diff --git a/providers/flagd/pom.xml b/providers/flagd/pom.xml
index 5c7808528..138adc430 100644
--- a/providers/flagd/pom.xml
+++ b/providers/flagd/pom.xml
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>com.networknt</groupId>
             <artifactId>json-schema-validator</artifactId>
-            <version>1.5.4</version>
+            <version>1.5.5</version>
             <exclusions>
                 <exclusion>
                     <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
@@ -155,12 +155,15 @@
             <version>1.20.4</version>
             <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
+        <!-- uncomment for logoutput during test runs -->
+        <!--
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
             <artifactId>slf4j-simple</artifactId>
             <version>2.0.16</version>
             <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
+        -->
     </dependencies>
 
     <dependencyManagement>
diff --git a/providers/flagd/src/main/java/dev/openfeature/contrib/providers/flagd/FlagdProvider.java b/providers/flagd/src/main/java/dev/openfeature/contrib/providers/flagd/FlagdProvider.java
index b0e1defb4..d662900e0 100644
--- a/providers/flagd/src/main/java/dev/openfeature/contrib/providers/flagd/FlagdProvider.java
+++ b/providers/flagd/src/main/java/dev/openfeature/contrib/providers/flagd/FlagdProvider.java
@@ -111,7 +111,8 @@ public synchronized void initialize(EvaluationContext evaluationContext) throws
         this.flagResolver.init();
         // block till ready - this works with deadline fine for rpc, but with in_process we also need to take parsing
         // into the equation
-        Util.busyWaitAndCheck(this.deadline + 1000, () -> initialized);
+        // TODO: evaluate where we are losing time, so we can remove this magic number - follow up
+        Util.busyWaitAndCheck(this.deadline + 200, () -> initialized);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -184,6 +185,7 @@ EvaluationContext getEnrichedContext() {
         return enrichedContext;
     }
 
+    @SuppressWarnings("checkstyle:fallthrough")
     private void onProviderEvent(FlagdProviderEvent flagdProviderEvent) {
 
         syncMetadata = flagdProviderEvent.getSyncMetadata();
@@ -211,6 +213,8 @@ private void onProviderEvent(FlagdProviderEvent flagdProviderEvent) {
                 }
                 previousEvent = ProviderEvent.PROVIDER_ERROR;
                 break;
+            default:
+                log.info("Unknown event {}", flagdProviderEvent.getEvent());
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/providers/flagd/src/test/java/dev/openfeature/contrib/providers/flagd/e2e/RunRpcTest.java b/providers/flagd/src/test/java/dev/openfeature/contrib/providers/flagd/e2e/RunRpcTest.java
index a950aa351..bcf6d016a 100644
--- a/providers/flagd/src/test/java/dev/openfeature/contrib/providers/flagd/e2e/RunRpcTest.java
+++ b/providers/flagd/src/test/java/dev/openfeature/contrib/providers/flagd/e2e/RunRpcTest.java
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 @ConfigurationParameter(key = GLUE_PROPERTY_NAME, value = "dev.openfeature.contrib.providers.flagd.e2e.steps")
 @ConfigurationParameter(key = OBJECT_FACTORY_PROPERTY_NAME, value = "io.cucumber.picocontainer.PicoFactory")
 @IncludeTags({"rpc"})
-@ExcludeTags({"targetURI"})
+@ExcludeTags({"targetURI", "unixsocket"})
 @Testcontainers
 public class RunRpcTest {
 
diff --git a/providers/flagd/src/test/java/dev/openfeature/contrib/providers/flagd/e2e/steps/ProviderSteps.java b/providers/flagd/src/test/java/dev/openfeature/contrib/providers/flagd/e2e/steps/ProviderSteps.java
index 241f58927..13a8fd70e 100644
--- a/providers/flagd/src/test/java/dev/openfeature/contrib/providers/flagd/e2e/steps/ProviderSteps.java
+++ b/providers/flagd/src/test/java/dev/openfeature/contrib/providers/flagd/e2e/steps/ProviderSteps.java
@@ -38,7 +38,6 @@ public class ProviderSteps extends AbstractSteps {
 
     public static final int UNAVAILABLE_PORT = 9999;
     static Map<ProviderType, FlagdContainer> containers = new HashMap<>();
-    static Map<ProviderType, Map<Config.Resolver, String>> proxyports = new HashMap<>();
     public static Network network = Network.newNetwork();
     public static ToxiproxyContainer toxiproxy =
             new ToxiproxyContainer("ghcr.io/shopify/toxiproxy:2.5.0").withNetwork(network);
@@ -46,17 +45,6 @@ public class ProviderSteps extends AbstractSteps {
 
     static Path sharedTempDir;
 
-    static {
-        try {
-            sharedTempDir = Files.createDirectories(
-                    Paths.get("tmp/" + RandomStringUtils.randomAlphanumeric(8).toLowerCase() + "/"));
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-            throw new RuntimeException(e);
-        }
-    }
-
-    private Timer restartTimer;
-
     public ProviderSteps(State state) {
         super(state);
     }
@@ -83,6 +71,8 @@ public static void beforeAll() throws IOException {
                 ProviderType.DEFAULT, new FlagdContainer().withNetwork(network).withNetworkAliases("default"));
         containers.put(
                 ProviderType.SSL, new FlagdContainer("ssl").withNetwork(network).withNetworkAliases("ssl"));
+        sharedTempDir = Files.createDirectories(
+                Paths.get("tmp/" + RandomStringUtils.randomAlphanumeric(8).toLowerCase() + "/"));
         containers.put(
                 ProviderType.SOCKET,
                 new FlagdContainer("socket")
@@ -209,7 +199,7 @@ public void run() {
                 }
             }
         };
-        restartTimer = new Timer("Timer" + randomizer);
+        Timer restartTimer = new Timer("Timer" + randomizer);
 
         restartTimer.schedule(task, seconds * 1000L);
     }
diff --git a/providers/flagd/src/test/resources/simplelogger.properties b/providers/flagd/src/test/resources/simplelogger.properties
deleted file mode 100644
index 32c1f1a08..000000000
--- a/providers/flagd/src/test/resources/simplelogger.properties
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-org.slf4j.simpleLogger.defaultLogLevel=info
-org.slf4j.simpleLogger.logFile=System.out