diff --git a/hadoop-ozone/integration-test/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/ozone/client/rpc/TestFailureHandlingByClient.java b/hadoop-ozone/integration-test/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/ozone/client/rpc/TestFailureHandlingByClient.java
index b672d4610fb9..97a4ce164546 100644
--- a/hadoop-ozone/integration-test/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/ozone/client/rpc/TestFailureHandlingByClient.java
+++ b/hadoop-ozone/integration-test/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/ozone/client/rpc/TestFailureHandlingByClient.java
@@ -537,7 +537,8 @@ public void testPipelineExclusionWithPipelineFailure() throws Exception {
       assertThat(keyOutputStream.getExcludeList().getPipelineIds())
           .contains(pipeline.getId());
       assertThat(keyOutputStream.getExcludeList().getContainerIds()).isEmpty();
-      assertThat(keyOutputStream.getExcludeList().getDatanodes()).isEmpty();
+      // Datanodes are not asserted: watchForCommit can time out against the two shut down
+      // followers, which then get recorded as failed servers and added to the exclude list.
       // The close will just write to the buffer
     }
 
diff --git a/hadoop-ozone/integration-test/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/ozone/client/rpc/TestFailureHandlingByClientFlushDelay.java b/hadoop-ozone/integration-test/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/ozone/client/rpc/TestFailureHandlingByClientFlushDelay.java
index 8544313b1e2a..bebba9c0c30b 100644
--- a/hadoop-ozone/integration-test/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/ozone/client/rpc/TestFailureHandlingByClientFlushDelay.java
+++ b/hadoop-ozone/integration-test/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/ozone/client/rpc/TestFailureHandlingByClientFlushDelay.java
@@ -185,8 +185,8 @@ public void testPipelineExclusionWithPipelineFailure() throws Exception {
       key.write(data.getBytes(UTF_8));
       key.flush();
       assertThat(keyOutputStream.getExcludeList().getContainerIds()).isEmpty();
-      assertThat(keyOutputStream.getExcludeList().getDatanodes()).isEmpty();
-      assertThat(keyOutputStream.getExcludeList().getDatanodes()).isEmpty();
+      // Datanodes are not asserted: watchForCommit can time out against the two shut down
+      // followers, which then get recorded as failed servers and added to the exclude list.
       key.write(data.getBytes(UTF_8));
       // The close will just write to the buffer
     }