diff --git a/rabbitmq/templates/bin/_rabbitmq-liveness.sh.tpl b/rabbitmq/templates/bin/_rabbitmq-liveness.sh.tpl
index 2f30aa437..2f5109fd3 100644
--- a/rabbitmq/templates/bin/_rabbitmq-liveness.sh.tpl
+++ b/rabbitmq/templates/bin/_rabbitmq-liveness.sh.tpl
@@ -18,4 +18,8 @@ limitations under the License.
 
 set -e
 
-exec rabbitmqctl status
+if [ -f /run/rabbit-disable-liveness-probe ]; then
+   exit 0
+else
+   exec rabbitmqctl status
+fi
diff --git a/rabbitmq/templates/bin/_rabbitmq-readiness.sh.tpl b/rabbitmq/templates/bin/_rabbitmq-readiness.sh.tpl
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2f30aa437
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rabbitmq/templates/bin/_rabbitmq-readiness.sh.tpl
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+{{/*
+Copyright 2017 The Openstack-Helm Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/}}
+
+set -e
+
+exec rabbitmqctl status
diff --git a/rabbitmq/templates/bin/_rabbitmq-start.sh.tpl b/rabbitmq/templates/bin/_rabbitmq-start.sh.tpl
index 56be4682e..df067a137 100644
--- a/rabbitmq/templates/bin/_rabbitmq-start.sh.tpl
+++ b/rabbitmq/templates/bin/_rabbitmq-start.sh.tpl
@@ -18,4 +18,45 @@ limitations under the License.
 
 set -ex
 
+function check_if_open () {
+  HOST=$1
+  PORT=$2
+  timeout 10 bash -c "true &>/dev/null </dev/tcp/${HOST}/${PORT}"
+}
+
+function check_rabbit_node_health () {
+  CLUSTER_SEED_NAME=$1
+  rabbitmq-diagnostics node_health_check -n "${CLUSTER_SEED_NAME}" -t 10 &>/dev/null
+}
+
+function check_rabbit_node_ready () {
+  TARGET_POD=$1
+  POD_NAME_PREFIX="$(echo "${MY_POD_NAME}" | awk 'BEGIN{FS=OFS="-"}{NF--; print}')"
+  CLUSTER_SEED_NAME="$(echo "${RABBITMQ_NODENAME}" | awk -F "@${MY_POD_NAME}." "{ print \$1 \"@${POD_NAME_PREFIX}-${TARGET_POD}.\" \$2 }")"
+  CLUSTER_SEED_HOST="$(echo "${CLUSTER_SEED_NAME}" | awk -F '@' '{ print $NF }')"
+  check_rabbit_node_health "${CLUSTER_SEED_NAME}" && \
+  check_if_open "${CLUSTER_SEED_HOST}" "${PORT_HTTP}" && \
+  check_if_open "${CLUSTER_SEED_HOST}" "${PORT_AMPQ}" && \
+  check_if_open "${CLUSTER_SEED_HOST}" "${PORT_CLUSTERING}"
+}
+
+POD_INCREMENT=$(echo "${MY_POD_NAME}" | awk -F '-' '{print $NF}')
+if ! [ "${POD_INCREMENT}" -eq "0" ] && ! [ -d "/var/lib/rabbitmq/mnesia" ] ; then
+  echo 'This is not the 1st rabbit pod & has not been initialised'
+  # disable liveness probe as it may take some time for the pod to come online.
+  touch /run/rabbit-disable-liveness-probe
+  POD_NAME_PREFIX="$(echo "${MY_POD_NAME}" | awk 'BEGIN{FS=OFS="-"}{NF--; print}')"
+  for TARGET_POD in $(seq 0 +1 $((POD_INCREMENT - 1 ))); do
+    END=$(($(date +%s) + 900))
+    while ! check_rabbit_node_ready "${TARGET_POD}"; do
+      sleep 5
+      if [ "$(date +%s)" -gt "$END" ]; then
+        echo "RabbitMQ pod ${TARGET_POD} not ready in time"
+        exit 1
+      fi
+    done
+  done
+  rm -fv /run/rabbit-disable-liveness-probe
+fi
+
 exec rabbitmq-server
diff --git a/rabbitmq/templates/configmap-bin.yaml b/rabbitmq/templates/configmap-bin.yaml
index 26cbef384..367e5e91f 100644
--- a/rabbitmq/templates/configmap-bin.yaml
+++ b/rabbitmq/templates/configmap-bin.yaml
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ data:
 {{ tuple "bin/_rabbitmq-test.sh.tpl" . | include "helm-toolkit.utils.template" | indent 4 }}
   rabbitmq-liveness.sh: |
 {{ tuple "bin/_rabbitmq-liveness.sh.tpl" . | include  "helm-toolkit.utils.template" | indent 4 }}
+  rabbitmq-readiness.sh: |
+{{ tuple "bin/_rabbitmq-readiness.sh.tpl" . | include  "helm-toolkit.utils.template" | indent 4 }}
   rabbitmq-start.sh: |
 {{ tuple "bin/_rabbitmq-start.sh.tpl" . | include  "helm-toolkit.utils.template" | indent 4 }}
   rabbitmq-cookie.sh: |
diff --git a/rabbitmq/templates/statefulset.yaml b/rabbitmq/templates/statefulset.yaml
index 951fae8d0..1016f7f2b 100644
--- a/rabbitmq/templates/statefulset.yaml
+++ b/rabbitmq/templates/statefulset.yaml
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ metadata:
 spec:
   serviceName: {{ tuple "oslo_messaging" "discovery" . | include "helm-toolkit.endpoints.hostname_short_endpoint_lookup" }}
   replicas: {{ $envAll.Values.pod.replicas.server }}
+  podManagementPolicy: "Parallel"
   selector:
     matchLabels:
 {{ tuple $envAll "rabbitmq" "server" | include "helm-toolkit.snippets.kubernetes_metadata_labels" | indent 6 }}
@@ -183,12 +184,18 @@ spec:
               value: ".{{ tuple "oslo_messaging" "discovery" . | include "helm-toolkit.endpoints.hostname_fqdn_endpoint_lookup" }}"
             - name: RABBITMQ_ERLANG_COOKIE
               value: "{{ $envAll.Values.endpoints.oslo_messaging.auth.erlang_cookie }}"
+            - name: PORT_HTTP
+              value: "{{ tuple "oslo_messaging" "internal" "http" . | include "helm-toolkit.endpoints.endpoint_port_lookup" }}"
+            - name: PORT_AMPQ
+              value: "{{ tuple "oslo_messaging" "internal" "amqp" . | include "helm-toolkit.endpoints.endpoint_port_lookup" }}"
+            - name: PORT_CLUSTERING
+              value: "{{ add (tuple "oslo_messaging" "internal" "amqp" . | include "helm-toolkit.endpoints.endpoint_port_lookup") 20000 }}"
           readinessProbe:
             initialDelaySeconds: 10
             timeoutSeconds: 10
             exec:
               command:
-              - /tmp/rabbitmq-liveness.sh
+              - /tmp/rabbitmq-readiness.sh
           livenessProbe:
             initialDelaySeconds: 30
             timeoutSeconds: 10
@@ -202,6 +209,10 @@ spec:
               mountPath: /tmp/rabbitmq-start.sh
               subPath: rabbitmq-start.sh
               readOnly: true
+            - name: rabbitmq-bin
+              mountPath: /tmp/rabbitmq-readiness.sh
+              subPath: rabbitmq-readiness.sh
+              readOnly: true
             - name: rabbitmq-bin
               mountPath: /tmp/rabbitmq-liveness.sh
               subPath: rabbitmq-liveness.sh