diff --git a/src/log.c b/src/log.c
index a1cc0bc3e..c95905ee2 100644
--- a/src/log.c
+++ b/src/log.c
@@ -1350,8 +1350,8 @@ static int postcheck_log_backend(struct proxy *be)
 	int err_code = ERR_NONE;
 	int target_type = -1; // -1 is unused in log_tgt enum
 
-	if (!(be->cap & PR_CAP_BE) || be->mode != PR_MODE_SYSLOG ||
-	    (be->flags & (PR_FL_DISABLED|PR_FL_STOPPED)))
+	if ((be->cap & PR_CAP_INT) || !(be->cap & PR_CAP_BE) ||
+	    be->mode != PR_MODE_SYSLOG || (be->flags & (PR_FL_DISABLED|PR_FL_STOPPED)))
 		return ERR_NONE; /* nothing to do */
 
 	err_code |= _postcheck_log_backend_compat(be);
diff --git a/src/sink.c b/src/sink.c
index 4485e95e5..7a31d3827 100644
--- a/src/sink.c
+++ b/src/sink.c
@@ -842,8 +842,11 @@ static struct sink *sink_new_ringbuf(const char *id, const char *description,
 	struct sink *sink;
 	struct proxy *p = NULL; // forward_px
 
-	/* allocate new proxy to handle forwards */
-	p = alloc_new_proxy(id, PR_CAP_BE, err_msg);
+	/* allocate new proxy to handle forwards, mark it as internal proxy
+	 * because we don't want haproxy to do the automatic syslog backend
+	 * init, instead we will manage it by hand
+	 */
+	p = alloc_new_proxy(id, PR_CAP_BE|PR_CAP_INT, err_msg);
 	if (!p)
 		goto err;