diff --git a/cluster/saltbase/salt/etcd/etcd.manifest b/cluster/saltbase/salt/etcd/etcd.manifest
index 5522fef8984..4d896202fa7 100644
--- a/cluster/saltbase/salt/etcd/etcd.manifest
+++ b/cluster/saltbase/salt/etcd/etcd.manifest
@@ -20,9 +20,9 @@
 {% endfor -%}
 {% set etcd_cluster = vars.etcd_cluster -%}
 {% set cluster_state = vars.cluster_state -%}
-{% set storage_backend = pillar.get('storage_backend', 'etcd2') -%}
+{% set storage_backend = pillar.get('storage_backend', 'etcd3') -%}
 {% set quota_bytes = '' -%}
-{% if pillar.get('storage_backend', 'etcd2') == 'etcd3' -%}
+{% if pillar.get('storage_backend', 'etcd3') == 'etcd3' -%}
   {% set quota_bytes = '--quota-backend-bytes=4294967296' -%}
 {% endif -%}
 {% set srv_kube_path = "/srv/kubernetes" -%}
diff --git a/hack/verify-flags/exceptions.txt b/hack/verify-flags/exceptions.txt
index 7ce2ed1defd..b21e95b7a51 100644
--- a/hack/verify-flags/exceptions.txt
+++ b/hack/verify-flags/exceptions.txt
@@ -39,8 +39,8 @@ cluster/photon-controller/util.sh:  node_name=${1}
 cluster/rackspace/util.sh:    local node_ip=$(nova show --minimal ${NODE_NAMES[$i]} \
 cluster/saltbase/salt/cluster-autoscaler/cluster-autoscaler.manifest:{% set params = pillar['autoscaler_mig_config'] + " " + cloud_config -%}
 cluster/saltbase/salt/etcd/etcd.manifest:        "value": "{{ storage_backend }}"
-cluster/saltbase/salt/etcd/etcd.manifest:{% if pillar.get('storage_backend', 'etcd2') == 'etcd3' -%}
-cluster/saltbase/salt/etcd/etcd.manifest:{% set storage_backend = pillar.get('storage_backend', 'etcd2') -%}
+cluster/saltbase/salt/etcd/etcd.manifest:{% if pillar.get('storage_backend', 'etcd3') == 'etcd3' -%}
+cluster/saltbase/salt/etcd/etcd.manifest:{% set storage_backend = pillar.get('storage_backend', 'etcd3') -%}
 cluster/saltbase/salt/kube-admission-controls/init.sls:{% if 'LimitRanger' in pillar.get('admission_control', '') %}
 cluster/saltbase/salt/kube-apiserver/kube-apiserver.manifest:{% set params = address + " " + storage_backend + " " + etcd_servers + " " + etcd_servers_overrides + " " + cloud_provider + " " + cloud_config + " " + runtime_config + " " + feature_gates + " " + admission_control + " " + max_requests_inflight + " " + target_ram_mb + " " + service_cluster_ip_range + " " + client_ca_file + basic_auth_file + " " + min_request_timeout + " " + enable_garbage_collector + " " + etcd_quorum_read -%}
 cluster/saltbase/salt/kube-controller-manager/kube-controller-manager.manifest:{% if pillar.get('enable_hostpath_provisioner', '').lower() == 'true' -%}
diff --git a/pkg/genericapiserver/options/etcd.go b/pkg/genericapiserver/options/etcd.go
index b449dd7bf32..15414cdf3de 100644
--- a/pkg/genericapiserver/options/etcd.go
+++ b/pkg/genericapiserver/options/etcd.go
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ func (s *EtcdOptions) AddFlags(fs *pflag.FlagSet) {
 		"format: group/resource#servers, where servers are http://ip:port, semicolon separated.")
 
 	fs.StringVar(&s.StorageConfig.Type, "storage-backend", s.StorageConfig.Type,
-		"The storage backend for persistence. Options: 'etcd2' (default), 'etcd3'.")
+		"The storage backend for persistence. Options: 'etcd3' (default), 'etcd2'.")
 
 	fs.IntVar(&s.StorageConfig.DeserializationCacheSize, "deserialization-cache-size", s.StorageConfig.DeserializationCacheSize,
 		"Number of deserialized json objects to cache in memory.")
diff --git a/pkg/storage/storagebackend/config.go b/pkg/storage/storagebackend/config.go
index b62f0e27226..b874505ed60 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/storagebackend/config.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/storagebackend/config.go
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ const (
 
 // Config is configuration for creating a storage backend.
 type Config struct {
-	// Type defines the type of storage backend, e.g. "etcd2", etcd3". Default ("") is "etcd2".
+	// Type defines the type of storage backend, e.g. "etcd2", etcd3". Default ("") is "etcd3".
 	Type string
 	// Prefix is the prefix to all keys passed to storage.Interface methods.
 	Prefix string
diff --git a/pkg/storage/storagebackend/factory/factory.go b/pkg/storage/storagebackend/factory/factory.go
index 647f4f9f5b1..d9a4911a244 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/storagebackend/factory/factory.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/storagebackend/factory/factory.go
@@ -29,9 +29,9 @@ type DestroyFunc func()
 // Create creates a storage backend based on given config.
 func Create(c storagebackend.Config) (storage.Interface, DestroyFunc, error) {
 	switch c.Type {
-	case storagebackend.StorageTypeUnset, storagebackend.StorageTypeETCD2:
+	case storagebackend.StorageTypeETCD2:
 		return newETCD2Storage(c)
-	case storagebackend.StorageTypeETCD3:
+	case storagebackend.StorageTypeUnset, storagebackend.StorageTypeETCD3:
 		// TODO: We have the following features to implement:
 		// - Support secure connection by using key, cert, and CA files.
 		// - Honor "https" scheme to support secure connection in gRPC.
diff --git a/test/e2e_node/services/apiserver.go b/test/e2e_node/services/apiserver.go
index 02a0f8acf70..4620691f183 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/services/apiserver.go
+++ b/test/e2e_node/services/apiserver.go
@@ -42,6 +42,10 @@ func NewAPIServer() *APIServer {
 func (a *APIServer) Start() error {
 	config := options.NewServerRunOptions()
 	config.Etcd.StorageConfig.ServerList = []string{getEtcdClientURL()}
+	// TODO: Current setup of etcd in e2e-node tests doesn't support etcd v3
+	// protocol. We should migrate it to use the same infrastructure as all
+	// other tests (pkg/storage/etcd/testing).
+	config.Etcd.StorageConfig.Type = "etcd2"
 	_, ipnet, err := net.ParseCIDR(clusterIPRange)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err