider
         self._keepalive_interval = keepalive_interval
+        self._print_keepalive = 0
 
         def _init_cluster(*args, **kwargs):
             self._init_endpoints(providers,
@@ -511,13 +512,18 @@ class ClusteredAPI(object):
                 break
             eventlet.sleep(0.5)
 
-        for endpoint in self._endpoints.values():
-            # dynamic loop for each endpoint to ensure connectivity
-            loop = loopingcall.DynamicLoopingCall(
-                self._endpoint_keepalive, endpoint)
-            loop.start(initial_delay=self._keepalive_interval,
-                       periodic_interval_max=self._keepalive_interval,
-                       stop_on_exception=False)
+        if len(self._endpoints) > 1:
+            # We don't monitor connectivity when one endpoint is available,
+            # since there is no alternative to querying this single backend
+            # If endpoint was down, we can tolerate extra roundtrip to
+            # validate connectivity
+            for endpoint in self._endpoints.values():
+                # dynamic loop for each endpoint to ensure connectivity
+                loop = loopingcall.DynamicLoopingCall(
+                    self._endpoint_keepalive, endpoint)
+                loop.start(initial_delay=self._keepalive_interval,
+                           periodic_interval_max=self._keepalive_interval,
+                           stop_on_exception=False)
 
         LOG.debug("Done initializing API endpoint(s). "
                   "API cluster health: %s", self.health)
@@ -526,6 +532,13 @@ class ClusteredAPI(object):
         delta = datetime.datetime.now() - endpoint.last_updated
         if delta.seconds >= self._keepalive_interval:
             # TODO(boden): backoff on validation failure
+            if self._print_keepalive % 10 == 0:
+                # Print keepalive debug message once every 10 probes
+                LOG.debug("Running keepalive probe for cluster endpoint "
+                          "'%(ep)s' ",
+                          {'ep': endpoint})
+            self._print_keepalive += 1
+
             self._validate(endpoint)
             return self._keepalive_interval
         return self._keepalive_interval - delta.seconds
diff --git a/vmware_nsxlib/v3/config.py b/vmware_nsxlib/v3/config.py
index f0bc0b64..c6ba896e 100644
--- a/vmware_nsxlib/v3/config.py
+++ b/vmware_nsxlib/v3/config.py
@@ -85,7 +85,11 @@ class NsxLibConfig(object):
     :param cluster_unavailable_retry: If True, skip fatal errors when no
                                       endpoint in the NSX management cluster is
                                       available to serve a request, and retry
-                                      the request instead.
+                                      the request instead. This setting can
+                                      not be False if single endpoint is
+                                      configured in the cluster, since there
+                                      will be no keepalive probes in this
+                                      case.
 
     -- Additional parameters which are relevant only for the Policy manager:
     :param allow_passthrough: If True, use nsx manager api for cases which are
@@ -152,6 +156,13 @@ class NsxLibConfig(object):
         self.realization_max_attempts = realization_max_attempts
         self.realization_wait_sec = realization_wait_sec
 
+        if len(nsx_api_managers) == 1 and not self.cluster_unavailable_retry:
+            LOG.warning("When only one endpoint is provided, keepalive probes "
+                        " are disabled. For the system to be able to recover "
+                        " from DOWN state, cluster_unavailable_retry is set "
+                        " to True, overriding provided configuration")
+            self.cluster_unavailable_retry = True
+
         if dhcp_profile_uuid:
             # this is deprecated, and never used.
             versionutils.report_deprecated_feature(