diff --git a/VirtualMachineService/VirtualMachineHandler.py b/VirtualMachineService/VirtualMachineHandler.py
index 09dab173..5ec70ea2 100644
--- a/VirtualMachineService/VirtualMachineHandler.py
+++ b/VirtualMachineService/VirtualMachineHandler.py
@@ -1880,7 +1880,10 @@ def check_server_status(self, openstack_id: str) -> VM:
         serv = server.to_dict()
 
         try:
-            if serv["status"] == self.ACTIVE:
+            if serv["status"] == self.ACTIVE and serv["task_state"] not in [
+                "powering-off",
+                "powering-on",
+            ]:
                 host = self.get_server(openstack_id).floating_ip
                 port = self.SSH_PORT
 
@@ -1898,7 +1901,6 @@ def check_server_status(self, openstack_id: str) -> VM:
                     )
                 if self.netcat(host, port):
                     server = self.get_server(openstack_id)
-
                     if self.redis.exists(openstack_id) == 1:
                         global active_playbooks
                         if openstack_id in active_playbooks:
@@ -1919,7 +1921,8 @@ def check_server_status(self, openstack_id: str) -> VM:
                     return self.get_server(openstack_id)
                 else:
                     server = self.get_server(openstack_id)
-                    server.status = "PORT_CLOSED"
+                    if server.status != "SHUTDOWN":
+                        server.status = "PORT_CLOSED"
                     return server
             elif serv["status"] == self.ERROR:
                 server = self.get_server(openstack_id)
@@ -2534,12 +2537,18 @@ def netcat(self, host, port):
         :return: True if successfully connected, False if not
         """
         self.LOG.info(f"Checking SSH Connection {host}:{port}")
+
         with closing(socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)) as sock:
-            r = sock.connect_ex((host, port))
-            self.LOG.info(f"Checking SSH Connection {host}:{port} Result = {r}")
-            if r == 0:
-                return True
-            else:
+            sock.settimeout(5)
+            try:
+                r = sock.connect_ex((host, port))
+                self.LOG.info(f"Checking SSH Connection {host}:{port} Result = {r}")
+                if r == 0:
+                    return True
+                else:
+                    return False
+            except socket.timeout:
+                self.LOG.info(f"Connection to {host}:{port} timed out")
                 return False
 
     def is_security_group_in_use(self, security_group_id):
diff --git a/VirtualMachineService/VirtualMachineService-remote b/VirtualMachineService/VirtualMachineService-remote
index 4caef159..95c0b8c2 100755
--- a/VirtualMachineService/VirtualMachineService-remote
+++ b/VirtualMachineService/VirtualMachineService-remote
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 #
-# Autogenerated by Thrift Compiler (0.16.0)
+# Autogenerated by Thrift Compiler (0.17.0)
 #
 # DO NOT EDIT UNLESS YOU ARE SURE THAT YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING
 #
diff --git a/VirtualMachineService/constants.py b/VirtualMachineService/constants.py
index a334d1fc..8f9c3f5d 100644
--- a/VirtualMachineService/constants.py
+++ b/VirtualMachineService/constants.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #
-# Autogenerated by Thrift Compiler (0.16.0)
+# Autogenerated by Thrift Compiler (0.17.0)
 #
 # DO NOT EDIT UNLESS YOU ARE SURE THAT YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING
 #
diff --git a/VirtualMachineService/ttypes.py b/VirtualMachineService/ttypes.py
index 6ab72f3a..a6b1b9c0 100644
--- a/VirtualMachineService/ttypes.py
+++ b/VirtualMachineService/ttypes.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #
-# Autogenerated by Thrift Compiler (0.16.0)
+# Autogenerated by Thrift Compiler (0.17.0)
 #
 # DO NOT EDIT UNLESS YOU ARE SURE THAT YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING
 #
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index da6326c8..573e1f37 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ Click==8.1.7
 ansible==8.5.0
 flake8==6.1.0
 paramiko==3.3.1
-ruamel.yaml==0.17.40
+ruamel.yaml==0.18.2
 pyvim==3.0.3
 redis==5.0.1
 requests==2.31.0