diff --git a/storm-core/src/jvm/backtype/storm/messaging/netty/Client.java b/storm-core/src/jvm/backtype/storm/messaging/netty/Client.java
index fed684e..c516b63 100644
--- a/storm-core/src/jvm/backtype/storm/messaging/netty/Client.java
+++ b/storm-core/src/jvm/backtype/storm/messaging/netty/Client.java
@@ -142,6 +142,8 @@
             }
 
             int tried = 0;
+            //setting channel to null to make sure we throw an exception when reconnection fails
+            channel = null;
             while (tried <= max_retries) {
 
                 LOG.info("Reconnect started for {}... [{}]", name(), tried);
diff --git a/storm-core/test/clj/backtype/storm/messaging/netty_unit_test.clj b/storm-core/test/clj/backtype/storm/messaging/netty_unit_test.clj
index ea7b8dc..ed5797d 100644
--- a/storm-core/test/clj/backtype/storm/messaging/netty_unit_test.clj
+++ b/storm-core/test/clj/backtype/storm/messaging/netty_unit_test.clj
@@ -20,15 +20,15 @@
 
 (bootstrap)
 
-(def port 6700) 
-(def task 1) 
+(def port 6700)
+(def task 1)
 
 (deftest test-basic
   (let [req_msg (String. "0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz")
         storm-conf {STORM-MESSAGING-TRANSPORT "backtype.storm.messaging.netty.Context"
                     STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-BUFFER-SIZE 1024
                     STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-MAX-RETRIES 10
-                    STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-MIN-SLEEP-MS 1000 
+                    STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-MIN-SLEEP-MS 1000
                     STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-MAX-SLEEP-MS 5000
                     STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-SERVER-WORKER-THREADS 1
                     STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-CLIENT-WORKER-THREADS 1
@@ -43,14 +43,14 @@
     (is (= req_msg (String. (.message resp))))
     (.close client)
     (.close server)
-    (.term context)))    
+    (.term context)))
 
 (deftest test-large-msg
-  (let [req_msg (apply str (repeat 2048000 'c')) 
+  (let [req_msg (apply str (repeat 2048000 'c'))
         storm-conf {STORM-MESSAGING-TRANSPORT "backtype.storm.messaging.netty.Context"
                     STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-BUFFER-SIZE 102400
                     STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-MAX-RETRIES 10
-                    STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-MIN-SLEEP-MS 1000 
+                    STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-MIN-SLEEP-MS 1000
                     STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-MAX-SLEEP-MS 5000
                     STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-SERVER-WORKER-THREADS 1
                     STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-CLIENT-WORKER-THREADS 1
@@ -65,21 +65,21 @@
     (is (= req_msg (String. (.message resp))))
     (.close client)
     (.close server)
-    (.term context)))    
-    
+    (.term context)))
+
 (deftest test-server-delayed
     (let [req_msg (String. "0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz")
        storm-conf {STORM-MESSAGING-TRANSPORT "backtype.storm.messaging.netty.Context"
                     STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-BUFFER-SIZE 1024
                     STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-MAX-RETRIES 10
-                    STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-MIN-SLEEP-MS 1000 
+                    STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-MIN-SLEEP-MS 1000
                     STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-MAX-SLEEP-MS 5000
                     STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-SERVER-WORKER-THREADS 1
                     STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-CLIENT-WORKER-THREADS 1
                     }
         context (TransportFactory/makeContext storm-conf)
         client (.connect context nil "localhost" port)
-        
+
         server (Thread.
                 (fn []
                   (Thread/sleep 1000)
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@
                         resp (.next iter)]
                     (is (= task (.task resp)))
                     (is (= req_msg (String. (.message resp))))
-                    (.close server) 
+                    (.close server)
                   )))
         _ (.start server)
         _ (.send client task (.getBytes req_msg))
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@
   (let [storm-conf {STORM-MESSAGING-TRANSPORT "backtype.storm.messaging.netty.Context"
                     STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-BUFFER-SIZE 1024000
                     STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-MAX-RETRIES 10
-                    STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-MIN-SLEEP-MS 1000 
+                    STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-MIN-SLEEP-MS 1000
                     STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-MAX-SLEEP-MS 5000
                     STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-SERVER-WORKER-THREADS 1
                     STORM-MESSAGING-NETTY-CLIENT-WORKER-THREADS 1
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@
     (doseq [num  (range 1 100000)]
       (let [req_msg (str num)]
         (.send client task (.getBytes req_msg))))
-    
+
     (let [resp (ArrayList.)
           received (atom 0)]
       (while (< @received (- 100000 1))
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@
       (let [req_msg (str num)
             resp_msg (String. (.message (.get resp (- num 1))))]
         (is (= req_msg resp_msg)))))
-   
+
     (.close client)
     (.close server)
     (.term context)))