diff --git a/e2e/upgrades/run_cluster.sh b/e2e/upgrades/run_cluster.sh
index 11704a6be..78cfe39f5 100755
--- a/e2e/upgrades/run_cluster.sh
+++ b/e2e/upgrades/run_cluster.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@ if [ "$#" -ne 1 ]; then
     exit 255
 fi
 NOMAD_BINARY=$1
+
+# make sure the directories exist so tee can create logs in them
+mkdir -p /tmp/server{1,2,3} /tmp/client{1,2}
+
 # launch server 
 ( ${NOMAD_BINARY} agent -config=server1.hcl 2>&1 | tee "/tmp/server1/log" ; echo "Exit code: $?" >> "/tmp/server1/log" ) &
 
diff --git a/e2e/upgrades/run_node.sh b/e2e/upgrades/run_node.sh
index 7d6d7f012..9a68cf857 100755
--- a/e2e/upgrades/run_node.sh
+++ b/e2e/upgrades/run_node.sh
@@ -9,4 +9,4 @@ if [ "$#" -ne 2 ]; then
 fi
 NOMAD_BINARY=$1
 NODE=$2
-( $NOMAD_BINARY agent -config=${NODE}.hcl 2>&1 | tee "/tmp/$NODE/log" ; echo "Exit code: $?" >> "/tmp/$NODE/log" ) &
+( $NOMAD_BINARY agent -config=${NODE}.hcl 2>&1 | tee -a "/tmp/$NODE/log" ; echo "Exit code: $?" >> "/tmp/$NODE/log" ) &
diff --git a/e2e/upgrades/run_upgrade_safe.sh b/e2e/upgrades/run_upgrade_safe.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..69fc98088
--- /dev/null
+++ b/e2e/upgrades/run_upgrade_safe.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+if [ $# -lt 2 ]; then
+    echo "usage: $0 path-nomad-v1 path-nomad-v2" 1>&2
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+v1="$1"; shift
+v2="$1"; shift
+
+sh run_cluster.sh "$v1" &
+
+function peers () {
+    $v1 operator raft list-peers | tail -n+2 | awk '{print $1 " " $2}'
+}
+
+while true; do
+    n=`peers | grep -c '\bserver[1-3]\b'`
+    [ "$n" = 3 ] && break
+done
+
+function wait_serf () {
+    echo "wait $1 \c"; date
+    while true; do
+	  peers \
+	      | egrep "$1.global [0-9a-f-][0-9a-f-]{35}$" \
+	      && break
+	  sleep 1
+    done
+    echo "done $1 \c"; date
+}
+
+for i in {3,2,1}; do
+    sh kill_node.sh server$i
+    sh run_node.sh "$v2" server$i &
+    wait_serf server$i
+done
diff --git a/e2e/upgrades/run_upgrade_unsafe.sh b/e2e/upgrades/run_upgrade_unsafe.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..50b6c985c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/e2e/upgrades/run_upgrade_unsafe.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+if [ $# -lt 2 ]; then
+    echo "usage: $0 path-nomad-v1 path-nomad-v2" 1>&2
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+v1="$1"; shift
+v2="$1"; shift
+
+# sh run_cluster.sh "$v1" >/dev/null &
+sh run_cluster.sh "$v1" &
+
+while true; do
+    n=`"$v1" operator raft list-peers | grep -c '\bserver[1-3]\b'`
+    [ "$n" = 3 ] && break
+done
+
+for i in {1,2,3}; do
+    sh kill_node.sh server$i
+    sh run_node.sh "$v2" server$i &
+done