diff --git a/service/raft/raft_group0.cc b/service/raft/raft_group0.cc
index 9fb4f73c63..b413fde24b 100644
--- a/service/raft/raft_group0.cc
+++ b/service/raft/raft_group0.cc
@@ -112,7 +112,10 @@ public:
             _address_map.set_nonexpiring(addr.id);
             // Notify the direct failure detector that it should track
             // (or liveness of a specific raft server id.
-            _direct_fd.add_endpoint(addr.id.id);
+            if (addr != _my_id) {
+                // No need to ping self to know it's alive
+                _direct_fd.add_endpoint(addr.id.id);
+            }
         }
         for (const auto& addr: del) {
             // RPC 'send' may yield before resolving IP address,
diff --git a/service/raft/raft_group_registry.cc b/service/raft/raft_group_registry.cc
index cabea9f220..574082ac2e 100644
--- a/service/raft/raft_group_registry.cc
+++ b/service/raft/raft_group_registry.cc
@@ -27,8 +27,14 @@ logging::logger rslog("raft_group_registry");
 
 class direct_fd_proxy : public raft::failure_detector, public direct_failure_detector::listener {
     std::unordered_set<raft::server_id> _alive_set;
+    raft::server_id _my_id;
 
 public:
+    direct_fd_proxy(raft::server_id my_id)
+            : _my_id(my_id)
+    {
+    }
+
     future<> mark_alive(direct_failure_detector::pinger::endpoint_id id) override {
         static const auto msg = "marking Raft server {} as alive for raft groups";
 
@@ -63,7 +69,7 @@ public:
     }
 
     bool is_alive(raft::server_id srv) override {
-        return _alive_set.contains(srv);
+        return srv == _my_id || _alive_set.contains(srv);
     }
 };
 // }}} direct_fd_proxy
@@ -145,7 +151,7 @@ raft_group_registry::raft_group_registry(bool is_enabled,
     , _gossiper_proxy(make_shared<gossiper_state_change_subscriber_proxy>(address_map))
     , _address_map{address_map}
     , _direct_fd(fd)
-    , _direct_fd_proxy(make_shared<direct_fd_proxy>())
+    , _direct_fd_proxy(make_shared<direct_fd_proxy>(my_id))
     , _my_id(my_id)
 {
 }