diff --git a/flint-spark-integration/src/main/scala/org/opensearch/flint/spark/FlintSpark.scala b/flint-spark-integration/src/main/scala/org/opensearch/flint/spark/FlintSpark.scala
index 648258853..461011ce5 100644
--- a/flint-spark-integration/src/main/scala/org/opensearch/flint/spark/FlintSpark.scala
+++ b/flint-spark-integration/src/main/scala/org/opensearch/flint/spark/FlintSpark.scala
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ class FlintSpark(val spark: SparkSession) extends Logging {
   implicit val formats: Formats = Serialization.formats(NoTypeHints) + SkippingKindSerializer
 
   /** Scheduler for updating index state regularly as needed, such as incremental refreshing */
-  private val executor: ScheduledExecutorService = Executors.newScheduledThreadPool(1)
+  var executor: ScheduledExecutorService = Executors.newScheduledThreadPool(1)
 
   /**
    * Data source name. Assign empty string in case of backward compatibility. TODO: remove this in
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ class FlintSpark(val spark: SparkSession) extends Logging {
       try {
         flintClient
           .startTransaction(indexName, dataSourceName)
-          .initialLog(_ => true) // bypass state check and recover anyway
+          .initialLog(latest => Set(ACTIVE, REFRESHING, FAILED).contains(latest.state))
           .transientLog(latest => latest.copy(state = RECOVERING))
           .finalLog(latest => {
             scheduleIndexStateUpdate(indexName)
diff --git a/integ-test/src/test/scala/org/opensearch/flint/OpenSearchTransactionSuite.scala b/integ-test/src/test/scala/org/opensearch/flint/OpenSearchTransactionSuite.scala
index 1e7077799..35b6688e5 100644
--- a/integ-test/src/test/scala/org/opensearch/flint/OpenSearchTransactionSuite.scala
+++ b/integ-test/src/test/scala/org/opensearch/flint/OpenSearchTransactionSuite.scala
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 package org.opensearch.flint
 
 import java.util.Collections
+import java.util.concurrent.ScheduledExecutorService
 
 import scala.collection.JavaConverters.mapAsScalaMapConverter
 
@@ -20,6 +21,7 @@ import org.opensearch.flint.core.metadata.log.FlintMetadataLogEntry
 import org.opensearch.flint.core.metadata.log.FlintMetadataLogEntry.IndexState.IndexState
 import org.opensearch.flint.core.storage.FlintOpenSearchClient._
 import org.opensearch.flint.spark.FlintSparkSuite
+import org.scalatestplus.mockito.MockitoSugar.mock
 
 /**
  * Transaction test base suite that creates the metadata log index which enables transaction
@@ -33,6 +35,9 @@ trait OpenSearchTransactionSuite extends FlintSparkSuite {
   override def beforeAll(): Unit = {
     super.beforeAll()
     spark.conf.set("spark.flint.datasource.name", testDataSourceName)
+
+    // Replace executor to avoid impact on IT
+    flint.executor = mock[ScheduledExecutorService]
   }
 
   override def beforeEach(): Unit = {
diff --git a/integ-test/src/test/scala/org/opensearch/flint/spark/FlintSparkIndexJobITSuite.scala b/integ-test/src/test/scala/org/opensearch/flint/spark/FlintSparkIndexJobITSuite.scala
index f6e23ef83..27693c63b 100644
--- a/integ-test/src/test/scala/org/opensearch/flint/spark/FlintSparkIndexJobITSuite.scala
+++ b/integ-test/src/test/scala/org/opensearch/flint/spark/FlintSparkIndexJobITSuite.scala
@@ -11,8 +11,9 @@ import scala.collection.JavaConverters.mapAsJavaMapConverter
 
 import org.opensearch.flint.OpenSearchTransactionSuite
 import org.opensearch.flint.core.metadata.log.FlintMetadataLogEntry
-import org.opensearch.flint.core.metadata.log.FlintMetadataLogEntry.IndexState.FAILED
+import org.opensearch.flint.core.metadata.log.FlintMetadataLogEntry.IndexState._
 import org.opensearch.flint.spark.skipping.FlintSparkSkippingIndex.getSkippingIndexName
+import org.opensearch.index.seqno.SequenceNumbers.{UNASSIGNED_PRIMARY_TERM, UNASSIGNED_SEQ_NO}
 import org.scalatest.matchers.should.Matchers
 
 class FlintSparkIndexJobITSuite extends OpenSearchTransactionSuite with Matchers {
@@ -28,7 +29,7 @@ class FlintSparkIndexJobITSuite extends OpenSearchTransactionSuite with Matchers
   }
 
   override def afterEach(): Unit = {
-    super.afterEach()
+    super.afterEach() // must clean up metadata log first and then delete
     flint.deleteIndex(testIndex)
   }
 
@@ -58,20 +59,49 @@ class FlintSparkIndexJobITSuite extends OpenSearchTransactionSuite with Matchers
     latestLogEntry(latestId) should contain("state" -> "refreshing")
   }
 
-  test("recover should succeed even if index is in failed state") {
-    flint
-      .skippingIndex()
-      .onTable(testTable)
-      .addPartitions("year")
-      .options(FlintSparkIndexOptions(Map("auto_refresh" -> "true")))
-      .create()
+  Seq(EMPTY, CREATING, DELETING, DELETED, RECOVERING, UNKNOWN).foreach { state =>
+    test(s"recover should fail if index is in $state state") {
+      flint
+        .skippingIndex()
+        .onTable(testTable)
+        .addPartitions("year")
+        .options(FlintSparkIndexOptions(Map("auto_refresh" -> "true")))
+        .create()
 
-    updateLatestLogEntry(
-      new FlintMetadataLogEntry(latestId, 1, 1, latestLogEntry(latestId).asJava),
-      FAILED)
+      updateLatestLogEntry(
+        new FlintMetadataLogEntry(
+          latestId,
+          UNASSIGNED_SEQ_NO,
+          UNASSIGNED_PRIMARY_TERM,
+          latestLogEntry(latestId).asJava),
+        state)
 
-    flint.recoverIndex(testIndex) shouldBe true
-    spark.streams.active.exists(_.name == testIndex)
-    latestLogEntry(latestId) should contain("state" -> "refreshing")
+      assertThrows[IllegalStateException] {
+        flint.recoverIndex(testIndex) shouldBe true
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  Seq(ACTIVE, REFRESHING, FAILED).foreach { state =>
+    test(s"recover should succeed if index is in $state state") {
+      flint
+        .skippingIndex()
+        .onTable(testTable)
+        .addPartitions("year")
+        .options(FlintSparkIndexOptions(Map("auto_refresh" -> "true")))
+        .create()
+
+      updateLatestLogEntry(
+        new FlintMetadataLogEntry(
+          latestId,
+          UNASSIGNED_SEQ_NO,
+          UNASSIGNED_PRIMARY_TERM,
+          latestLogEntry(latestId).asJava),
+        state)
+
+      flint.recoverIndex(testIndex) shouldBe true
+      spark.streams.active.exists(_.name == testIndex)
+      latestLogEntry(latestId) should contain("state" -> "refreshing")
+    }
   }
 }