diff --git a/lib/puppet/network/http/connection.rb b/lib/puppet/network/http/connection.rb
index adb166439..24d712b6a 100644
--- a/lib/puppet/network/http/connection.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/network/http/connection.rb
@@ -1,189 +1,197 @@
 require 'net/https'
 require 'puppet/ssl/host'
 require 'puppet/ssl/configuration'
 require 'puppet/ssl/validator'
 require 'puppet/network/authentication'
 require 'uri'
 
 module Puppet::Network::HTTP
 
   # This will be raised if too many redirects happen for a given HTTP request
   class RedirectionLimitExceededException < Puppet::Error ; end
 
   # This class provides simple methods for issuing various types of HTTP
   # requests.  It's interface is intended to mirror Ruby's Net::HTTP
   # object, but it provides a few important bits of additional
   # functionality.  Notably:
   #
   # * Any HTTPS requests made using this class will use Puppet's SSL
   #   certificate configuration for their authentication, and
   # * Provides some useful error handling for any SSL errors that occur
   #   during a request.
   class Connection
     include Puppet::Network::Authentication
 
     OPTION_DEFAULTS = {
       :use_ssl => true,
       :verify => nil,
       :redirect_limit => 10
     }
 
+    @@openssl_initialized = false
+
     # Creates a new HTTP client connection to `host`:`port`.
     # @param host [String] the host to which this client will connect to
     # @param port [Fixnum] the port to which this client will connect to
     # @param options [Hash] options influencing the properties of the created connection,
     #   the following options are recognized:
     #     :use_ssl [Boolean] true to connect with SSL, false otherwise, defaults to true
     #     :verify [#setup_connection] An object that will configure any verification to do on the connection
     #     :redirect_limit [Fixnum] the number of allowed redirections, defaults to 10
     #   passing any other option in the options hash results in a Puppet::Error exception
     # @note the HTTP connection itself happens lazily only when {#request}, or one of the {#get}, {#post}, {#delete}, {#head} or {#put} is called
     # @api private
     def initialize(host, port, options = {})
       @host = host
       @port = port
 
       unknown_options = options.keys - OPTION_DEFAULTS.keys
       raise Puppet::Error, "Unrecognized option(s): #{unknown_options.map(&:inspect).sort.join(', ')}" unless unknown_options.empty?
 
       options = OPTION_DEFAULTS.merge(options)
       @use_ssl = options[:use_ssl]
       @verify = options[:verify]
       @redirect_limit = options[:redirect_limit]
     end
 
     def get(*args)
       request(:get, *args)
     end
 
     def post(*args)
       request(:post, *args)
     end
 
     def head(*args)
       request(:head, *args)
     end
 
     def delete(*args)
       request(:delete, *args)
     end
 
     def put(*args)
       request(:put, *args)
     end
 
     def request(method, *args)
       current_args = args.dup
       @redirect_limit.times do |redirection|
         response = execute_request(method, *args)
         return response unless [301, 302, 307].include?(response.code.to_i)
 
         # handle the redirection
         location = URI.parse(response['location'])
         @connection = initialize_connection(location.host, location.port, location.scheme == 'https')
 
         # update to the current request path
         current_args = [location.path] + current_args.drop(1)
         # and try again...
       end
       raise RedirectionLimitExceededException, "Too many HTTP redirections for #{@host}:#{@port}"
     end
 
     # TODO: These are proxies for the Net::HTTP#request_* methods, which are
     # almost the same as the "get", "post", etc. methods that we've ported above,
     # but they are able to accept a code block and will yield to it.  For now
     # we're not funneling these proxy implementations through our #request
     # method above, so they will not inherit the same error handling.  In the
     # future we may want to refactor these so that they are funneled through
     # that method and do inherit the error handling.
     def request_get(*args, &block)
       connection.request_get(*args, &block)
     end
 
     def request_head(*args, &block)
       connection.request_head(*args, &block)
     end
 
     def request_post(*args, &block)
       connection.request_post(*args, &block)
     end
     # end of Net::HTTP#request_* proxies
 
     def address
       connection.address
     end
 
     def port
       connection.port
     end
 
     def use_ssl?
       connection.use_ssl?
     end
 
     private
 
     def connection
       @connection || initialize_connection(@host, @port, @use_ssl)
     end
 
     def execute_request(method, *args)
       response = connection.send(method, *args)
 
       # Check the peer certs and warn if they're nearing expiration.
       warn_if_near_expiration(*@verify.peer_certs)
 
       response
     rescue OpenSSL::SSL::SSLError => error
       if error.message.include? "certificate verify failed"
         msg = error.message
         msg << ": [" + @verify.verify_errors.join('; ') + "]"
         raise Puppet::Error, msg
       elsif error.message =~ /hostname (\w+ )?not match/
         leaf_ssl_cert = @verify.peer_certs.last
 
         valid_certnames = [leaf_ssl_cert.name, *leaf_ssl_cert.subject_alt_names].uniq
         msg = valid_certnames.length > 1 ? "one of #{valid_certnames.join(', ')}" : valid_certnames.first
 
         raise Puppet::Error, "Server hostname '#{connection.address}' did not match server certificate; expected #{msg}"
       else
         raise
       end
     end
 
     def initialize_connection(host, port, use_ssl)
       args = [host, port]
       if Puppet[:http_proxy_host] == "none"
         args << nil << nil
       else
         args << Puppet[:http_proxy_host] << Puppet[:http_proxy_port]
       end
 
       @connection = create_connection(*args)
 
       # Pop open the http client a little; older versions of Net::HTTP(s) didn't
       # give us a reader for ca_file... Grr...
       class << @connection; attr_accessor :ca_file; end
 
       @connection.use_ssl = use_ssl
       # Use configured timeout (#1176)
       @connection.read_timeout = Puppet[:configtimeout]
       @connection.open_timeout = Puppet[:configtimeout]
 
       cert_setup
 
       @connection
     end
 
     # Use cert information from a Puppet client to set up the http object.
     def cert_setup
+      # PUP-1411, make sure that openssl is initialized before we try to connect
+      if ! @@openssl_initialized
+        OpenSSL::SSL::SSLContext.new
+        @@openssl_initialized = true
+      end
+
       @verify.setup_connection(@connection)
     end
 
     # This method largely exists for testing purposes, so that we can
     # mock the actual HTTP connection.
     def create_connection(*args)
       Net::HTTP.new(*args)
     end
   end
 end