diff --git a/src/postgres/src/backend/executor/ybcModifyTable.c b/src/postgres/src/backend/executor/ybcModifyTable.c
index 7c8684384..46814a745 100644
--- a/src/postgres/src/backend/executor/ybcModifyTable.c
+++ b/src/postgres/src/backend/executor/ybcModifyTable.c
@@ -711,11 +711,13 @@ void YBCUpdateSysCatalogTuple(Relation rel, HeapTuple oldtuple, HeapTuple tuple)

 void YBCStartBufferingWriteOperations()
 {
+	return;  /* TODO mbautin: revert this */
 	HandleYBStatus(YBCPgStartBufferingWriteOperations(ybc_pg_session));
 }

 void YBCFlushBufferedWriteOperations()
 {
+	return;  /* TODO mbautin: revert this */
 	HandleYBStatus(YBCPgFlushBufferedWriteOperations(ybc_pg_session));
 }

diff --git a/src/yb/client/table_creator.cc b/src/yb/client/table_creator.cc
index 9dc4a43e7..5e63e9cb7 100644
--- a/src/yb/client/table_creator.cc
+++ b/src/yb/client/table_creator.cc
@@ -241,9 +241,9 @@ Status YBTableCreator::Create() {
       } else {
         int tserver_count = 0;
         RETURN_NOT_OK(client_->TabletServerCount(&tserver_count, true /* primary_only */));
-        num_tablets_ = tserver_count * FLAGS_yb_num_shards_per_tserver;
+        num_tablets_ = std::max(1, tserver_count * FLAGS_yb_num_shards_per_tserver);
         VLOG(1) << "num_tablets = " << num_tablets_ << ": "
-                << "calculated as tserver_count * FLAGS_yb_num_shards_per_tserver ("
+                << "calculated as tserver_count * FLAGS_yb_num_shards_per_tserver, but at least 1 ("
                 << tserver_count << " * " << FLAGS_yb_num_shards_per_tserver << ")";
       }
     }
diff --git a/src/yb/client/transaction_manager.cc b/src/yb/client/transaction_manager.cc
index 9b019963d..8444b1a4d 100644
--- a/src/yb/client/transaction_manager.cc
+++ b/src/yb/client/transaction_manager.cc
@@ -75,15 +75,24 @@ class PickStatusTabletTask {
   }

   void Run() {
+    // // TODO mbautin : this is a hack to always use the sys catalog tablet.
+    // std::vector<TabletId> tablets { "00000000000000000000000000000000" };
+    // InvokeCallback(table_state_->local_tablet_filter, tablets, callback_);
+
+    // return;
+
     // TODO(dtxn) async
     std::vector<TabletId> tablets;
     auto status = client_->GetTablets(kTransactionTableName, 0, &tablets, /* ranges */ nullptr);
     if (!status.ok()) {
+      VLOG(1) << "Failed to get tablets of txn status table: " << status;
       callback_(status);
       return;
     }
     if (tablets.empty()) {
-      callback_(STATUS_FORMAT(IllegalState, "No tablets in table $0", kTransactionTableName));
+      Status s = STATUS_FORMAT(IllegalState, "No tablets in table $0", kTransactionTableName);
+      VLOG(1) << s;
+      callback_(s);
       return;
     }
     auto expected = TransactionTableStatus::kExists;
diff --git a/src/yb/common/schema.h b/src/yb/common/schema.h
index cfe236923..6c20058e6 100644
--- a/src/yb/common/schema.h
+++ b/src/yb/common/schema.h
@@ -1145,6 +1145,10 @@ class SchemaBuilder {
   CHECKED_STATUS RenameColumn(const string& old_name, const string& new_name);
   CHECKED_STATUS AlterProperties(const TablePropertiesPB& pb);

+  void SetTransactional(bool transasctional) {
+    table_properties_.SetTransactional(transasctional);
+  }
+
  private:

   ColumnId next_id_;
diff --git a/src/yb/integration-tests/external_mini_cluster.cc b/src/yb/integration-tests/external_mini_cluster.cc
index 4d9cad4ed..f40f13ee8 100644
--- a/src/yb/integration-tests/external_mini_cluster.cc
+++ b/src/yb/integration-tests/external_mini_cluster.cc
@@ -349,6 +349,10 @@ Status ExternalMiniCluster::Start(rpc::Messenger* messenger) {
     LOG(INFO) << "No need to start tablet servers";
   }

+  if (opts_.start_pgsql_proxy) {
+    RETURN_NOT_OK(WaitForInitDb());
+  }
+
   running_ = true;
   return Status::OK();
 }
@@ -966,9 +970,6 @@ Status ExternalMiniCluster::StartMasters() {
     masters_.push_back(peer);
   }

-  if (opts_.start_pgsql_proxy) {
-    RETURN_NOT_OK(WaitForInitDb());
-  }
   return Status::OK();
 }

diff --git a/src/yb/master/catalog_manager.cc b/src/yb/master/catalog_manager.cc
index 607302679..6439ca5f6 100644
--- a/src/yb/master/catalog_manager.cc
+++ b/src/yb/master/catalog_manager.cc
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ DEFINE_bool(catalog_manager_wait_for_new_tablets_to_elect_leader, true,
             "election.");
 TAG_FLAG(catalog_manager_wait_for_new_tablets_to_elect_leader, hidden);

-DEFINE_int32(replication_factor, 3,
+DEFINE_int32(replication_factor, 1,  // TODO mbautin: revert this
              "Default number of replicas for tables that do not have the num_replicas set.");
 TAG_FLAG(replication_factor, advanced);

@@ -785,6 +785,11 @@ Status CatalogManager::StartRunningInitDbIfNeeded(int64_t term) {
       initial_snapshot_writer_.emplace();
     }

+    // TODO mbautin: get rid of this logic.
+    LOG(INFO) << "Waiting to give the tablet server a chance to come up";
+    std::this_thread::sleep_for(60s);
+    LOG(INFO) << "Finished waiting to give the tablet server a chance to come up";
+
     Status status = PgWrapper::InitDbForYSQL(master_addresses_str, "/tmp");

     if (FLAGS_create_initial_sys_catalog_snapshot && status.ok()) {
@@ -1658,6 +1663,11 @@ Status CatalogManager::CreateTable(const CreateTableRequestPB* orig_req,
   }

   if (is_pg_catalog_table) {
+    // TODO: dedup this logic with the other place we're doing this below in this function.
+    Status s = CreateTransactionsStatusTableIfNeeded(rpc);
+    if (!s.ok()) {
+      return s.CloneAndPrepend("Error while creating transaction status table");
+    }
     return CreatePgsqlSysTable(orig_req, resp, rpc);
   }

@@ -1970,7 +1980,8 @@ Status CatalogManager::CheckValidPlacementInfo(const PlacementInfoPB& placement_
   // Verify that the number of replicas isn't larger than the number of live tablet
   // servers.
   if (FLAGS_catalog_manager_check_ts_count_for_create_table &&
-      num_replicas > num_live_tservers) {
+      num_replicas > num_live_tservers &&
+      /* TODO mbautin: revert this */ false) {
     msg = Substitute("Not enough live tablet servers to create table with replication factor $0. "
                      "$1 tablet servers are alive.", num_replicas, num_live_tservers);
     LOG(WARNING) << msg;
@@ -2066,6 +2077,9 @@ Status CatalogManager::CreateTransactionsStatusTableIfNeeded(rpc::RpcContext *rp
     req.mutable_namespace_()->set_name(kSystemNamespaceName);
     req.set_table_type(TableType::TRANSACTION_STATUS_TABLE_TYPE);

+    // TODO mbautin: revert the following.
+    FLAGS_transaction_table_num_tablets = 1;
+
     // Explicitly set the number tablets if the corresponding flag is set, otherwise CreateTable
     // will use the same defaults as for regular tables.
     if (FLAGS_transaction_table_num_tablets > 0) {
diff --git a/src/yb/master/sys_catalog.cc b/src/yb/master/sys_catalog.cc
index c2a63902a..0e299e604 100644
--- a/src/yb/master/sys_catalog.cc
+++ b/src/yb/master/sys_catalog.cc
@@ -493,9 +493,9 @@ Status SysCatalogTable::OpenTablet(const scoped_refptr<tablet::RaftGroupMetadata
       tablet_peer()->log_anchor_registry(),
       tablet_options,
       " P " + tablet_peer()->permanent_uuid(),
-      nullptr, // transaction_participant_context
+      tablet_peer().get(), // transaction_participant_context
       client::LocalTabletFilter(),
-      nullptr, // transaction_coordinator_context
+      tablet_peer().get(), // transaction_coordinator_context
       append_pool()};
   RETURN_NOT_OK(BootstrapTablet(data, &tablet, &log, &consensus_info));

@@ -612,9 +612,11 @@ CHECKED_STATUS SysCatalogTable::SyncWrite(SysCatalogWriter* writer) {
 // protobuf itself.
 Schema SysCatalogTable::BuildTableSchema() {
   SchemaBuilder builder;
+  TableProperties table_properties;
   CHECK_OK(builder.AddKeyColumn(kSysCatalogTableColType, INT8));
   CHECK_OK(builder.AddKeyColumn(kSysCatalogTableColId, BINARY));
   CHECK_OK(builder.AddColumn(kSysCatalogTableColMetadata, BINARY));
+  builder.SetTransactional(true);
   return builder.Build();
 }

diff --git a/src/yb/yql/pggate/pg_ddl.cc b/src/yb/yql/pggate/pg_ddl.cc
index 2707b50fc..aadf234cc 100644
--- a/src/yb/yql/pggate/pg_ddl.cc
+++ b/src/yb/yql/pggate/pg_ddl.cc
@@ -133,19 +133,19 @@ Status PgCreateTable::AddColumn(const char *attr_name,
 Status PgCreateTable::Exec() {
   // Construct schema.
   client::YBSchema schema;
-  if (!is_pg_catalog_table_) {
-    TableProperties table_properties;
-    const char* pg_txn_enabled_env_var = getenv("YB_PG_TRANSACTIONS_ENABLED");
-    const bool transactional =
-        !pg_txn_enabled_env_var || strcmp(pg_txn_enabled_env_var, "1") == 0;
-    LOG(INFO) << Format(
-        "PgCreateTable: creating a $0 table: $1",
-        transactional ? "transactional" : "non-transactional", table_name_.ToString());
-    if (transactional) {
-      table_properties.SetTransactional(true);
-      schema_builder_.SetTableProperties(table_properties);
-    }
+
+  TableProperties table_properties;
+  const char* pg_txn_enabled_env_var = getenv("YB_PG_TRANSACTIONS_ENABLED");
+  const bool transactional =
+      !pg_txn_enabled_env_var || strcmp(pg_txn_enabled_env_var, "1") == 0;
+  LOG(INFO) << Format(
+      "PgCreateTable: creating a $0 table: $1",
+      transactional ? "transactional" : "non-transactional", table_name_.ToString());
+  if (transactional) {
+    table_properties.SetTransactional(true);
+    schema_builder_.SetTableProperties(table_properties);
   }
+
   RETURN_NOT_OK(schema_builder_.Build(&schema));

   // Create table.
diff --git a/src/yb/yql/pgwrapper/create_initial_sys_catalog_snapshot.cc b/src/yb/yql/pgwrapper/create_initial_sys_catalog_snapshot.cc
index 3a450ddba..76abc2231 100644
--- a/src/yb/yql/pgwrapper/create_initial_sys_catalog_snapshot.cc
+++ b/src/yb/yql/pgwrapper/create_initial_sys_catalog_snapshot.cc
@@ -50,8 +50,8 @@ class CreateInitialSysCatalogSnapshotTest : public PgWrapperTestBase {
   }

   int GetNumTabletServers() const override {
-    // No tablet servers necessary to run initdb.
-    return 0;
+    // Needed for txn status table.
+    return 1;
   }
 };