diff --git a/synapse/federation/transaction_queue.py b/synapse/federation/transaction_queue.py
index c021add936..a4e760f935 100644
--- a/synapse/federation/transaction_queue.py
+++ b/synapse/federation/transaction_queue.py
@@ -14,6 +14,13 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 import datetime
 import logging
+<<<<<<< HEAD
+=======
+import random
+import json
+import opentracing
+import string
+>>>>>>> 46aae2456... Reduce size of fed transaction IDs
 
 from six import itervalues
 
@@ -128,7 +135,7 @@ class TransactionQueue(object):
         self.last_device_list_stream_id_by_dest = {}
 
         # HACK to get unique tx id
-        self._next_txn_id = int(self.clock.time_msec())
+        self._next_txn_id = 1
 
         self._order = 1
 
@@ -423,6 +430,15 @@ class TransactionQueue(object):
 
             pending_pdus = []
             while True:
+<<<<<<< HEAD
+=======
+                txn_id = _encode_id(self._next_txn_id)
+                self._next_txn_id += 1
+
+                for s in pdu_spans.values():
+                    s.set_tag("txn-id", txn_id)
+
+>>>>>>> 46aae2456... Reduce size of fed transaction IDs
                 device_message_edus, device_stream_id, dev_list_id = (
                     yield self._get_new_device_messages(destination)
                 )
@@ -670,3 +686,19 @@ class TransactionQueue(object):
             success = False
 
         defer.returnValue(success)
+
+
+def _numberToBase(n, b):
+    if n == 0:
+        return [0]
+    digits = []
+    while n:
+        digits.append(int(n % b))
+        n //= b
+    return digits[::-1]
+
+
+def _encode_id(i):
+    digits = string.digits + string.ascii_letters
+    val_slice = _numberToBase(i, len(digits))
+    return "".join(digits[x] for x in val_slice)
diff --git a/synapse/http/endpoint.py b/synapse/http/endpoint.py
index 91025037a3..df528113a4 100644
--- a/synapse/http/endpoint.py
+++ b/synapse/http/endpoint.py
@@ -194,8 +194,11 @@ class _WrappedConnection(object):
             # In Twisted >18.4; the TLS connection will be None if it has closed
             # which will make abortConnection() throw. Check that the TLS connection
             # is not None before trying to close it.
-            if self.transport.getHandle() is not None:
-                self.transport.abortConnection()
+            try:
+                if self.transport.getHandle() is not None:
+                    self.transport.abortConnection()
+            except:
+                logger.warning("Failed to abort connection")
 
     def request(self, request):
         self.last_request = time.time()