diff --git a/cluster/etcd.go b/cluster/etcd.go
index 8a9aa782..41155f2f 100644
--- a/cluster/etcd.go
+++ b/cluster/etcd.go
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ func (c *Cluster) PrepareBackup(ctx context.Context, snapshotPath string) error
 	// local backup case
 	var backupServer *hosts.Host
 	backupImage := c.getBackupImage()
+	var errors []error
 	if !util.IsRancherBackupSupported(c.SystemImages.Alpine) {
 		log.Warnf(ctx, "Auto local backup sync is not supported in `%s`. Using `%s` instead.", c.SystemImages.Alpine, backupImage)
 	}
@@ -41,11 +42,22 @@ func (c *Cluster) PrepareBackup(ctx context.Context, snapshotPath string) error
 			if backupServer == nil { // start the download server, only one node should have it!
 				if err := services.StartBackupServer(ctx, host, c.PrivateRegistriesMap, backupImage, snapshotPath); err != nil {
 					log.Warnf(ctx, "failed to start backup server on host [%s]: %v", host.Address, err)
+					errors = append(errors, err)
 					continue
 				}
 				backupServer = host
+				break
 			}
 		}
+
+		if backupServer == nil { //failed to start the backupServer, I will cleanup and exit
+			for _, host := range c.EtcdHosts {
+				if err := docker.StartContainer(ctx, host.DClient, host.Address, services.EtcdContainerName); err != nil {
+					log.Warnf(ctx, "failed to start etcd container on host [%s]: %v", host.Address, err)
+				}
+			}
+			return fmt.Errorf("failed to start backup server on all etcd nodes: %v", errors)
+		}
 		// start downloading the snapshot
 		for _, host := range c.EtcdHosts {
 			if backupServer != nil && host.Address == backupServer.Address { // we skip the backup server if it's there
diff --git a/services/etcd.go b/services/etcd.go
index 29135858..10d06f30 100644
--- a/services/etcd.go
+++ b/services/etcd.go
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/rancher/rke/log"
 	"github.com/rancher/rke/pki"
 	"github.com/rancher/rke/util"
-	"github.com/rancher/types/apis/management.cattle.io/v3"
+	v3 "github.com/rancher/types/apis/management.cattle.io/v3"
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"golang.org/x/sync/errgroup"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/util/cert"
@@ -511,14 +511,33 @@ func StartBackupServer(ctx context.Context, etcdHost *hosts.Host, prsMap map[str
 		},
 		Image: etcdSnapshotImage,
 	}
+
 	hostCfg := &container.HostConfig{
 		Binds: []string{
 			fmt.Sprintf("%s:/backup", EtcdSnapshotPath),
 			fmt.Sprintf("%s:/etc/kubernetes:z", path.Join(etcdHost.PrefixPath, "/etc/kubernetes"))},
 		NetworkMode:   container.NetworkMode("host"),
-		RestartPolicy: container.RestartPolicy{Name: "on-failure"},
+		RestartPolicy: container.RestartPolicy{Name: "no"},
 	}
-	return docker.DoRunContainer(ctx, etcdHost.DClient, imageCfg, hostCfg, EtcdServeBackupContainerName, etcdHost.Address, ETCDRole, prsMap)
+	if err := docker.DoRunContainer(ctx, etcdHost.DClient, imageCfg, hostCfg, EtcdServeBackupContainerName, etcdHost.Address, ETCDRole, prsMap); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	container, err := docker.InspectContainer(ctx, etcdHost.DClient, etcdHost.Address, EtcdServeBackupContainerName)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if !container.State.Running {
+		containerLog, _, err := docker.GetContainerLogsStdoutStderr(ctx, etcdHost.DClient, EtcdServeBackupContainerName, "1", false)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if err := docker.RemoveContainer(ctx, etcdHost.DClient, etcdHost.Address, EtcdServeBackupContainerName); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		// printing the restore container's logs
+		return fmt.Errorf("Failed to run backup server container, container logs: %s", containerLog)
+	}
+	return nil
 }
 
 func DownloadEtcdSnapshotFromBackupServer(ctx context.Context, etcdHost *hosts.Host, prsMap map[string]v3.PrivateRegistry, etcdSnapshotImage, name string, backupServer *hosts.Host) error {
diff --git a/util/util.go b/util/util.go
index 4bdb65bd..4005a8ce 100644
--- a/util/util.go
+++ b/util/util.go
@@ -7,13 +7,14 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/coreos/go-semver/semver"
-	"github.com/rancher/types/apis/management.cattle.io/v3"
+	v3 "github.com/rancher/types/apis/management.cattle.io/v3"
 )
 
 const (
 	WorkerThreads = 50
-
-	SupportedSyncToolsVersion = "0.1.22"
+	// this should be kept at the latest version of rke released with
+	// rancher 2.2.0.
+	SupportedSyncToolsVersion = "0.1.25"
 )
 
 func StrToSemVer(version string) (*semver.Version, error) {
@@ -115,6 +116,11 @@ func GetDefaultRKETools() string {
 	return v3.AllK8sVersions[v3.DefaultK8s].Alpine
 }
 
+// with rancher 2.2.0 and rke 0.2.0, etcdbackup was completely refactored
+// and the interface for the rke-tools backup command changed significantly.
+// This function is used to check the the release rke-tools version to choose
+// between the new backup or the legacy backup code paths.
+// The released version of rke-tools should be set in the const SupportedSyncToolsVersion
 func IsRancherBackupSupported(image string) bool {
 	v := strings.Split(image, ":")
 	last := v[len(v)-1]