diff --git a/jstests/noPassthrough/startup_logging.js b/jstests/noPassthrough/startup_logging.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6056085a963
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jstests/noPassthrough/startup_logging.js
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+/**
+ * Tests that normal startup writes to the log files as expected.
+ */
+
+(function() {
+
+    'use strict';
+
+    function makeRegExMatchFn(pattern) {
+        return function(text) {
+            return pattern.test(text);
+        };
+    }
+
+    function testStartupLogging(launcher, matchFn, expectedExitCode) {
+        assert(matchFn(rawMongoProgramOutput()));
+    }
+
+    function validateWaitingMessage(launcher) {
+        clearRawMongoProgramOutput();
+        var conn = launcher.start({});
+        testStartupLogging(launcher, makeRegExMatchFn(/waiting for connections on port/));
+        launcher.stop(conn, undefined, {});
+    }
+
+    print("********************\nTesting startup logging in mongod\n********************");
+
+    validateWaitingMessage({
+        start: function(opts) {
+            var actualOpts = {nojournal: ""};
+            Object.extend(actualOpts, opts);
+            return MongoRunner.runMongod(actualOpts);
+        },
+        stop: MongoRunner.stopMongod
+    });
+
+}());
diff --git a/jstests/noPassthrough/transportlayer_boot_cmdline.js b/jstests/noPassthrough/transportlayer_boot_cmdline.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..29064893f99
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jstests/noPassthrough/transportlayer_boot_cmdline.js
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+/**
+ * Tests the valid combinations to start a mongod works properly
+ *
+ */
+
+(function() {
+    'use strict';
+
+    var baseDir = "jstests_transportlayer_boot_cmdline";
+    var dbpath = MongoRunner.dataPath + baseDir + "/";
+
+    var m = MongoRunner.runMongod({dbpath: dbpath, transportLayer: 'legacy'});
+    assert(m, 'MongoDB with transportLayer=legacy failed to start up');
+    MongoRunner.stopMongod(m);
+
+    m = MongoRunner.runMongod(
+        {dbpath: dbpath, transportLayer: 'legacy', serviceExecutor: 'synchronous'});
+    assert(m,
+           'MongoDB with transportLayer=legacy and serviceExecutor=synchronous failed to start up');
+    MongoRunner.stopMongod(m);
+
+    m = MongoRunner.runMongod(
+        {dbpath: dbpath, transportLayer: 'legacy', serviceExecutor: 'fixedForTesting'});
+    assert.isnull(
+        m,
+        'MongoDB with transportLayer=legacy and serviceExecutor=fixedForTesting managed to startup which is an unsupported combination');
+    if (m) {
+        MongoRunner.stopMongod(m);
+    }
+}());
diff --git a/src/mongo/db/server_options_helpers.cpp b/src/mongo/db/server_options_helpers.cpp
index 52bf5e2022c..7cbd6013d32 100644
--- a/src/mongo/db/server_options_helpers.cpp
+++ b/src/mongo/db/server_options_helpers.cpp
@@ -817,14 +817,18 @@ Status storeServerOptions(const moe::Environment& params) {
     }
 
     if (params.count("net.serviceExecutor")) {
-        if (serverGlobalParams.transportLayer == "legacy") {
-            return {ErrorCodes::BadValue,
-                    "Cannot specify a serviceExecutor with the legacy transportLayer"};
-        }
-        const auto valid = {"synchronous"_sd, "fixedForTesting"_sd};
         auto value = params["net.serviceExecutor"].as<std::string>();
-        if (std::find(valid.begin(), valid.end(), value) == valid.end()) {
-            return {ErrorCodes::BadValue, "Unsupported value for serviceExecutor"};
+        if (serverGlobalParams.transportLayer == "legacy") {
+            if (value != "synchronous"_sd) {
+                return {ErrorCodes::BadValue,
+                        "Unsupported value for serviceExecutor with the legacy transportLayer, "
+                        "must be \"synchronous\""};
+            }
+        } else {
+            const auto valid = {"synchronous"_sd, "fixedForTesting"_sd};
+            if (std::find(valid.begin(), valid.end(), value) == valid.end()) {
+                return {ErrorCodes::BadValue, "Unsupported value for serviceExecutor"};
+            }
         }
         serverGlobalParams.serviceExecutor = value;
     } else {
diff --git a/src/mongo/transport/transport_layer_asio.cpp b/src/mongo/transport/transport_layer_asio.cpp
index 9d0b894071d..b3d0f0e5c9f 100644
--- a/src/mongo/transport/transport_layer_asio.cpp
+++ b/src/mongo/transport/transport_layer_asio.cpp
@@ -251,6 +251,14 @@ Status TransportLayerASIO::start() {
         _acceptConnection(acceptor);
     }
 
+    const char* ssl = "";
+#ifdef MONGO_CONFIG_SSL
+    if (_sslMode != SSLParams::SSLMode_disabled) {
+        ssl = " ssl";
+    }
+#endif
+    log() << "waiting for connections on port " << _listenerOptions.port << ssl;
+
     return Status::OK();
 }