diff --git a/pageserver/src/layered_repository.rs b/pageserver/src/layered_repository.rs
index f07a2639d3..a63f157552 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/layered_repository.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/layered_repository.rs
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ use crate::repository::{
     GcResult, Repository, RepositoryTimeline, Timeline, TimelineSyncStatusUpdate, TimelineWriter,
 };
 use crate::repository::{Key, Value};
+use crate::tenant_mgr;
 use crate::thread_mgr;
 use crate::virtual_file::VirtualFile;
 use crate::walreceiver::IS_WAL_RECEIVER;
@@ -1588,6 +1589,10 @@ impl LayeredTimeline {
 
         let target_file_size = self.conf.checkpoint_distance;
 
+        // Define partitioning schema if needed
+        tenant_mgr::get_timeline_for_tenant_load(self.tenantid, self.timelineid)?
+            .repartition(self.get_last_record_lsn())?;
+
         // 1. The partitioning was already done by the code in
         // pgdatadir_mapping.rs. We just use it here.
         let partitioning_guard = self.partitioning.read().unwrap();
diff --git a/pageserver/src/pgdatadir_mapping.rs b/pageserver/src/pgdatadir_mapping.rs
index 7b0fc606de..75ace4ecee 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/pgdatadir_mapping.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/pgdatadir_mapping.rs
@@ -388,6 +388,17 @@ impl<R: Repository> DatadirTimeline<R> {
 
         Ok(result.to_keyspace())
     }
+
+    pub fn repartition(&self, lsn: Lsn) -> Result<()> {
+        let last_partitioning = self.last_partitioning.load();
+        if last_partitioning == Lsn(0) || lsn.0 - last_partitioning.0 > self.repartition_threshold {
+            let keyspace = self.collect_keyspace(lsn)?;
+            let partitioning = keyspace.partition(TARGET_FILE_SIZE_BYTES);
+            self.tline.hint_partitioning(partitioning, lsn)?;
+            self.last_partitioning.store(lsn);
+        }
+        Ok(())
+    }
 }
 
 /// DatadirModification represents an operation to ingest an atomic set of
@@ -767,7 +778,6 @@ impl<'a, R: Repository> DatadirModification<'a, R> {
     pub fn commit(self) -> Result<()> {
         let writer = self.tline.tline.writer();
 
-        let last_partitioning = self.tline.last_partitioning.load();
         let pending_nblocks = self.pending_nblocks;
 
         for (key, value) in self.pending_updates {
@@ -779,15 +789,6 @@ impl<'a, R: Repository> DatadirModification<'a, R> {
 
         writer.finish_write(self.lsn);
 
-        if last_partitioning == Lsn(0)
-            || self.lsn.0 - last_partitioning.0 > self.tline.repartition_threshold
-        {
-            let keyspace = self.tline.collect_keyspace(self.lsn)?;
-            let partitioning = keyspace.partition(TARGET_FILE_SIZE_BYTES);
-            self.tline.tline.hint_partitioning(partitioning, self.lsn)?;
-            self.tline.last_partitioning.store(self.lsn);
-        }
-
         if pending_nblocks != 0 {
             self.tline.current_logical_size.fetch_add(
                 pending_nblocks * pg_constants::BLCKSZ as isize,
diff --git a/pageserver/src/timelines.rs b/pageserver/src/timelines.rs
index 105c3c869f..ae713c260c 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/timelines.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/timelines.rs
@@ -286,7 +286,7 @@ fn bootstrap_timeline<R: Repository>(
     let timeline = repo.create_empty_timeline(tli, lsn)?;
     let mut page_tline: DatadirTimeline<R> = DatadirTimeline::new(timeline, u64::MAX);
     import_datadir::import_timeline_from_postgres_datadir(&pgdata_path, &mut page_tline, lsn)?;
-    page_tline.tline.checkpoint(CheckpointConfig::Forced)?;
+    page_tline.tline.checkpoint(CheckpointConfig::Flush)?;
 
     println!(
         "created initial timeline {} timeline.lsn {}",