diff --git a/playbooks/groups/notifs-backend.yml b/playbooks/groups/notifs-backend.yml
index 9e8105ab00..3f0d14328f 100644
--- a/playbooks/groups/notifs-backend.yml
+++ b/playbooks/groups/notifs-backend.yml
@@ -57,6 +57,12 @@
   user: root
   gather_facts: True
 
+  pre_tasks:
+  - name: tell nagios to shush w.r.t. the backend since it usually complains
+    nagios: action=downtime minutes=20 service=host host={{ inventory_hostname_short }}{{ env_suffix }}
+    delegate_to: noc01.phx2.fedoraproject.org
+    ignore_errors: true
+
   roles:
   - fedmsg/hub
   - notifs/backend