diff --git a/Vagrantfile b/Vagrantfile
index 1cde748..885f4e3 100644
--- a/Vagrantfile
+++ b/Vagrantfile
@@ -6,7 +6,11 @@ Vagrant.configure(2) do |config|
   config.vm.synced_folder '.', '/vagrant', type: :virtualbox
 
   config.vm.provision 'shell', inline: <<-EOP
-    apt-get install git -y -q
+    echo "deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian jessie-backports main" | tee --append /etc/apt/sources.list > /dev/null
+    sed -i 's/main/main contrib non-free/g' /etc/apt/sources.list
+    apt-get update
+    apt-get remove openjdk-7-jre-headless -y -q
+    apt-get install git openjdk-8-jre -y -q
     gpg --keyserver hkp://keys.gnupg.net --recv-keys 409B6B1796C275462A1703113804BB82D39DC0E3
     curl -sSL https://get.rvm.io | bash -s stable --ruby=jruby-1.7
     usermod -a -G rvm vagrant
diff --git a/lib/logstash/outputs/jdbc.rb b/lib/logstash/outputs/jdbc.rb
index 3ec278c..724163c 100644
--- a/lib/logstash/outputs/jdbc.rb
+++ b/lib/logstash/outputs/jdbc.rb
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ class LogStash::Outputs::Jdbc < LogStash::Outputs::Base
     submit_actions = actions
     count_as_attempt = true
 
-    attempts = 0
+    attempts = 1
 
     sleep_interval = @retry_initial_interval
     while @stopping.false? and (submit_actions and !submit_actions.empty?)
@@ -280,7 +280,7 @@ class LogStash::Outputs::Jdbc < LogStash::Outputs::Base
   end
 
   def retry_exception?(exception)
-    retrying = (exception.respond_to? 'getSQLState' and (RETRYABLE_SQLSTATE_CLASSES.include?(exception.getSQLState[0,2]) or @retry_sql_states.include?(exception.getSQLState)))
+    retrying = (exception.respond_to? 'getSQLState' and (RETRYABLE_SQLSTATE_CLASSES.include?(exception.getSQLState.to_s[0,2]) or @retry_sql_states.include?(exception.getSQLState)))
     log_jdbc_exception(exception, retrying)
 
     retrying
@@ -290,9 +290,9 @@ class LogStash::Outputs::Jdbc < LogStash::Outputs::Base
     current_exception = exception
     loop do
       if retrying
-        @logger.warn('JDBC Exception. Retrying.', exception: current_exception)
+        @logger.warn('JDBC - Exception. Retrying.', exception: current_exception)
       else
-        @logger.warn('JDBC Exception. Not retrying. Dropping event.', exception: current_exception)
+        @logger.error('JDBC - Exception. Not retrying. Dropping event.', exception: current_exception)
       end
       current_exception = current_exception.getNextException
       break if current_exception.nil?
diff --git a/spec/jdbc_spec_helper.rb b/spec/jdbc_spec_helper.rb
index f4200ae..753b425 100644
--- a/spec/jdbc_spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/jdbc_spec_helper.rb
@@ -20,16 +20,22 @@ RSpec.shared_context 'when initializing' do
 end
 
 RSpec.shared_context 'when outputting messages' do
+  let(:logger) { double("logger") }
+
   let(:jdbc_test_table) do
     'logstash_output_jdbc_test'
   end
 
   let(:jdbc_drop_table) do
-    "DROP TABLE IF EXISTS #{jdbc_test_table}"
+    "DROP TABLE #{jdbc_test_table}"
   end
 
   let(:jdbc_create_table) do
-    "CREATE table #{jdbc_test_table} (created_at datetime, message varchar(512))"
+    "CREATE table #{jdbc_test_table} (created_at datetime not null, message varchar(512) not null)"
+  end
+
+  let(:systemd_database_service) do
+    nil
   end
 
   let(:event_fields) do
@@ -42,21 +48,26 @@ RSpec.shared_context 'when outputting messages' do
     # Setup plugin
     output = LogStash::Plugin.lookup('output', 'jdbc').new(jdbc_settings)
     output.register
-    output.logger.subscribe(STDOUT) if ENV['JDBC_DEBUG'] == '1'
+    output.logger = logger
 
     # Setup table
     c = output.instance_variable_get(:@pool).getConnection
 
-    unless jdbc_drop_table.nil?
+    # Derby doesn't support IF EXISTS. 
+    # Seems like the quickest solution. Bleurgh.
+    begin
       stmt = c.createStatement
       stmt.executeUpdate(jdbc_drop_table)
+    rescue
+      # noop
+    ensure
       stmt.close
-    end
 
-    stmt = c.createStatement
-    stmt.executeUpdate(jdbc_create_table)
-    stmt.close
-    c.close
+      stmt = c.createStatement
+      stmt.executeUpdate(jdbc_create_table)
+      stmt.close
+      c.close
+    end
 
     output
   end
@@ -76,4 +87,39 @@ RSpec.shared_context 'when outputting messages' do
 
     expect(count).to eq(1)
   end
+
+  it 'should not save event, and log an unretryable exception' do
+    e = event
+    original_event = e.get('message')
+    e.set('message', nil)
+
+    expect(logger).to receive(:error).once.with(/JDBC - Exception. Not retrying/, Hash)
+    expect { plugin.multi_receive([event]) }.to_not raise_error
+
+    e.set('message', original_event)
+  end
+
+  it 'it should retry after a connection loss, and log a warning' do
+    skip "does not run as a service" if systemd_database_service.nil?
+
+    p = plugin
+
+    # Check that everything is fine right now
+    expect { p.multi_receive([event]) }.not_to raise_error
+
+    # Start a thread to stop and restart the service.
+    t = Thread.new(systemd_database_service) { |systemd_database_service|
+      `sudo systemctl stop #{systemd_database_service}`
+      sleep 10
+      `sudo systemctl start #{systemd_database_service}`
+    }
+
+    # Wait a few seconds to the service to stop
+    sleep 5
+
+    expect(logger).to receive(:warn).at_least(:once).with(/JDBC - Exception. Retrying/, Hash)
+    expect { p.multi_receive([event]) }.to_not raise_error
+
+    t.join
+  end
 end
diff --git a/spec/outputs/jdbc_derby_spec.rb b/spec/outputs/jdbc_derby_spec.rb
index 652ed82..039b5ab 100644
--- a/spec/outputs/jdbc_derby_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/outputs/jdbc_derby_spec.rb
@@ -9,20 +9,17 @@ describe 'logstash-output-jdbc: derby', if: ENV['JDBC_DERBY_JAR'] do
     'JDBC_DERBY_JAR'
   end
 
-  let(:jdbc_drop_table) do
-    nil
-  end
-
   let(:jdbc_create_table) do
-    "CREATE table #{jdbc_test_table} (created_at timestamp, message varchar(512))"
+    "CREATE table #{jdbc_test_table} (created_at timestamp not null, message varchar(512) not null)"
   end
-
+ 
   let(:jdbc_settings) do
     {
       'driver_class' => 'org.apache.derby.jdbc.EmbeddedDriver',
       'connection_string' => 'jdbc:derby:memory:testdb;create=true',
       'driver_jar_path' => ENV[jdbc_jar_env],
-      'statement' => ['insert into logstash_output_jdbc_test (created_at, message) values(?, ?)', '@timestamp', 'message']
+      'statement' => ['insert into logstash_output_jdbc_test (created_at, message) values(?, ?)', '@timestamp', 'message'],
+      'max_flush_exceptions' => 1
     }
   end
 end
diff --git a/spec/outputs/jdbc_mysql_spec.rb b/spec/outputs/jdbc_mysql_spec.rb
index fd4236c..70aef24 100644
--- a/spec/outputs/jdbc_mysql_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/outputs/jdbc_mysql_spec.rb
@@ -9,12 +9,17 @@ describe 'logstash-output-jdbc: mysql', if: ENV['JDBC_MYSQL_JAR'] do
     'JDBC_MYSQL_JAR'
   end
 
+  let(:systemd_database_service) do
+    'mysql'
+  end
+
   let(:jdbc_settings) do
     {
       'driver_class' => 'com.mysql.jdbc.Driver',
       'connection_string' => 'jdbc:mysql://localhost/logstash_output_jdbc_test?user=root',
       'driver_jar_path' => ENV[jdbc_jar_env],
-      'statement' => ["insert into #{jdbc_test_table} (created_at, message) values(?, ?)", '@timestamp', 'message']
+      'statement' => ["insert into #{jdbc_test_table} (created_at, message) values(?, ?)", '@timestamp', 'message'],
+      'max_flush_exceptions' => 1
     }
   end
 end
diff --git a/spec/outputs/jdbc_sqlite_spec.rb b/spec/outputs/jdbc_sqlite_spec.rb
index aa77d40..8b8aa55 100644
--- a/spec/outputs/jdbc_sqlite_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/outputs/jdbc_sqlite_spec.rb
@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@ describe 'logstash-output-jdbc: sqlite', if: ENV['JDBC_SQLITE_JAR'] do
       'driver_class' => 'org.sqlite.JDBC',
       'connection_string' => "jdbc:sqlite:#{JDBC_SQLITE_FILE}",
       'driver_jar_path' => ENV[jdbc_jar_env],
-      'statement' => ["insert into #{jdbc_test_table} (created_at, message) values(?, ?)", '@timestamp', 'message']
+      'statement' => ["insert into #{jdbc_test_table} (created_at, message) values(?, ?)", '@timestamp', 'message'],
+      'max_flush_exceptions' => 1
     }
   end
 end