diff --git a/src/backups.js b/src/backups.js
index ff92cb843..6abdf4323 100644
--- a/src/backups.js
+++ b/src/backups.js
@@ -234,6 +234,19 @@ function sync(backupConfig, backupId, dataDir, callback) {
         debug('sync: processing task: %j', task);
         var backupFilePath = path.join(getBackupFilePath(backupConfig, backupId, backupConfig.format), task.path);
 
+        if (task.operation === 'removedir') {
+            safe.fs.writeFileSync(paths.BACKUP_RESULT_FILE, `Removing directory ${task.path}`);
+            return api(backupConfig.provider).removeDir(backupConfig, backupFilePath)
+                .on('progress', function (detail) {
+                    debug(`sync: ${detail}`);
+                    safe.fs.writeFileSync(paths.BACKUP_RESULT_FILE, detail);
+                })
+                .on('done', iteratorCallback);
+        } else if (task.operation === 'remove') {
+            safe.fs.writeFileSync(paths.BACKUP_RESULT_FILE, `Removing ${task.path}`);
+            return api(backupConfig.provider).remove(backupConfig, backupFilePath, iteratorCallback);
+        }
+
         var retryCount = 0;
         async.retry({ times: 5, interval: 20000 }, function (retryCallback) {
             ++retryCount;
@@ -243,16 +256,6 @@ function sync(backupConfig, backupId, dataDir, callback) {
                 var stream = fs.createReadStream(path.join(dataDir, task.path));
                 stream.on('error', function () { return retryCallback(); }); // ignore error if file disappears
                 api(backupConfig.provider).upload(backupConfig, backupFilePath, stream, retryCallback);
-            } else if (task.operation === 'remove') {
-                safe.fs.writeFileSync(paths.BACKUP_RESULT_FILE, `Removing ${task.path}`);
-                api(backupConfig.provider).remove(backupConfig, backupFilePath, retryCallback);
-            } else if (task.operation === 'removedir') {
-                var events = api(backupConfig.provider).removeDir(backupConfig, backupFilePath);
-                events.on('progress', function (detail) {
-                    debug(`sync: ${detail}`);
-                    safe.fs.writeFileSync(paths.BACKUP_RESULT_FILE, detail);
-                });
-                events.on('done', retryCallback);
             }
         }, iteratorCallback);
     }, 10 /* concurrency */, function (error) {
@@ -289,7 +292,7 @@ function upload(backupId, format, dataDir, callback) {
         if (error) return callback(new BackupsError(BackupsError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
 
         if (format === 'tgz') {
-            async.retry({ times: 3, interval: 10000 }, function (retryCallback) {
+            async.retry({ times: 5, interval: 20000 }, function (retryCallback) {
                 var tarStream = createTarPackStream(dataDir, backupConfig.key || null);
                 tarStream.on('error', retryCallback); // already returns BackupsError
 
@@ -541,11 +544,9 @@ function rotateBoxBackup(backupConfig, timestamp, appBackupIds, callback) {
     backupdb.add({ id: backupId, version: config.version(), type: backupdb.BACKUP_TYPE_BOX, dependsOn: appBackupIds, restoreConfig: null, format: format }, function (error) {
         if (error) return callback(new BackupsError(BackupsError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
 
-        async.retry({ times: 3, interval: 10000 }, function (retryCallback) {
-            var copy = api(backupConfig.provider).copy(backupConfig, getBackupFilePath(backupConfig, 'snapshot/box', format), getBackupFilePath(backupConfig, backupId, format));
-            copy.on('progress', log);
-            copy.on('done', retryCallback);
-        }, function (copyBackupError) {
+        var copy = api(backupConfig.provider).copy(backupConfig, getBackupFilePath(backupConfig, 'snapshot/box', format), getBackupFilePath(backupConfig, backupId, format));
+        copy.on('progress', log);
+        copy.on('done', function (copyBackupError) {
             const state = copyBackupError ? backupdb.BACKUP_STATE_ERROR : backupdb.BACKUP_STATE_NORMAL;
 
             backupdb.update(backupId, { state: state }, function (error) {
@@ -644,11 +645,9 @@ function rotateAppBackup(backupConfig, app, timestamp, callback) {
     backupdb.add({ id: backupId, version: manifest.version, type: backupdb.BACKUP_TYPE_APP, dependsOn: [ ], restoreConfig: restoreConfig, format: format }, function (error) {
         if (error) return callback(new BackupsError(BackupsError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
 
-        async.retry({ times: 3, interval: 10000 }, function (retryCallback) {
-            var copy = api(backupConfig.provider).copy(backupConfig, getBackupFilePath(backupConfig, `snapshot/app_${app.id}`, format), getBackupFilePath(backupConfig, backupId, format));
-            copy.on('progress', log);
-            copy.on('done', retryCallback);
-        }, function (copyBackupError) {
+        var copy = api(backupConfig.provider).copy(backupConfig, getBackupFilePath(backupConfig, `snapshot/app_${app.id}`, format), getBackupFilePath(backupConfig, backupId, format));
+        copy.on('progress', log);
+        copy.on('done', function (copyBackupError) {
             const state = copyBackupError ? backupdb.BACKUP_STATE_ERROR : backupdb.BACKUP_STATE_NORMAL;
             log(`Rotated app backup of ${app.id} successfully to id ${backupId}`);
 
@@ -716,6 +715,7 @@ function backupApp(app, manifest, callback) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof callback, 'function');
 
     const timestamp = (new Date()).toISOString().replace(/[T.]/g, '-').replace(/[:Z]/g,'');
+    safe.fs.unlinkSync(paths.BACKUP_LOG_FILE); // start fresh log file
 
     progress.set(progress.BACKUP, 10,  'Backing up ' + (app.altDomain || config.appFqdn(app.location)));
 
@@ -733,6 +733,7 @@ function backupBoxAndApps(auditSource, callback) {
     callback = callback || NOOP_CALLBACK;
 
     var timestamp = (new Date()).toISOString().replace(/[T.]/g, '-').replace(/[:Z]/g,'');
+    safe.fs.unlinkSync(paths.BACKUP_LOG_FILE); // start fresh log file
 
     eventlog.add(eventlog.ACTION_BACKUP_START, auditSource, { });
 
diff --git a/src/storage/s3.js b/src/storage/s3.js
index 08e4179d6..2eb245d64 100644
--- a/src/storage/s3.js
+++ b/src/storage/s3.js
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ function mockRestore() {
 
 var gCachedCaasCredentials = { issueDate: null, credentials: null };
 
-function getCaasCredentials(apiConfig, callback) {
+function getCaasConfig(apiConfig, callback) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof apiConfig, 'object');
     assert.strictEqual(typeof callback, 'function');
     assert(apiConfig.token);
@@ -70,7 +70,11 @@ function getCaasCredentials(apiConfig, callback) {
             accessKeyId: result.body.credentials.AccessKeyId,
             secretAccessKey: result.body.credentials.SecretAccessKey,
             sessionToken: result.body.credentials.SessionToken,
-            region: apiConfig.region || 'us-east-1'
+            region: apiConfig.region || 'us-east-1',
+            httpOptions: {
+                timeout: 60000
+            },
+            maxRetries: 5
         };
 
         if (apiConfig.endpoint) credentials.endpoint = new AWS.Endpoint(apiConfig.endpoint);
@@ -84,18 +88,22 @@ function getCaasCredentials(apiConfig, callback) {
     });
 }
 
-function getBackupCredentials(apiConfig, callback) {
+function getS3Config(apiConfig, callback) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof apiConfig, 'object');
     assert.strictEqual(typeof callback, 'function');
 
-    if (apiConfig.provider === 'caas') return getCaasCredentials(apiConfig, callback);
+    if (apiConfig.provider === 'caas') return getCaasConfig(apiConfig, callback);
 
     var credentials = {
         signatureVersion: apiConfig.signatureVersion || 'v4',
         s3ForcePathStyle: true, // Force use path-style url (http://endpoint/bucket/path) instead of host-style (http://bucket.endpoint/path)
         accessKeyId: apiConfig.accessKeyId,
         secretAccessKey: apiConfig.secretAccessKey,
-        region: apiConfig.region || 'us-east-1'
+        region: apiConfig.region || 'us-east-1',
+        httpOptions: {
+            timeout: 60000
+        },
+        maxRetries: 5
     };
 
     if (apiConfig.endpoint) credentials.endpoint = apiConfig.endpoint;
@@ -124,7 +132,7 @@ function upload(apiConfig, backupFilePath, sourceStream, callback) {
         callback(null);
     }
 
-    getBackupCredentials(apiConfig, function (error, credentials) {
+    getS3Config(apiConfig, function (error, credentials) {
         if (error) return callback(error);
 
         var params = {
@@ -154,7 +162,7 @@ function download(apiConfig, backupFilePath, callback) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof backupFilePath, 'string');
     assert.strictEqual(typeof callback, 'function');
 
-    getBackupCredentials(apiConfig, function (error, credentials) {
+    getS3Config(apiConfig, function (error, credentials) {
         if (error) return callback(error);
 
         var params = {
@@ -183,7 +191,7 @@ function download(apiConfig, backupFilePath, callback) {
 }
 
 function listDir(apiConfig, backupFilePath, options, iteratorCallback, callback) {
-    getBackupCredentials(apiConfig, function (error, credentials) {
+    getS3Config(apiConfig, function (error, credentials) {
         if (error) return callback(error);
 
         var s3 = new AWS.S3(credentials);
@@ -368,7 +376,7 @@ function remove(apiConfig, filename, callback) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof filename, 'string');
     assert.strictEqual(typeof callback, 'function');
 
-    getBackupCredentials(apiConfig, function (error, credentials) {
+    getS3Config(apiConfig, function (error, credentials) {
         if (error) return callback(error);
 
         var s3 = new AWS.S3(credentials);
@@ -441,7 +449,7 @@ function testConfig(apiConfig, callback) {
     if ('endpoint' in apiConfig && typeof apiConfig.endpoint !== 'string') return callback(new BackupsError(BackupsError.BAD_FIELD, 'endpoint must be a string'));
 
     // attempt to upload and delete a file with new credentials
-    getBackupCredentials(apiConfig, function (error, credentials) {
+    getS3Config(apiConfig, function (error, credentials) {
         if (error) return callback(error);
 
         var params = {