diff --git a/tests/fenced-local-force-unmount.sh b/tests/fenced-local-force-unmount.sh
index 9d97a79b..f5553be1 100755
--- a/tests/fenced-local-force-unmount.sh
+++ b/tests/fenced-local-force-unmount.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,18 @@
 #!/usr/bin/bash
 
+#
+# This fencing script is used for testing clusters of multiple mounts on
+# a single host.  It finds mounts to fence by looking for their rids and
+# only knows how to "fence" by using forced unmount.
+#
+
+echo "$0 running rid '$SCOUTFS_FENCED_REQ_RID' ip '$SCOUTFS_FENCED_REQ_IP' args '$@'"
+
+log() {
+	echo "$@" > /dev/stderr
+	exit 1
+}
+
 echo_fail() {
 	echo "$@" > /dev/stderr
 	exit 1
@@ -7,29 +20,24 @@ echo_fail() {
 
 rid="$SCOUTFS_FENCED_REQ_RID"
 
-#
-# Look for a local mount with the rid to fence.  Typically we'll at
-# least find the mount with the server that requested the fence that
-# we're processing.   But it's possible that mounts are unmounted
-# before, or while, we're running.
-#
-mnts=$(findmnt -l -n -t scoutfs -o TARGET) || \
-	echo_fail "findmnt -t scoutfs failed" > /dev/stderr
+for fs in /sys/fs/scoutfs/*; do
+	[ ! -d "$fs" ] && continue
 
-for mnt in $mnts; do
-	mnt_rid=$(scoutfs statfs -p "$mnt" -s rid) || \
-		echo_fail "scoutfs statfs $mnt failed"
-
-	if [ "$mnt_rid" == "$rid" ]; then
-		umount -f "$mnt" || \
-			echo_fail "umout -f $mnt"
-
-		exit 0
+	fs_rid="$(cat $fs/rid)" || \
+		echo_fail "failed to get rid in $fs"
+	if [ "$fs_rid" != "$rid" ]; then
+		continue
 	fi
+
+	nr="$(cat $fs/data_device_maj_min)" || \
+		echo_fail "failed to get data device major:minor in $fs"
+
+	mnts=$(findmnt -l -n -t scoutfs -o TARGET -S $nr) || \
+		echo_fail "findmnt -t scoutfs -S $nr failed"
+	for mnt in $mnts; do
+		umount -f "$mnt" || \
+			echo_fail "umout -f $mnt failed"
+	done
 done
 
-#
-# If the mount doesn't exist on this host then it can't access the
-# devices by definition and can be considered fenced.
-#
 exit 0
diff --git a/tests/run-tests.sh b/tests/run-tests.sh
index 5f826474..a8aa02af 100755
--- a/tests/run-tests.sh
+++ b/tests/run-tests.sh
@@ -380,13 +380,14 @@ cmd grep .  /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/options/trace_printk \
 # Build a fenced config that runs scripts out of the repository rather
 # than the default system directory
 #
-conf="$T_RESULTS/scoutfs-fencd.conf"
+conf="$T_RESULTS/scoutfs-fenced.conf"
 cat > $conf << EOF
 SCOUTFS_FENCED_DELAY=1
 SCOUTFS_FENCED_RUN=$T_TESTS/fenced-local-force-unmount.sh
-SCOUTFS_FENCED_RUN_ARGS=""
+SCOUTFS_FENCED_RUN_ARGS="ignored run args"
 EOF
 export SCOUTFS_FENCED_CONFIG_FILE="$conf"
+T_FENCED_LOG="$T_RESULTS/fenced.log"
 
 #
 # Run the agent in the background, log its output, an kill it if we
@@ -394,7 +395,7 @@ export SCOUTFS_FENCED_CONFIG_FILE="$conf"
 #
 fenced_log()
 {
-	echo "[$(timestamp)] $*" >> "$T_RESULTS/fenced.stdout.log"
+	echo "[$(timestamp)] $*" >> "$T_FENCED_LOG"
 }
 fenced_pid=""
 kill_fenced()
@@ -405,7 +406,7 @@ kill_fenced()
 	fi
 }
 trap kill_fenced EXIT
-$T_UTILS/fenced/scoutfs-fenced > "$T_RESULTS/fenced.stdout.log" 2> "$T_RESULTS/fenced.stderr.log" &
+$T_UTILS/fenced/scoutfs-fenced > "$T_FENCED_LOG" 2>&1 &
 fenced_pid=$!
 fenced_log "started fenced pid $fenced_pid in the background"
 
diff --git a/tests/tests/fence-and-reclaim.sh b/tests/tests/fence-and-reclaim.sh
index 1ce52048..1fe1ad2e 100644
--- a/tests/tests/fence-and-reclaim.sh
+++ b/tests/tests/fence-and-reclaim.sh
@@ -45,6 +45,18 @@ check_read_write()
 	fi
 }
 
+# verify that fenced ran our testing fence script
+verify_fenced_run()
+{
+	local rids="$@"
+	local rid
+
+	for rid in $rids; do
+		grep -q ".* running rid '$rid'.* args 'ignored run args'" "$T_FENCED_LOG" || \
+			t_fail "fenced didn't execute RUN script for rid $rid"
+	done
+}
+
 echo "== make sure all mounts can see each other"
 check_read_write
 
@@ -62,12 +74,14 @@ done
 while t_rid_is_fencing $rid; do
 	sleep .5
 done
+verify_fenced_run $rid
 t_mount $cl
 check_read_write
 
 echo "== force unmount all non-server, connection timeout, fence nop, mount"
 sv=$(t_server_nr)
 pattern="nonsense"
+rids=""
 sync
 for cl in $(t_fs_nrs); do
 	if [ $cl == $sv ]; then
@@ -75,6 +89,7 @@ for cl in $(t_fs_nrs); do
 	fi
 
 	rid=$(t_mount_rid $cl)
+	rids="$rids $rid"
 	pattern="$pattern|$rid"
 	echo "cl $cl sv $sv rid $rid" >> "$T_TMP.log"
 
@@ -89,6 +104,7 @@ done
 while test -d $(echo /sys/fs/scoutfs/*/fence/* | cut -d " " -f 1); do
 	sleep .5
 done
+verify_fenced_run $rids
 # remount all the clients
 for cl in $(t_fs_nrs); do
 	if [ $cl == $sv ]; then
@@ -109,11 +125,17 @@ t_wait_for_leader
 while t_rid_is_fencing $rid; do
 	sleep .5
 done
+verify_fenced_run $rid
 t_mount $sv
 check_read_write
 
 echo "== force unmount everything, new server fences all previous"
 sync
+rids=""
+# get rids before forced unmount breaks scoutfs statfs
+for nr in $(t_fs_nrs); do
+	rids="$rids $(t_mount_rid $nr)"
+done
 for nr in $(t_fs_nrs); do
 	t_force_umount $nr
 done
@@ -122,6 +144,7 @@ t_mount_all
 while test -d $(echo /sys/fs/scoutfs/*/fence/* | cut -d " " -f 1); do
 	sleep .5
 done
+verify_fenced_run $rids
 check_read_write
 
 t_pass
diff --git a/utils/fenced/scoutfs-fenced b/utils/fenced/scoutfs-fenced
index 6e53099a..fa866e25 100755
--- a/utils/fenced/scoutfs-fenced
+++ b/utils/fenced/scoutfs-fenced
@@ -55,9 +55,21 @@ test -x "$SCOUTFS_FENCED_RUN" || \
 	error_exit "SCOUTFS_FENCED_RUN '$SCOUTFS_FENCED_RUN' isn't executable"
 
 #
-# main loop watching for fence request across all filesystems 
+# Main loop watching for fence request across all filesystems.   The
+# server can shut down without waiting for pending fence requests to
+# finish.  All of the interaction with the fence directory and files can
+# fail at any moment.  We will generate log messages when the dir or
+# files disappear.
 #
 
+# generate failure messages to stderr while still echoing 0 for the caller
+careful_cat()
+{
+	local path="$@"
+
+	cat "$@" || echo 0
+}
+
 while sleep $SCOUTFS_FENCED_DELAY; do
 	for fence in /sys/fs/scoutfs/*/fence/*; do
 		# catches unmatched regex when no dirs
@@ -66,7 +78,8 @@ while sleep $SCOUTFS_FENCED_DELAY; do
 		fi
 
 		# skip requests that have been handled
-		if [ $(cat "$fence/fenced") == 1 -o $(cat "$fence/error") == 1 ]; then
+		if [ "$(careful_cat $fence/fenced)" == 1 -o \
+		     "$(careful_cat $fence/error)" == 1 ]; then
 			continue
 		fi
 
@@ -81,10 +94,10 @@ while sleep $SCOUTFS_FENCED_DELAY; do
 		export SCOUTFS_FENCED_REQ_RID="$rid"
 		export SCOUTFS_FENCED_REQ_IP="$ip"
 
-		$run $SCOUTFS_FENCED_RUN_ARGS
+		$SCOUTFS_FENCED_RUN $SCOUTFS_FENCED_RUN_ARGS
 		rc=$?
 		if [ "$rc" != 0 ]; then
-			log_message "server $srv fencing rid $rid saw error status $rc from $run"
+			log_message "server $srv fencing rid $rid saw error status $rc"
 			echo 1 > "$fence/error"
 			continue
 		fi