diff --git a/src/kibana/components/notify/_notifier.js b/src/kibana/components/notify/_notifier.js
index 58a4af812ad010..4f49699d0aefaa 100644
--- a/src/kibana/components/notify/_notifier.js
+++ b/src/kibana/components/notify/_notifier.js
@@ -141,10 +141,16 @@ define(function (require) {
    */
   Notifier.prototype.timed = function (name, fn) {
     var self = this;
+
+    if (typeof name === 'function') {
+      fn = name;
+      name = fn.name;
+    }
+
     return function WrappedNotifierFunction() {
       var cntx = this;
       var args = arguments;
-      
+
       return self.event(name, function () {
         return fn.apply(cntx, args);
       });
diff --git a/src/kibana/components/setup/steps/check_es_version.js b/src/kibana/components/setup/steps/check_es_version.js
index f7350bcc4595ac..54534043d4c69d 100644
--- a/src/kibana/components/setup/steps/check_es_version.js
+++ b/src/kibana/components/setup/steps/check_es_version.js
@@ -1,33 +1,43 @@
 define(function (require) {
-  var _ = require('lodash');
-  var versionmath = require('utils/versionmath');
   return function CheckEsVersionFn(Private, es, configFile, Notifier, minimumElasticsearchVersion) {
-    return function checkEsVersion() {
-      var notify = new Notifier({ location: 'Setup: Elasticsearch version check' });
-      var complete = notify.lifecycle('check es version');
 
+    var _ = require('lodash');
+    var versionmath = require('utils/versionmath');
+    var esBool = require('utils/esBool');
+    var notify = new Notifier({
+      location: 'Setup: Elasticsearch version check'
+    });
+
+    return notify.timed(function checkEsVersion() {
       var SetupError = Private(require('components/setup/_setup_error'));
 
       return es.nodes.info()
       .then(function (info) {
-        var versions = _.map(info.nodes, function (v) {
-          // Remove everything after the -, we don't handle beta/rc ES versions
-          return v.version.split('-')[0];
+        var badNodes = _.filter(info.nodes, function (node) {
+          // remove client nodes (Logstash)
+          var isClient = _.get(node, 'attributes.client');
+          if (isClient != null && esBool(isClient) === true) {
+            return false;
+          }
+
+          // remove nodes that are gte the min version
+          var v = node.version.split('-')[0];
+          return !versionmath.gte(minimumElasticsearchVersion, v);
+        });
+
+        if (!badNodes.length) return true;
+
+        var badNodeNames = badNodes.map(function (node) {
+          return 'Elasticsearch v' + node.version + ' @ ' + node.http_address + ' (' + node.ip + ')';
         });
-        if (versionmath.is('>=' + minimumElasticsearchVersion, versions)) {
-          return true;
-        }
-        else {
-          var badNodes = _.map(info.nodes, function (v) {
-            if (versionmath.is('<' + minimumElasticsearchVersion, [v.version.split('-')[0]])) {
-              return 'Elasticsearch ' + v.version + ' @ ' + v.transport_address + ' (' + v.ip + ')';
-            }
-          });
-          throw SetupError('This version of Kibana requires Elasticsearch ' + minimumElasticsearchVersion + ' or higher on all nodes. ' +
-            'I found the following incompatible nodes in your cluster: \n\n' + badNodes.join('\n'));
-        }
-      })
-      .then(complete, complete.failure);
-    };
+
+        throw SetupError(
+          'This version of Kibana requires Elasticsearch ' +
+          minimumElasticsearchVersion + ' or higher on all nodes. ' +
+          'I found the following incompatible nodes in your cluster: \n\n' +
+          badNodeNames.join('\n')
+        );
+      });
+    });
   };
 });
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/kibana/utils/esBool.js b/src/kibana/utils/esBool.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..3a769e0ca1b0de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/kibana/utils/esBool.js
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+define(function () {
+  var map = {
+    'false': false,
+    'off': false,
+    'no': false,
+    '0': false,
+    'true': true,
+    'on': true,
+    'yes': true,
+    '1': true
+  };
+
+  return function (str) {
+    var bool = map[String(str)];
+
+    if (typeof bool !== 'boolean') {
+      throw new TypeError('"' + str + '" does not map to an esBool');
+    }
+
+    return bool;
+  };
+});
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/kibana/utils/versionmath.js b/src/kibana/utils/versionmath.js
index 2643a7160d3af4..a69c89ba5581f3 100644
--- a/src/kibana/utils/versionmath.js
+++ b/src/kibana/utils/versionmath.js
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ define(function (require) {
 
   // Sort versions from lowest to highest
   var sortVersions = function (versions) {
+    if (!_.isArray(versions)) versions = [versions];
+
     return _.uniq(versions).sort(function (a, b) {
       return compare(a, b) ? -1 : 1;
     });
diff --git a/test/unit/specs/components/setup/check_es_version.js b/test/unit/specs/components/setup/check_es_version.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..aed1457c199025
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/specs/components/setup/check_es_version.js
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+define(function (require) {
+  describe('Setup: Check ES Version', function () {
+    var _ = require('lodash');
+    var sinon = require('test_utils/auto_release_sinon');
+    require('test_utils/no_digest_promises').activateForSuite();
+
+    var checkEsVersion;
+    var es;
+    var Promise;
+
+    beforeEach(module('kibana', function ($provide) {
+      // hard coded to prevent failures when we bump the version
+      $provide.constant('minimumElasticsearchVersion', '1.4.3');
+    }));
+
+    beforeEach(inject(function (Private, $injector) {
+      checkEsVersion = Private(require('components/setup/steps/check_es_version'));
+      es = $injector.get('es');
+      Promise = $injector.get('Promise');
+    }));
+
+    function setNodes(/* ...versions */) {
+      var versions = _.shuffle(arguments);
+      var nodes = {};
+      var i = 0;
+
+      while (versions.length) {
+        var name = 'node-' + (++i);
+        var version = versions.shift();
+
+        var node = {
+          version: version,
+          http_address: 'http_address',
+          ip: 'ip'
+        };
+
+        if (!_.isString(version)) _.assign(node, version);
+        nodes[name] = node;
+      }
+
+      sinon.stub(es.nodes, 'info').returns(Promise.resolve({
+        nodes: nodes
+      }));
+    }
+
+    it('passes with single a node that matches', function () {
+      setNodes('1.4.3');
+      return checkEsVersion();
+    });
+
+    it('passes with multiple nodes that satisfy', function () {
+      setNodes('1.4.3', '1.4.4', '1.4.3-Beta1');
+      return checkEsVersion();
+    });
+
+    it('fails with a single node that is out of date', function () {
+      setNodes('1.4.4', '1.4.2', '1.4.5');
+      return checkEsVersion()
+      .then(function () {
+        throw new Error('expected validation to fail');
+      }, _.noop);
+    });
+
+    it('passes if that single node is a client node', function () {
+      setNodes(
+        '1.4.4',
+        { version: '1.4.2', attributes: { client: 'true' } },
+        '1.4.5'
+      );
+      
+      return checkEsVersion();
+    });
+
+  });
+});
\ No newline at end of file