diff --git a/pkg/etcdenvvar/envvarcontroller.go b/pkg/etcdenvvar/envvarcontroller.go
index 3a212a6d49..8191632a91 100644
--- a/pkg/etcdenvvar/envvarcontroller.go
+++ b/pkg/etcdenvvar/envvarcontroller.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package etcdenvvar
 
 import (
+	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"reflect"
 	"sync"
@@ -9,11 +10,15 @@ import (
 	operatorv1 "github.com/openshift/api/operator/v1"
 	configv1informers "github.com/openshift/client-go/config/informers/externalversions/config/v1"
 	configv1listers "github.com/openshift/client-go/config/listers/config/v1"
+	"github.com/openshift/cluster-etcd-operator/pkg/operator/ceohelpers"
 	"github.com/openshift/cluster-etcd-operator/pkg/operator/operatorclient"
 	"github.com/openshift/library-go/pkg/operator/events"
 	"github.com/openshift/library-go/pkg/operator/v1helpers"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
+	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	utilruntime "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/runtime"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/wait"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes"
 	corev1listers "k8s.io/client-go/listers/core/v1"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/cache"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/util/workqueue"
@@ -24,6 +29,7 @@ const workQueueKey = "key"
 
 type EnvVarController struct {
 	operatorClient v1helpers.StaticPodOperatorClient
+	kubeClient     kubernetes.Interface
 
 	envVarMapLock       sync.Mutex
 	envVarMap           map[string]string
@@ -48,6 +54,7 @@ type Enqueueable interface {
 func NewEnvVarController(
 	targetImagePullSpec string,
 	operatorClient v1helpers.StaticPodOperatorClient,
+	kubeClient kubernetes.Interface,
 	kubeInformersForNamespaces v1helpers.KubeInformersForNamespaces,
 	infrastructureInformer configv1informers.InfrastructureInformer,
 	networkInformer configv1informers.NetworkInformer,
@@ -55,6 +62,7 @@ func NewEnvVarController(
 ) *EnvVarController {
 	c := &EnvVarController{
 		operatorClient:       operatorClient,
+		kubeClient:           kubeClient,
 		infrastructureLister: infrastructureInformer.Lister(),
 		networkLister:        networkInformer.Lister(),
 		configmapLister:      kubeInformersForNamespaces.InformersFor(operatorclient.TargetNamespace).Core().V1().ConfigMaps().Lister(),
@@ -128,7 +136,7 @@ func (c *EnvVarController) checkEnvVars() error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	currEnvVarMap, err := getEtcdEnvVars(envVarContext{
+	ctx := envVarContext{
 		targetImagePullSpec:  c.targetImagePullSpec,
 		spec:                 *operatorSpec,
 		status:               *operatorStatus,
@@ -136,7 +144,64 @@ func (c *EnvVarController) checkEnvVars() error {
 		nodeLister:           c.nodeLister,
 		infrastructureLister: c.infrastructureLister,
 		networkLister:        c.networkLister,
-	})
+	}
+
+	bootstrapComplete, err := isBootstrapComplete(c.configmapLister, c.operatorClient)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("couldn't determine bootstrap status: %w", err)
+	}
+	isUnsupportedUnsafeEtcd, err := ceohelpers.IsUnsupportedUnsafeEtcd(&ctx.spec)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("couldn't determine etcd unsupported override status: %w", err)
+	}
+	// TODO: determine this through a state check
+	isManagedByAssistedInstaller := true
+	nodeCount := len(ctx.status.NodeStatuses)
+
+	// check for valid PDB, while we do internal health checks aginst etcd directly,
+	// PDB has the data we need without an out of band query to etcd.
+	// see: https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/blob/master/Documentation/faq.md#what-is-failure-tolerance
+	var isEtcdFailureTolerant bool
+	pdb, err := c.kubeClient.PolicyV1beta1().PodDisruptionBudgets(operatorclient.TargetNamespace).Get(context.Background(), "etcd-quorum-guard", metav1.GetOptions{})
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	currentHealthyEtcds := pdb.Status.CurrentHealthy
+	if currentHealthyEtcds > 2 {
+		isEtcdFailureTolerant = true
+	}
+
+	// There are three discrete validation paths to enforce HA invariants
+	// depending on whether the unsupported/unsafe config is set, whether the
+	// cluster is managed by assisted installer, and the default configuration.
+	switch {
+	case isUnsupportedUnsafeEtcd:
+		// TODO: this is to help make sure assisted installer can run in a supported config.
+		// TODO: can remove this after integration testing.
+		if isManagedByAssistedInstaller {
+			return fmt.Errorf("assisted installer is running with an unsupported etcd configuration")
+		}
+		// When running in an unsupported/unsafe configuration, no guarantees are
+		// made once a single node is available.
+		if nodeCount < 1 {
+			return fmt.Errorf("at least one node is required to have a valid configuration")
+		}
+	case isManagedByAssistedInstaller:
+		// When managed by assisted installer, tolerate unsafe conditions only up
+		// until bootstrap is complete, and then enforce as in the supported case.
+		// Only if etcd if failure tolerant is it safe for a new static pod revision.
+		if !isEtcdFailureTolerant && bootstrapComplete {
+			return fmt.Errorf("at least three healthy etcd members are required to have a valid configuration (have %d)", currentHealthyEtcds)
+		}
+	default:
+		// When running in a normal supported configuration, enforce HA invariants
+		// at all times.
+		if nodeCount < 3 {
+			return fmt.Errorf("at least three nodes are required to have a valid configuration (have %d)", nodeCount)
+		}
+	}
+
+	currEnvVarMap, err := getEtcdEnvVars(ctx)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -208,3 +273,43 @@ func (c *EnvVarController) eventHandler() cache.ResourceEventHandler {
 		DeleteFunc: func(obj interface{}) { c.queue.Add(workQueueKey) },
 	}
 }
+
+// isBootstrapComplete returns true if bootstrap has completed.
+// TODO: consider sharing with etcdendpointscontroller.
+func isBootstrapComplete(configMapClient corev1listers.ConfigMapLister, staticPodClient v1helpers.StaticPodOperatorClient) (bool, error) {
+	// do a cheap check to see if the annotation is already gone.
+	// check to see if bootstrapping is complete
+	bootstrapFinishedConfigMap, err := configMapClient.ConfigMaps("kube-system").Get("bootstrap")
+	if err != nil {
+		if errors.IsNotFound(err) {
+			// If the resource was deleted (e.g. by an admin) after bootstrap is actually complete,
+			// this is a false negative.
+			klog.V(4).Infof("bootstrap considered incomplete because the kube-system/bootstrap configmap wasn't found")
+			return false, nil
+		}
+		// We don't know, give up quickly.
+		return false, fmt.Errorf("failed to get configmap %s/%s: %w", "kube-system", "bootstrap", err)
+	}
+
+	if status, ok := bootstrapFinishedConfigMap.Data["status"]; !ok || status != "complete" {
+		// do nothing, not torn down
+		klog.V(4).Infof("bootstrap considered incomplete because status is %q", status)
+		return false, nil
+	}
+
+	// now run check to stability of revisions
+	_, status, _, err := staticPodClient.GetStaticPodOperatorState()
+	if err != nil {
+		return false, fmt.Errorf("failed to get static pod operator state: %w", err)
+	}
+	if status.LatestAvailableRevision == 0 {
+		return false, nil
+	}
+	for _, curr := range status.NodeStatuses {
+		if curr.CurrentRevision != status.LatestAvailableRevision {
+			klog.V(4).Infof("bootstrap considered incomplete because revision %d is still in progress", status.LatestAvailableRevision)
+			return false, nil
+		}
+	}
+	return true, nil
+}
diff --git a/pkg/etcdenvvar/etcd_env.go b/pkg/etcdenvvar/etcd_env.go
index 8b63b289cd..947213a411 100644
--- a/pkg/etcdenvvar/etcd_env.go
+++ b/pkg/etcdenvvar/etcd_env.go
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/openshift/cluster-etcd-operator/pkg/dnshelpers"
-	"github.com/openshift/cluster-etcd-operator/pkg/operator/ceohelpers"
 	"github.com/openshift/cluster-etcd-operator/pkg/operator/operatorclient"
 
 	operatorv1 "github.com/openshift/api/operator/v1"
@@ -59,20 +58,6 @@ var envVarFns = []envVarFunc{
 //   NODE_%s_ETCD_URL_HOST
 //   NODE_%s_ETCD_NAME
 func getEtcdEnvVars(envVarContext envVarContext) (map[string]string, error) {
-	// TODO once we are past bootstrapping, this restriction shouldn't be needed anymore.
-	//   we have it because the env vars were not getting set in the pod and the static pod operator started
-	//   rolling out to another node, which caused a failure.
-	isUnsupportedUnsafeEtcd, err := ceohelpers.IsUnsupportedUnsafeEtcd(&envVarContext.spec)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	switch {
-	case isUnsupportedUnsafeEtcd && len(envVarContext.status.NodeStatuses) < 1:
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("at least one node is required to have a valid configuration")
-	case !isUnsupportedUnsafeEtcd && len(envVarContext.status.NodeStatuses) < 3:
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("at least three nodes are required to have a valid configuration")
-	}
-
 	ret := map[string]string{}
 
 	for _, envVarFn := range envVarFns {
diff --git a/pkg/operator/bootstrapteardown/bootstrap_teardown_controller.go b/pkg/operator/bootstrapteardown/bootstrap_teardown_controller.go
index a8769e2e98..ec1b7d9894 100644
--- a/pkg/operator/bootstrapteardown/bootstrap_teardown_controller.go
+++ b/pkg/operator/bootstrapteardown/bootstrap_teardown_controller.go
@@ -152,6 +152,12 @@ func (c *BootstrapTeardownController) canRemoveEtcdBootstrap() (bool, bool, erro
 		return false, hasBootstrap, err
 	}
 
+	// TODO: determine this through a state check
+	isManagedByAssistedInstaller := true
+	if isManagedByAssistedInstaller {
+		isUnsupportedUnsafeEtcd = true
+	}
+
 	switch {
 	case !isUnsupportedUnsafeEtcd && len(members) < 4:
 		// bootstrap is not safe to remove until we scale to 4
diff --git a/pkg/operator/starter.go b/pkg/operator/starter.go
index 0beb2d9487..3e31f400dc 100644
--- a/pkg/operator/starter.go
+++ b/pkg/operator/starter.go
@@ -121,6 +121,7 @@ func RunOperator(ctx context.Context, controllerContext *controllercmd.Controlle
 	envVarController := etcdenvvar.NewEnvVarController(
 		os.Getenv("IMAGE"),
 		operatorClient,
+		kubeClient,
 		kubeInformersForNamespaces,
 		configInformers.Config().V1().Infrastructures(),
 		configInformers.Config().V1().Networks(),