diff --git a/oam/oamcpp/liboamcpp.cpp b/oam/oamcpp/liboamcpp.cpp
index dfaa71609..aab98c5b8 100644
--- a/oam/oamcpp/liboamcpp.cpp
+++ b/oam/oamcpp/liboamcpp.cpp
@@ -8832,6 +8832,92 @@ namespace oam
 
 		return entry;
 	}
+	
+	/******************************************************************************************
+	* @brief	waitForActive
+	*
+	* purpose:	wait for system to be active
+	*
+	******************************************************************************************/
+	void Oam::waitForActive()
+	{
+	      SystemStatus systemstatus;
+	      SystemProcessStatus systemprocessstatus;
+	      bool bfirst = true;
+
+	      for (int i = 0 ; i < 18 ; i ++)
+	      {
+		  sleep (10);
+		  try
+		  {
+		      getSystemStatus(systemstatus);
+		      if (systemstatus.SystemOpState == ACTIVE)
+		      {
+			  BRM::DBRM dbrm;
+			  try {
+				  int rc = dbrm.getSystemQueryReady();
+				  if (rc == -1 ) {
+				      writeLog("waitForActive: getSystemQueryReady error return: startSystem failed", LOG_TYPE_ERROR);
+				      exceptionControl("waitForActive", API_FAILURE);
+				  }
+				  
+				  if ( rc != 0 )
+				      return;
+				  
+				  writeLog("waitForActive: getSystemQueryReady not ready", LOG_TYPE_DEBUG);
+			  }
+			  catch(...)
+			  {}
+		      }
+
+		      if (systemstatus.SystemOpState == FAILED)
+		      {
+			    exceptionControl("waitForActive", API_FAILURE);
+		      }
+
+		      if (systemstatus.SystemOpState == MAN_OFFLINE)
+		      {
+			    exceptionControl("waitForActive", API_FAILURE);
+		      }
+
+		      cout << "." << flush;
+
+		      // Check DMLProc for a switch to BUSY_INIT.
+		      // In such a case, we need to print a message that rollbacks
+		      // are occurring and will take some time.
+		      if (bfirst) // Once we've printed our message, no need to waste cpu looking
+		      {
+			  getProcessStatus(systemprocessstatus);
+			  for (unsigned int i = 0 ; i < systemprocessstatus.processstatus.size(); i++)
+			  {
+			      if (systemprocessstatus.processstatus[i].ProcessName  == "DMLProc")
+			      {
+				  if (systemprocessstatus.processstatus[i].ProcessOpState == oam::ROLLBACK_INIT)
+				  {
+				      cout << endl << endl <<"   System Not Ready, DMLProc is checking/processing rollback of abandoned transactions. Processing could take some time, please wait..." << flush;
+				      bfirst = false;
+				  }
+				  // At this point, we've found our DMLProc, so there's no need to spin the for loop
+				  // any further.
+				  break;
+			      }
+			  }
+		      }
+		  }
+		  catch (...)
+		  {
+		      // At some point, we need to give up, ProcMon just isn't going to respond.
+		      if (i > 18) // 3 minutes
+		      {
+			      cout << endl << endl << "TIMEOUT: ProcMon not responding to getSystemStatus";
+			      break;
+		      }
+		  }
+	      }
+
+	      exceptionControl("waitForActive", API_FAILURE);
+	}
+	
 
     /***************************************************************************
      * PRIVATE FUNCTIONS
diff --git a/oam/oamcpp/liboamcpp.h b/oam/oamcpp/liboamcpp.h
index f23f73dbd..51c1f773c 100644
--- a/oam/oamcpp/liboamcpp.h
+++ b/oam/oamcpp/liboamcpp.h
@@ -2481,6 +2481,10 @@ namespace oam
 
 		bool checkSystemRunning();
 
+		/** @brief wait for system to be active
+		*/
+		EXPORT void waitForActive();
+
     private:
 
 	    int sendMsgToProcMgr3(messageqcpp::ByteStream::byte requestType, alarmmanager::AlarmList& alarmlist, const std::string date);
diff --git a/oamapps/mcsadmin/mcsadmin.cpp b/oamapps/mcsadmin/mcsadmin.cpp
index f7a6e2a38..935d081cc 100644
--- a/oamapps/mcsadmin/mcsadmin.cpp
+++ b/oamapps/mcsadmin/mcsadmin.cpp
@@ -77,62 +77,13 @@ bool SendToWES(Oam& oam, ByteStream bs);
 bool waitForActive() 
 {
     Oam oam;
-    SystemStatus systemstatus;
-    SystemProcessStatus systemprocessstatus;
-    bool bfirst = true;
-
-    for (int i = 0 ; i < 1200 ; i ++)
+    try
     {
-        sleep (3);
-        try
-        {
-            oam.getSystemStatus(systemstatus);
-            if (systemstatus.SystemOpState == ACTIVE)
-            {
-                return true;
-            }
-            if (systemstatus.SystemOpState == FAILED)
-            {
-                return false;
-            }
-            if (systemstatus.SystemOpState == MAN_OFFLINE)
-            {
-                return false;
-            }
-            cout << "." << flush;
-
-            // Check DMLProc for a switch to BUSY_INIT.
-            // In such a case, we need to print a message that rollbacks
-            // are occurring and will take some time.
-            if (bfirst) // Once we've printed our message, no need to waste cpu looking
-            {
-                oam.getProcessStatus(systemprocessstatus);
-                for (unsigned int i = 0 ; i < systemprocessstatus.processstatus.size(); i++)
-                {
-                    if (systemprocessstatus.processstatus[i].ProcessName  == "DMLProc")
-                    {
-                        if (systemprocessstatus.processstatus[i].ProcessOpState == oam::ROLLBACK_INIT)
-                        {
-							cout << endl << endl <<"   System Not Ready, DMLProc is checking/processing rollback of abandoned transactions. Processing could take some time, please wait..." << flush;
-                            bfirst = false;
-                        }
-                        // At this point, we've found our DMLProc, so there's no need to spin the for loop
-                        // any further.
-                        break;
-                    }
-                }
-            }
-        }
-        catch (...)
-        {
-			// At some point, we need to give up, ProcMgr just isn't going to respond.
-			if (i > 60) // 3 minutes
-			{
-				cout << "ProcMgr not responding while waiting for system to start";
-				break;
-			}
-        }
+	oam.waitForActive();
+	return true;
     }
+    catch (...)
+    {}
 
     return false;
 }
diff --git a/oamapps/postConfigure/helpers.cpp b/oamapps/postConfigure/helpers.cpp
index b53a17302..f8cc46990 100644
--- a/oamapps/postConfigure/helpers.cpp
+++ b/oamapps/postConfigure/helpers.cpp
@@ -74,28 +74,21 @@ void callFree(const char* )
 }
 
 
-
 bool waitForActive() 
 {
-	Oam oam;
+    Oam oam;
+    try
+    {
+	oam.waitForActive();
+	return true;
+    }
+    catch (...)
+    {}
 
-	const string cmd = installDir + "/bin/mcsadmin getsystemstatus > /tmp/wait.log";
-	system(cmd.c_str());
-
-	for ( int i = 0 ; i < 120 ; i ++ )
-	{
-		if (oam.checkLogStatus("/tmp/wait.log", "System        ACTIVE") )
-			return true;
-		if ( oam.checkLogStatus("/tmp/wait.log", "System        FAILED") )
-			return false;
-		cout << ".";
-		cout.flush();
-		sleep (10);
-		system(cmd.c_str());
-	}
-	return false;
+    return false;
 }
 
+
 void dbrmDirCheck() 
 {