diff --git a/control_plane/src/background_process.rs b/control_plane/src/background_process.rs
index 186d49fe8b..b93bf30e62 100644
--- a/control_plane/src/background_process.rs
+++ b/control_plane/src/background_process.rs
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ use utils::pid_file::{self, PidFileRead};
 // it's waiting. If the process hasn't started/stopped after 5 seconds,
 // it prints a notice that it's taking long, but keeps waiting.
 //
-const RETRY_UNTIL_SECS: u64 = 10;
+const RETRY_UNTIL_SECS: u64 = 40;
 const RETRIES: u64 = (RETRY_UNTIL_SECS * 1000) / RETRY_INTERVAL_MILLIS;
 const RETRY_INTERVAL_MILLIS: u64 = 100;
 const DOT_EVERY_RETRIES: u64 = 10;
diff --git a/pageserver/src/consumption_metrics.rs b/pageserver/src/consumption_metrics.rs
index 72a2099d92..060c6c35fa 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/consumption_metrics.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/consumption_metrics.rs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 //! and push them to a HTTP endpoint.
 use crate::context::{DownloadBehavior, RequestContext};
 use crate::task_mgr::{self, TaskKind, BACKGROUND_RUNTIME};
+use crate::tenant::tasks::BackgroundLoopKind;
 use crate::tenant::{mgr, LogicalSizeCalculationCause};
 use camino::Utf8PathBuf;
 use consumption_metrics::EventType;
@@ -143,7 +144,7 @@ pub async fn collect_metrics(
         crate::tenant::tasks::warn_when_period_overrun(
             tick_at.elapsed(),
             metric_collection_interval,
-            "consumption_metrics_collect_metrics",
+            BackgroundLoopKind::ConsumptionMetricsCollectMetrics,
         );
     }
 }
@@ -268,6 +269,11 @@ async fn calculate_synthetic_size_worker(
             }
 
             if let Ok(tenant) = mgr::get_tenant(tenant_id, true).await {
+                // TODO should we just use concurrent_background_tasks_rate_limit().
+                // We can put in some prioritization for consumption metrics.
+                // Same for the loop that fetches computed metrics.
+                // By using the same limiter, we centralize metrics collection for "start" and "finished" counters,
+                // which turns out is really handy to understand the system.
                 if let Err(e) = tenant.calculate_synthetic_size(cause, ctx).await {
                     error!("failed to calculate synthetic size for tenant {tenant_id}: {e:#}");
                 }
@@ -277,7 +283,7 @@ async fn calculate_synthetic_size_worker(
         crate::tenant::tasks::warn_when_period_overrun(
             tick_at.elapsed(),
             synthetic_size_calculation_interval,
-            "consumption_metrics_synthetic_size_worker",
+            BackgroundLoopKind::ConsumptionMetricsSyntheticSizeWorker,
         );
     }
 }
diff --git a/pageserver/src/metrics.rs b/pageserver/src/metrics.rs
index 1938f1b154..46a1efa0ad 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/metrics.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/metrics.rs
@@ -1060,6 +1060,26 @@ pub(crate) static TENANT_TASK_EVENTS: Lazy<IntCounterVec> = Lazy::new(|| {
     .expect("Failed to register tenant_task_events metric")
 });
 
+pub(crate) static BACKGROUND_LOOP_SEMAPHORE_WAIT_START_COUNT: Lazy<IntCounterVec> =
+    Lazy::new(|| {
+        register_int_counter_vec!(
+            "pageserver_background_loop_semaphore_wait_start_count",
+            "Counter for background loop concurrency-limiting semaphore acquire calls started",
+            &["task"],
+        )
+        .unwrap()
+    });
+
+pub(crate) static BACKGROUND_LOOP_SEMAPHORE_WAIT_FINISH_COUNT: Lazy<IntCounterVec> =
+    Lazy::new(|| {
+        register_int_counter_vec!(
+            "pageserver_background_loop_semaphore_wait_finish_count",
+            "Counter for background loop concurrency-limiting semaphore acquire calls finished",
+            &["task"],
+        )
+        .unwrap()
+    });
+
 pub(crate) static BACKGROUND_LOOP_PERIOD_OVERRUN_COUNT: Lazy<IntCounterVec> = Lazy::new(|| {
     register_int_counter_vec!(
         "pageserver_background_loop_period_overrun_count",
diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/tasks.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/tasks.rs
index ae7b3c233c..00c8ced68a 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/tasks.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/tasks.rs
@@ -36,15 +36,38 @@ static CONCURRENT_BACKGROUND_TASKS: once_cell::sync::Lazy<tokio::sync::Semaphore
         tokio::sync::Semaphore::new(permits)
     });
 
+#[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Eq, Clone, Copy, strum_macros::IntoStaticStr)]
+#[strum(serialize_all = "snake_case")]
+pub(crate) enum BackgroundLoopKind {
+    Compaction,
+    Gc,
+    Eviction,
+    ConsumptionMetricsCollectMetrics,
+    ConsumptionMetricsSyntheticSizeWorker,
+}
+
+impl BackgroundLoopKind {
+    fn as_static_str(&self) -> &'static str {
+        let s: &'static str = self.into();
+        s
+    }
+}
+
 pub(crate) enum RateLimitError {
     Cancelled,
 }
 
 pub(crate) async fn concurrent_background_tasks_rate_limit(
+    loop_kind: BackgroundLoopKind,
     _ctx: &RequestContext,
     cancel: &CancellationToken,
 ) -> Result<impl Drop, RateLimitError> {
-    // TODO: use request context TaskKind to get statistics on how many tasks of what kind are waiting for background task semaphore
+    crate::metrics::BACKGROUND_LOOP_SEMAPHORE_WAIT_START_COUNT
+        .with_label_values(&[loop_kind.as_static_str()])
+        .inc();
+    scopeguard::defer!(
+        crate::metrics::BACKGROUND_LOOP_SEMAPHORE_WAIT_FINISH_COUNT.with_label_values(&[loop_kind.as_static_str()]).inc();
+    );
     tokio::select! {
         permit = CONCURRENT_BACKGROUND_TASKS.acquire() => {
             match permit {
@@ -160,7 +183,7 @@ async fn compaction_loop(tenant: Arc<Tenant>, cancel: CancellationToken) {
                 }
             };
 
-            warn_when_period_overrun(started_at.elapsed(), period, "compaction");
+            warn_when_period_overrun(started_at.elapsed(), period, BackgroundLoopKind::Compaction);
 
             // Sleep
             if tokio::time::timeout(sleep_duration, cancel.cancelled())
@@ -228,7 +251,7 @@ async fn gc_loop(tenant: Arc<Tenant>, cancel: CancellationToken) {
                 }
             };
 
-            warn_when_period_overrun(started_at.elapsed(), period, "gc");
+            warn_when_period_overrun(started_at.elapsed(), period, BackgroundLoopKind::Gc);
 
             // Sleep
             if tokio::time::timeout(sleep_duration, cancel.cancelled())
@@ -302,7 +325,11 @@ pub(crate) async fn random_init_delay(
 }
 
 /// Attention: the `task` and `period` beocme labels of a pageserver-wide prometheus metric.
-pub(crate) fn warn_when_period_overrun(elapsed: Duration, period: Duration, task: &str) {
+pub(crate) fn warn_when_period_overrun(
+    elapsed: Duration,
+    period: Duration,
+    task: BackgroundLoopKind,
+) {
     // Duration::ZERO will happen because it's the "disable [bgtask]" value.
     if elapsed >= period && period != Duration::ZERO {
         // humantime does no significant digits clamping whereas Duration's debug is a bit more
@@ -311,11 +338,11 @@ pub(crate) fn warn_when_period_overrun(elapsed: Duration, period: Duration, task
         warn!(
             ?elapsed,
             period = %humantime::format_duration(period),
-            task,
+            ?task,
             "task iteration took longer than the configured period"
         );
         crate::metrics::BACKGROUND_LOOP_PERIOD_OVERRUN_COUNT
-            .with_label_values(&[task, &format!("{}", period.as_secs())])
+            .with_label_values(&[task.as_static_str(), &format!("{}", period.as_secs())])
             .inc();
     }
 }
diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline.rs
index 9e55117424..b5d4a7128a 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline.rs
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ use crate::tenant::storage_layer::delta_layer::DeltaEntry;
 use crate::tenant::storage_layer::{
     DeltaLayerWriter, ImageLayerWriter, InMemoryLayer, LayerAccessStats, LayerFileName, RemoteLayer,
 };
-use crate::tenant::tasks::RateLimitError;
+use crate::tenant::tasks::{BackgroundLoopKind, RateLimitError};
 use crate::tenant::timeline::logical_size::CurrentLogicalSize;
 use crate::tenant::{
     layer_map::{LayerMap, SearchResult},
@@ -687,7 +687,12 @@ impl Timeline {
 
         // this wait probably never needs any "long time spent" logging, because we already nag if
         // compaction task goes over it's period (20s) which is quite often in production.
-        let _permit = match super::tasks::concurrent_background_tasks_rate_limit(ctx, cancel).await
+        let _permit = match super::tasks::concurrent_background_tasks_rate_limit(
+            BackgroundLoopKind::Compaction,
+            ctx,
+            cancel,
+        )
+        .await
         {
             Ok(permit) => permit,
             Err(RateLimitError::Cancelled) => return Ok(()),
diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/eviction_task.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/eviction_task.rs
index f9b35ca78b..657bbb2966 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/eviction_task.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/eviction_task.rs
@@ -30,8 +30,9 @@ use crate::{
     tenant::{
         config::{EvictionPolicy, EvictionPolicyLayerAccessThreshold},
         storage_layer::PersistentLayer,
+        tasks::{BackgroundLoopKind, RateLimitError},
         timeline::EvictionError,
-        LogicalSizeCalculationCause, Tenant, tasks::RateLimitError,
+        LogicalSizeCalculationCause, Tenant,
     },
 };
 
@@ -129,7 +130,11 @@ impl Timeline {
                     ControlFlow::Continue(()) => (),
                 }
                 let elapsed = start.elapsed();
-                crate::tenant::tasks::warn_when_period_overrun(elapsed, p.period, "eviction");
+                crate::tenant::tasks::warn_when_period_overrun(
+                    elapsed,
+                    p.period,
+                    BackgroundLoopKind::Eviction,
+                );
                 crate::metrics::EVICTION_ITERATION_DURATION
                     .get_metric_with_label_values(&[
                         &format!("{}", p.period.as_secs()),
@@ -150,7 +155,13 @@ impl Timeline {
     ) -> ControlFlow<()> {
         let now = SystemTime::now();
 
-        let _permit = match crate::tenant::tasks::concurrent_background_tasks_rate_limit(ctx, cancel).await {
+        let _permit = match crate::tenant::tasks::concurrent_background_tasks_rate_limit(
+            BackgroundLoopKind::Eviction,
+            ctx,
+            cancel,
+        )
+        .await
+        {
             Ok(permit) => permit,
             Err(RateLimitError::Cancelled) => return ControlFlow::Break(()),
         };