diff --git a/storage_controller/src/service.rs b/storage_controller/src/service.rs
index a163453dca..2a6d5d3578 100644
--- a/storage_controller/src/service.rs
+++ b/storage_controller/src/service.rs
@@ -828,6 +828,8 @@ impl Service {
                                 );
                             }
                             Err(err) => {
+                                // Transition to active involves reconciling: if a node responds to a heartbeat then
+                                // becomes unavailable again, we may get an error here.
                                 tracing::error!(
                                     "Failed to update node {} after heartbeat round: {}",
                                     node_id,
diff --git a/test_runner/fixtures/pageserver/allowed_errors.py b/test_runner/fixtures/pageserver/allowed_errors.py
index c5b09e3608..dff002bd4b 100755
--- a/test_runner/fixtures/pageserver/allowed_errors.py
+++ b/test_runner/fixtures/pageserver/allowed_errors.py
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ DEFAULT_STORAGE_CONTROLLER_ALLOWED_ERRORS = [
     # failing to connect to them.
     ".*Call to node.*management API.*failed.*receive body.*",
     ".*Call to node.*management API.*failed.*ReceiveBody.*",
+    ".*Failed to update node .+ after heartbeat round.*error sending request for url.*",
     # Many tests will start up with a node offline
     ".*startup_reconcile: Could not scan node.*",
     # Tests run in dev mode