diff --git a/command/agent/agent.go b/command/agent/agent.go
index b89d2d5a324b..c125be6ebef2 100644
--- a/command/agent/agent.go
+++ b/command/agent/agent.go
@@ -447,6 +447,11 @@ func convertServerConfig(agentConfig *Config) (*nomad.Config, error) {
 		}
 	}
 
+	// Set the raft bolt parameters
+	if bolt := agentConfig.Server.RaftBoltConfig; bolt != nil {
+		conf.RaftBoltNoFreelistSync = bolt.NoFreelistSync
+	}
+
 	return conf, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/command/agent/config.go b/command/agent/config.go
index e3a6afbc08f0..aad4f730ed6f 100644
--- a/command/agent/config.go
+++ b/command/agent/config.go
@@ -514,11 +514,26 @@ type ServerConfig struct {
 	// ExtraKeysHCL is used by hcl to surface unexpected keys
 	ExtraKeysHCL []string `hcl:",unusedKeys" json:"-"`
 
+	// Search configures UI search features.
 	Search *Search `hcl:"search"`
 
 	// DeploymentQueryRateLimit is in queries per second and is used by the
 	// DeploymentWatcher to throttle the amount of simultaneously deployments
 	DeploymentQueryRateLimit float64 `hcl:"deploy_query_rate_limit"`
+
+	// RaftBoltConfig configures boltdb as used by raft.
+	RaftBoltConfig *RaftBoltConfig `hcl:"raft_boltdb"`
+}
+
+// RaftBoltConfig is used in servers to configure parameters of the boltdb
+// used for raft consensus.
+type RaftBoltConfig struct {
+	// NoFreelistSync toggles whether the underlying raft storage should sync its
+	// freelist to disk within the bolt .db file. When disabled, IO performance
+	// will be improved but at the expense of longer startup times.
+	//
+	// Default: false.
+	NoFreelistSync bool `hcl:"no_freelist_sync"`
 }
 
 // Search is used in servers to configure search API options.
@@ -1597,6 +1612,12 @@ func (s *ServerConfig) Merge(b *ServerConfig) *ServerConfig {
 		}
 	}
 
+	if b.RaftBoltConfig != nil {
+		result.RaftBoltConfig = &RaftBoltConfig{
+			NoFreelistSync: b.RaftBoltConfig.NoFreelistSync,
+		}
+	}
+
 	// Add the schedulers
 	result.EnabledSchedulers = append(result.EnabledSchedulers, b.EnabledSchedulers...)
 
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 3e8528261897..94c788d593a5 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -77,7 +77,8 @@ require (
 	github.com/hashicorp/net-rpc-msgpackrpc v0.0.0-20151116020338-a14192a58a69
 	github.com/hashicorp/nomad/api v0.0.0-20200529203653-c4416b26d3eb
 	github.com/hashicorp/raft v1.3.5
-	github.com/hashicorp/raft-boltdb v0.0.0-20171010151810-6e5ba93211ea
+	github.com/hashicorp/raft-boltdb v0.0.0-20210409134258-03c10cc3d4ea
+	github.com/hashicorp/raft-boltdb/v2 v2.2.0
 	github.com/hashicorp/serf v0.9.5
 	github.com/hashicorp/vault/api v1.0.5-0.20200805123347-1ef507638af6
 	github.com/hashicorp/vault/sdk v0.2.0
@@ -114,6 +115,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/syndtr/gocapability v0.0.0-20200815063812-42c35b437635
 	github.com/zclconf/go-cty v1.8.0
 	github.com/zclconf/go-cty-yaml v1.0.2
+	go.etcd.io/bbolt v1.3.5
 	go.uber.org/goleak v1.1.12
 	golang.org/x/crypto v0.0.0-20210921155107-089bfa567519
 	golang.org/x/net v0.0.0-20211216030914-fe4d6282115f
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 637a1e348a2e..4d83ddeefba3 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -764,12 +764,16 @@ github.com/hashicorp/memberlist v0.3.1 h1:MXgUXLqva1QvpVEDQW1IQLG0wivQAtmFlHRQ+1
 github.com/hashicorp/memberlist v0.3.1/go.mod h1:MS2lj3INKhZjWNqd3N0m3J+Jxf3DAOnAH9VT3Sh9MUE=
 github.com/hashicorp/net-rpc-msgpackrpc v0.0.0-20151116020338-a14192a58a69 h1:lc3c72qGlIMDqQpQH82Y4vaglRMMFdJbziYWriR4UcE=
 github.com/hashicorp/net-rpc-msgpackrpc v0.0.0-20151116020338-a14192a58a69/go.mod h1:/z+jUGRBlwVpUZfjute9jWaF6/HuhjuFQuL1YXzVD1Q=
+github.com/hashicorp/raft v1.1.0/go.mod h1:4Ak7FSPnuvmb0GV6vgIAJ4vYT4bek9bb6Q+7HVbyzqM=
 github.com/hashicorp/raft v1.1.1/go.mod h1:vPAJM8Asw6u8LxC3eJCUZmRP/E4QmUGE1R7g7k8sG/8=
 github.com/hashicorp/raft v1.1.2/go.mod h1:vPAJM8Asw6u8LxC3eJCUZmRP/E4QmUGE1R7g7k8sG/8=
 github.com/hashicorp/raft v1.3.5 h1:93YBXmHWW2MuyMZfMxN1PsAnPXAt+hBfG0S0ZrZxRrY=
 github.com/hashicorp/raft v1.3.5/go.mod h1:4Ak7FSPnuvmb0GV6vgIAJ4vYT4bek9bb6Q+7HVbyzqM=
-github.com/hashicorp/raft-boltdb v0.0.0-20171010151810-6e5ba93211ea h1:xykPFhrBAS2J0VBzVa5e80b5ZtYuNQtgXjN40qBZlD4=
 github.com/hashicorp/raft-boltdb v0.0.0-20171010151810-6e5ba93211ea/go.mod h1:pNv7Wc3ycL6F5oOWn+tPGo2gWD4a5X+yp/ntwdKLjRk=
+github.com/hashicorp/raft-boltdb v0.0.0-20210409134258-03c10cc3d4ea h1:RxcPJuutPRM8PUOyiweMmkuNO+RJyfy2jds2gfvgNmU=
+github.com/hashicorp/raft-boltdb v0.0.0-20210409134258-03c10cc3d4ea/go.mod h1:qRd6nFJYYS6Iqnc/8HcUmko2/2Gw8qTFEmxDLii6W5I=
+github.com/hashicorp/raft-boltdb/v2 v2.2.0 h1:/CVN9LSAcH50L3yp2TsPFIpeyHn1m3VF6kiutlDE3Nw=
+github.com/hashicorp/raft-boltdb/v2 v2.2.0/go.mod h1:SgPUD5TP20z/bswEr210SnkUFvQP/YjKV95aaiTbeMQ=
 github.com/hashicorp/serf v0.8.2/go.mod h1:6hOLApaqBFA1NXqRQAsxw9QxuDEvNxSQRwA/JwenrHc=
 github.com/hashicorp/serf v0.9.3/go.mod h1:UWDWwZeL5cuWDJdl0C6wrvrUwEqtQ4ZKBKKENpqIUyk=
 github.com/hashicorp/serf v0.9.4/go.mod h1:UWDWwZeL5cuWDJdl0C6wrvrUwEqtQ4ZKBKKENpqIUyk=
@@ -1258,6 +1262,7 @@ github.com/zclconf/go-cty-yaml v1.0.2 h1:dNyg4QLTrv2IfJpm7Wtxi55ed5gLGOlPrZ6kMd5
 github.com/zclconf/go-cty-yaml v1.0.2/go.mod h1:IP3Ylp0wQpYm50IHK8OZWKMu6sPJIUgKa8XhiVHura0=
 go.etcd.io/bbolt v1.3.2/go.mod h1:IbVyRI1SCnLcuJnV2u8VeU0CEYM7e686BmAb1XKL+uU=
 go.etcd.io/bbolt v1.3.3/go.mod h1:IbVyRI1SCnLcuJnV2u8VeU0CEYM7e686BmAb1XKL+uU=
+go.etcd.io/bbolt v1.3.5 h1:XAzx9gjCb0Rxj7EoqcClPD1d5ZBxZJk0jbuoPHenBt0=
 go.etcd.io/bbolt v1.3.5/go.mod h1:G5EMThwa9y8QZGBClrRx5EY+Yw9kAhnjy3bSjsnlVTQ=
 go.etcd.io/etcd v0.5.0-alpha.5.0.20200910180754-dd1b699fc489/go.mod h1:yVHk9ub3CSBatqGNg7GRmsnfLWtoW60w4eDYfh7vHDg=
 go.mozilla.org/pkcs7 v0.0.0-20200128120323-432b2356ecb1/go.mod h1:SNgMg+EgDFwmvSmLRTNKC5fegJjB7v23qTQ0XLGUNHk=
diff --git a/nomad/config.go b/nomad/config.go
index 3ffe823f56c0..2495d749885b 100644
--- a/nomad/config.go
+++ b/nomad/config.go
@@ -361,6 +361,9 @@ type Config struct {
 	// SearchConfig provides knobs for Search API.
 	SearchConfig *structs.SearchConfig
 
+	// RaftBoltNoFreelistSync configures whether freelist syncing is enabled.
+	RaftBoltNoFreelistSync bool
+
 	// AgentShutdown is used to call agent.Shutdown from the context of a Server
 	// It is used primarily for licensing
 	AgentShutdown func() error
diff --git a/nomad/server.go b/nomad/server.go
index d9f607aaa172..ad0ea6fd1c25 100644
--- a/nomad/server.go
+++ b/nomad/server.go
@@ -40,8 +40,9 @@ import (
 	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/nomad/volumewatcher"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/scheduler"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/raft"
-	raftboltdb "github.com/hashicorp/raft-boltdb"
+	raftboltdb "github.com/hashicorp/raft-boltdb/v2"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/serf/serf"
+	"go.etcd.io/bbolt"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -1226,6 +1227,7 @@ func (s *Server) setupRpcServer(server *rpc.Server, ctx *RPCContext) {
 
 // setupRaft is used to setup and initialize Raft
 func (s *Server) setupRaft() error {
+
 	// If we have an unclean exit then attempt to close the Raft store.
 	defer func() {
 		if s.raft == nil && s.raftStore != nil {
@@ -1286,13 +1288,20 @@ func (s *Server) setupRaft() error {
 			return err
 		}
 
-		// Create the BoltDB backend
-		store, err := raftboltdb.NewBoltStore(filepath.Join(path, "raft.db"))
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
+		// Create the BoltDB backend, with NoFreelistSync option
+		store, err := raftboltdb.New(raftboltdb.Options{
+			Path:   filepath.Join(path, "raft.db"),
+			NoSync: false, // fsync each log write
+			BoltOptions: &bbolt.Options{
+				NoFreelistSync: s.config.RaftBoltNoFreelistSync,
+			},
+		})
 		s.raftStore = store
 		stable = store
+		s.logger.Info("setting up raft bolt store", "no_freelist_sync", s.config.RaftBoltNoFreelistSync)
+
+		// Start publishing bboltdb metrics
+		go store.RunMetrics(s.shutdownCtx, 0)
 
 		// Wrap the store in a LogCache to improve performance
 		cacheStore, err := raft.NewLogCache(raftLogCacheSize, store)
diff --git a/website/content/docs/configuration/server.mdx b/website/content/docs/configuration/server.mdx
index 751562d18864..68bc8e7b7ab3 100644
--- a/website/content/docs/configuration/server.mdx
+++ b/website/content/docs/configuration/server.mdx
@@ -161,6 +161,13 @@ server {
   required as the agent internally knows the latest version, but may be useful
   in some upgrade scenarios.
 
+- `raft_boltdb` - This is a nested object that allows configuring options for
+  Raft's BoltDB based log store.
+    - `no_freelist_sync` - Setting this to `true` will disable syncing the BoltDB
+    freelist to disk within the `raft.db` file. Not syncing the freelist to disk
+    will reduce disk IO required for write operations at the expense of longer
+    server startup times.
+
 - `raft_protocol` `(int: 3)` - Specifies the Raft protocol version to use when
   communicating with other Nomad servers. This affects available Autopilot
   features and is typically not required as the agent internally knows the