diff --git a/awx/main/socket.py b/awx/main/socket.py
index 39b252ae26..87995cd3c9 100644
--- a/awx/main/socket.py
+++ b/awx/main/socket.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ class Socket(object):
     Intended to allow alteration of backend details in a single, consistent
     way throughout the Tower application.
     """
-    def __init__(self, bucket, rw, debug=0, logger=None):
+    def __init__(self, bucket, rw, debug=0, logger=None, nowait=False):
         """Instantiate a Socket object, which uses ZeroMQ to actually perform
         passing a message back and forth.
 
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ class Socket(object):
 
         self._debug = debug
         self._logger = logger
+        self._nowait = nowait
 
     def __enter__(self):
         self.connect()
@@ -92,7 +93,10 @@ class Socket(object):
         # Okay, create the connection.
         if self._context is None:
             self._context = zmq.Context()
-            self._socket = self._context.socket(self._rw) 
+            self._socket = self._context.socket(self._rw)
+            if self._nowait:
+                self._socket.setsockopt(zmq.RCVTIMEO, 2000)
+                self._socket.setsockopt(zmq.LINGER, 1000)
             if self._rw == zmq.REQ:
                 self._socket.connect(port)
             else:
@@ -134,8 +138,8 @@ class Socket(object):
                 break
             except Exception as ex:
                 if self._logger:
-                    self._logger.info('Publish Exception: %r; retry=%d',
-                                      ex, retry, exc_info=True)
+                    self._logger.error('Publish Exception: %r; retry=%d',
+                                       ex, retry, exc_info=True)
                 if retry >= 3:
                     raise
 
diff --git a/awx/main/utils.py b/awx/main/utils.py
index 5af048b41c..3c795fb4f6 100644
--- a/awx/main/utils.py
+++ b/awx/main/utils.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ from django.utils.encoding import smart_str
 # PyCrypto
 from Crypto.Cipher import AES
 
+logger = logging.getLogger('awx.main.utils')
 
 __all__ = ['get_object_or_400', 'get_object_or_403', 'camelcase_to_underscore',
            'get_ansible_version', 'get_awx_version', 'update_scm_url',
@@ -380,10 +381,13 @@ def get_system_task_capacity():
 def emit_websocket_notification(endpoint, event, payload):
     from awx.main.socket import Socket
 
-    with Socket('websocket', 'w') as websocket:
-        payload['event'] = event
-        payload['endpoint'] = endpoint
-        websocket.publish(payload)
+    try:
+        with Socket('websocket', 'w', nowait=True, logger=logger) as websocket:
+            payload['event'] = event
+            payload['endpoint'] = endpoint
+            websocket.publish(payload)
+    except Exception as ex:
+        pass
 
 _inventory_updates = threading.local()