diff --git a/attrd/attrd_common_alerts.c b/attrd/attrd_common_alerts.c
index 3432009af3..3ab4c3c3e1 100644
--- a/attrd/attrd_common_alerts.c
+++ b/attrd/attrd_common_alerts.c
@@ -1,152 +1,157 @@
 /*
  * Copyright (C) 2015 Andrew Beekhof <andrew@beekhof.net>
  *
  * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
  * modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
  * License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
  * version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
  *
  * This software is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
  * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
  * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
  * General Public License for more details.
  *
  * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
  * License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
  * Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA
  */
 #include <crm_internal.h>
 #include <crm/crm.h>
 #include <crm/cib/internal.h>
 #include <crm/msg_xml.h>
 #include <crm/cluster/internal.h>
 #include <crm/cluster/election.h>
 #include <internal.h>
 #include <crm/common/alerts_internal.h>
 #include <crm/pengine/rules_internal.h>
 #include <crm/lrmd_alerts_internal.h>
 
 static GListPtr attrd_alert_list = NULL;
 
 static void
 attrd_lrmd_callback(lrmd_event_data_t * op)
 {
     CRM_CHECK(op != NULL, return);
     switch (op->type) {
         case lrmd_event_disconnect:
             crm_info("Lost connection to LRMD");
             attrd_lrmd_disconnect();
             break;
         default:
             break;
     }
 }
 
 static lrmd_t *
 attrd_lrmd_connect()
 {
     if (the_lrmd == NULL) {
         the_lrmd = lrmd_api_new();
         the_lrmd->cmds->set_callback(the_lrmd, attrd_lrmd_callback);
     }
 
     if (!the_lrmd->cmds->is_connected(the_lrmd)) {
         const unsigned int max_attempts = 10;
         int ret = -ENOTCONN;
 
         for (int fails = 0; fails < max_attempts; ++fails) {
             ret = the_lrmd->cmds->connect(the_lrmd, T_ATTRD, NULL);
             if (ret == pcmk_ok) {
                 break;
             }
 
             crm_debug("Could not connect to LRMD, %d tries remaining",
                       (max_attempts - fails));
             /* @TODO We don't want to block here with sleep, but we should wait
              * some time between connection attempts. We could possibly add a
              * timer with a callback, but then we'd likely need an alert queue.
              */
         }
 
         if (ret != pcmk_ok) {
             attrd_lrmd_disconnect();
         }
     }
 
     return the_lrmd;
 }
 
 void
 attrd_lrmd_disconnect() {
     if (the_lrmd) {
         lrmd_t *conn = the_lrmd;
 
         the_lrmd = NULL; /* in case we're called recursively */
         lrmd_api_delete(conn); /* will disconnect if necessary */
     }
 }
 
 static void
 config_query_callback(xmlNode * msg, int call_id, int rc, xmlNode * output, void *user_data)
 {
     xmlNode *crmalerts = NULL;
 
-    if (rc != pcmk_ok) {
-        crm_err("Local CIB query resulted in an error: %s", pcmk_strerror(rc));
+    if (rc == -ENXIO) {
+        crm_debug("Local CIB has no alerts section");
+        return;
+    } else if (rc != pcmk_ok) {
+        crm_notice("Could not query local CIB: %s", pcmk_strerror(rc));
         return;
     }
 
     crmalerts = output;
     if (crmalerts && !crm_str_eq(crm_element_name(crmalerts),
                                  XML_CIB_TAG_ALERTS, TRUE)) {
         crmalerts = first_named_child(crmalerts, XML_CIB_TAG_ALERTS);
     }
     if (!crmalerts) {
-        crm_err("Local CIB query for " XML_CIB_TAG_ALERTS " section failed");
+        crm_notice("CIB query result has no " XML_CIB_TAG_ALERTS " section");
         return;
     }
 
     pe_free_alert_list(attrd_alert_list);
     attrd_alert_list = pe_unpack_alerts(crmalerts);
 }
 
+#define XPATH_ALERTS \
+    "/" XML_TAG_CIB "/" XML_CIB_TAG_CONFIGURATION "/" XML_CIB_TAG_ALERTS
+
 gboolean
 attrd_read_options(gpointer user_data)
 {
     int call_id;
-    
+
     if (the_cib) {
-        call_id = the_cib->cmds->query(the_cib,
-            "//" XML_CIB_TAG_ALERTS,
-            NULL, cib_xpath | cib_scope_local);
+        call_id = the_cib->cmds->query(the_cib, XPATH_ALERTS, NULL,
+                                       cib_xpath | cib_scope_local);
 
         the_cib->cmds->register_callback_full(the_cib, call_id, 120, FALSE,
                                               NULL,
                                               "config_query_callback",
                                               config_query_callback, free);
 
         crm_trace("Querying the CIB... call %d", call_id);
     } else {
-        crm_err("Querying the CIB...CIB connection not active");
+        crm_err("Could not check for alerts configuration: CIB connection not active");
     }
     return TRUE;
 }
 
 void
 attrd_cib_updated_cb(const char *event, xmlNode * msg)
 {
     if (crm_patchset_contains_alert(msg, FALSE)) {
         mainloop_set_trigger(attrd_config_read);
     }
 }
 
 int
 attrd_send_attribute_alert(const char *node, int nodeid,
                            const char *attr, const char *value)
 {
     if (attrd_alert_list == NULL) {
         return pcmk_ok;
     }
     return lrmd_send_attribute_alert(attrd_lrmd_connect(), attrd_alert_list,
                                      node, nodeid, attr, value);
 }