diff --git a/examples/common/lib/utils.sh b/examples/common/lib/utils.sh
index ab13e9bc6c4..f38568ccdad 100644
--- a/examples/common/lib/utils.sh
+++ b/examples/common/lib/utils.sh
@@ -52,18 +52,19 @@ function wait_for_healthy_shard_primary() {
 	fi
 	keyspace=${1}
 	shard=${2}
-	healthy_indicator="PRIMARY: Serving"
+	unhealthy_indicator='"primary_alias": null'
 	wait_secs=180
 
 	for _ in $(seq 1 ${wait_secs}); do
-		if curl -s "http://$(vtctldclient GetTablets --keyspace "${keyspace}" --shard "${shard}" | grep -i 'primary' | awk '{print $5}')/debug/status_details" | grep -qi "${healthy_indicator}"; then
+                if ! vtctldclient --server=localhost:15999 GetShard "${keyspace}/${shard}" | grep -qi "${unhealthy_indicator}"; then
 			break
 		fi
 		sleep 1
 	done;
 
-        curl -s "http://$(vtctldclient GetTablets --keyspace "${keyspace}" --shard "${shard}" | grep -i 'primary' | awk '{print $5}')/debug/status_details" | grep -qi "${healthy_indicator}" \
-		|| fail "Timed out after ${wait_secs} seconds waiting for a primary tablet to be elected and become healthy in ${keyspace}/${shard}"
+        if vtctldclient --server=localhost:15999 GetShard "${keyspace}/${shard}" | grep -qi "${unhealthy_indicator}"; then
+		fail "Timed out after ${wait_secs} seconds waiting for a primary tablet to be elected and become healthy in ${keyspace}/${shard}"
+	fi
 }
 
 # Wait for a specified number of the keyspace/shard's tablets to show up
diff --git a/examples/common/scripts/vtadmin-up.sh b/examples/common/scripts/vtadmin-up.sh
index 8f3caf39c15..179e5089b90 100755
--- a/examples/common/scripts/vtadmin-up.sh
+++ b/examples/common/scripts/vtadmin-up.sh
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 script_dir="$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]:-$0}")"
 source "${script_dir}/../env.sh"
 
+cluster_name="local"
 log_dir="${VTDATAROOT}/tmp"
 web_dir="${script_dir}/../../../web/vtadmin"
 
@@ -20,7 +21,7 @@ vtadmin \
   --alsologtostderr \
   --rbac \
   --rbac-config="${script_dir}/../vtadmin/rbac.yaml" \
-  --cluster "id=local,name=local,discovery=staticfile,discovery-staticfile-path=./vtadmin/discovery.json,tablet-fqdn-tmpl={{ .Tablet.Hostname }}:15{{ .Tablet.Alias.Uid }}" \
+  --cluster "id=${cluster_name},name=${cluster_name},discovery=staticfile,discovery-staticfile-path=${script_dir}/../vtadmin/discovery.json,tablet-fqdn-tmpl={{ .Tablet.Hostname }}:15{{ .Tablet.Alias.Uid }}" \
   > "${log_dir}/vtadmin-api.out" 2>&1 &
 
 vtadmin_api_pid=$!
@@ -33,14 +34,27 @@ vtadmin-api is running!
   - PID: ${vtadmin_api_pid}
 "
 
+# Wait for vtadmin to successfully discover the cluster
+expected_cluster_result="{\"result\":{\"clusters\":[{\"id\":\"${cluster_name}\",\"name\":\"${cluster_name}\"}]},\"ok\":true}"
+for _ in {0..300}; do
+  result=$(curl -s "http://localhost:${vtadmin_api_port}/api/clusters")
+  if [[ ${result} == "${expected_cluster_result}" ]]; then
+    break
+  fi
+  sleep 0.1
+done
+
+# Check one last time
+[[ $(curl -s "http://localhost:${vtadmin_api_port}/api/clusters") == "${expected_cluster_result}" ]] || fail "vtadmin failed to discover the running example Vitess cluster."
+
 # As a TODO, it'd be nice to make the assumption that vtadmin-web is already
 # installed and built (since we assume that `make` has already been run for
 # other Vitess components.)
-npm --prefix $web_dir --silent install
+npm --prefix "$web_dir" --silent install
 
 REACT_APP_VTADMIN_API_ADDRESS="http://localhost:${vtadmin_api_port}" \
   REACT_APP_ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL_TABLET_DEBUG_VARS="true" \
-  npm run --prefix $web_dir build
+  npm run --prefix "$web_dir" build
 
 "${web_dir}/node_modules/.bin/serve" --no-clipboard -l $vtadmin_web_port -s "${web_dir}/build" \
   > "${log_dir}/vtadmin-web.out" 2>&1 &