diff --git a/test/functional/feature_init.py b/test/functional/feature_init.py
index 283a67ec774..60de66c528e 100755
--- a/test/functional/feature_init.py
+++ b/test/functional/feature_init.py
@@ -336,7 +336,7 @@ class InitTest(BitcoinTestFramework):
         try:
             resource.setrlimit(resource.RLIMIT_NOFILE, (limit, hard))
         except (ValueError, OSError):
-            self.log.info(f"Skipping rlimit test: cannot set soft limit (hard={hard})")
+            self.log.warning(f"Skipping rlimit test: cannot set soft limit (hard={hard})")
             return
         try:
             self.restart_node(1)
@@ -348,7 +348,7 @@ class InitTest(BitcoinTestFramework):
     def init_rlimit_test(self):
         """Test that bitcoind starts correctly when the soft RLIMIT_NOFILE limit is RLIM_INFINITY."""
         if self.RLIM_INFINITY is None:
-            self.log.info("Skipping: resource module not available")
+            self.log.warning("Skipping: resource module not available")
             return
 
         self.log.info("Testing node startup with RLIM_INFINITY fd limit")
@@ -357,7 +357,7 @@ class InitTest(BitcoinTestFramework):
     def init_rlimit_large_test(self):
         """Test that bitcoind starts correctly when the soft RLIMIT_NOFILE limit is above INT_MAX."""
         if self.RLIM_INFINITY is None:
-            self.log.info("Skipping: resource module not available")
+            self.log.warning("Skipping: resource module not available")
             return
 
         self.log.info("Testing node startup with fd limit above INT_MAX")
@@ -378,6 +378,16 @@ class InitTest(BitcoinTestFramework):
             match=ErrorMatch.PARTIAL_REGEX
         )
 
+        self.log.info("Checking -rpcmaxconnections is ignored when disabling the HTTP server")
+        with node.assert_debug_log(
+            expected_msgs = ["net thread start"],
+            unexpected_msgs = ["Initialized HTTP server"],
+            timeout = 10
+        ):
+            node.start(extra_args=[f"-rpcmaxconnections={2**64}", "-server=0"])
+        # No HTTP server, no RPC `stop`
+        node.kill_process()
+
         if self.RLIM_INFINITY is not None:
             # Get the platform's file descriptor limit, if possible
             import resource
@@ -389,14 +399,14 @@ class InitTest(BitcoinTestFramework):
             try:
                 resource.setrlimit(resource.RLIMIT_NOFILE, (soft, soft))
             except (ValueError, OSError):
-                self.log.info(f"Skipping rlimit test: cannot reduce hard limit (soft={soft}, hard={hard})")
+                self.log.warning(f"Skipping rlimit test: cannot reduce hard limit (soft={soft}, hard={hard})")
                 return
 
             self.log.info("Checking that large -maxconnections setting gets adjusted for available file descriptors")
             # Note this prints a message to the log and stderr but does not abort the process
             with node.assert_debug_log(expected_msgs=[f"Reducing -maxconnections from {soft} "]):
                 self.restart_node(1, extra_args=[f"-maxconnections={soft}"])
-            self.stop_node(1, expected_stderr=re.compile(fr"Reducing -maxconnections from {soft} "))
+            self.stop_node(1, expected_stderr=re.compile(f"Reducing -maxconnections from {soft} "))
 
             # From httpserver.h
             DEFAULT_MAX_HTTP_CONNECTIONS = 16
@@ -408,16 +418,6 @@ class InitTest(BitcoinTestFramework):
                 match=ErrorMatch.PARTIAL_REGEX
             )
 
-        # Start without the HTTP server to ensure that -rpcmaxconnections is ignored
-        with node.assert_debug_log(
-            expected_msgs = ["net thread start"],
-            unexpected_msgs = ["Initialized HTTP server"],
-            timeout = 10
-        ):
-            node.start(extra_args=[f"-rpcmaxconnections={2**64}", "-server=0"])
-        # No HTTP server, no RPC `stop`
-        node.kill_process()
-
     def run_test(self):
         self.init_pid_test()
         self.init_stress_test_interrupt()
diff --git a/test/functional/interface_http.py b/test/functional/interface_http.py
index 58ee6289ac4..10d26592b74 100755
--- a/test/functional/interface_http.py
+++ b/test/functional/interface_http.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 from test_framework.test_framework import BitcoinTestFramework
 from test_framework.netutil import NETWORK_ERRORS
-from test_framework.util import assert_equal, str_to_b64str
+from test_framework.util import assert_equal, assert_raises, str_to_b64str
 
 import concurrent.futures
 import http.client
@@ -278,14 +278,10 @@ class HTTPBasicsTest (BitcoinTestFramework):
         else:
             conn.post_raw('/', '{"method": "getblockcount"}')
 
-        try:
-            # The server should not respond to the second request until the first
-            # request has been handled. Since the server will not respond at all
-            # to the first request until we generate a block we expect a socket timeout.
-            conn.recv_raw()
-            assert False
-        except TimeoutError:
-            pass
+        # The server should not respond to the second request until the first
+        # request has been handled. Since the server will not respond at all
+        # to the first request until we generate a block we expect a socket timeout.
+        assert_raises(TimeoutError, lambda: conn.recv_raw())
 
         # Use a separate http connection to generate a block
         self.generate(self.node, 1, sync_fun=self.no_op)
@@ -649,11 +645,7 @@ class HTTPBasicsTest (BitcoinTestFramework):
             ):
                 conn = BitcoinHTTPConnection(self.node)
                 conn.set_timeout(5)
-                try:
-                    conn.post('/', '{"method": "never_accepted"}', connection_header='keep-alive').read()
-                    assert False, "Connection succeeded unexpectedly"
-                except TimeoutError:
-                    pass
+                assert_raises(TimeoutError, lambda: conn.post('/', '{"method": "never_accepted"}', connection_header='keep-alive').read())
 
             # All original clients are still connected
             assert_equal(len(connections), MAX_HTTP_CONNECTIONS)