diff --git a/agent/service_manager.go b/agent/service_manager.go
index f86adf66c1..9e49748b79 100644
--- a/agent/service_manager.go
+++ b/agent/service_manager.go
@@ -10,6 +10,11 @@ import (
 	"golang.org/x/net/context"
 )
 
+// The ServiceManager is a layer for service registration in between the agent
+// and the local state. Any services must be registered with the ServiceManager,
+// which then maintains a long-running watch of any globally-set service or proxy
+// configuration that applies to the service in order to register the final, merged
+// service configuration locally in the agent state.
 type ServiceManager struct {
 	services map[string]*serviceConfigWatch
 	agent    *Agent
@@ -24,10 +29,11 @@ func NewServiceManager(agent *Agent) *ServiceManager {
 	}
 }
 
+// AddService starts a new serviceConfigWatch if the service has not been registered, and
+// updates the existing registration if it has. For a new service, a call will also be made
+// to fetch the merged global defaults that apply to the service in order to compose the
+// initial registration.
 func (s *ServiceManager) AddService(service *structs.NodeService, chkTypes []*structs.CheckType, persist bool, token string, source configSource) error {
-	s.Lock()
-	defer s.Unlock()
-
 	reg := serviceRegistration{
 		service:  service,
 		chkTypes: chkTypes,
@@ -38,12 +44,14 @@ func (s *ServiceManager) AddService(service *structs.NodeService, chkTypes []*st
 
 	// If a service watch already exists, update the registration. Otherwise,
 	// start a new config watcher.
+	s.Lock()
 	watch, ok := s.services[service.ID]
+	s.Unlock()
 	if ok {
-		s.agent.logger.Printf("[DEBUG] agent: updating local registration for service %q", service.ID)
 		if err := watch.updateRegistration(&reg); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
+		s.agent.logger.Printf("[DEBUG] agent.manager: updated local registration for service %q", service.ID)
 	} else {
 		// This is a new entry, so get the existing global config and do the initial
 		// registration with the merged config.
@@ -72,10 +80,13 @@ func (s *ServiceManager) AddService(service *structs.NodeService, chkTypes []*st
 			return err
 		}
 
+		s.Lock()
 		s.services[service.ID] = watch
+		s.Unlock()
 		if err := watch.Start(); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
+		s.agent.logger.Printf("[DEBUG] agent.manager: adding local registration for service %q", service.ID)
 	}
 
 	return nil
@@ -94,6 +105,7 @@ func (s *ServiceManager) RemoveService(serviceID string) {
 	delete(s.services, serviceID)
 }
 
+// serviceRegistration represents a locally registered service.
 type serviceRegistration struct {
 	service  *structs.NodeService
 	chkTypes []*structs.CheckType
@@ -102,6 +114,9 @@ type serviceRegistration struct {
 	source   configSource
 }
 
+// serviceConfigWatch is a long running helper for composing the end config
+// for a given service from both the local registration and the global
+// service/proxy defaults.
 type serviceConfigWatch struct {
 	registration *serviceRegistration
 	config       *structs.ServiceDefinition
@@ -125,6 +140,12 @@ func (s *serviceConfigWatch) Start() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+func (s *serviceConfigWatch) Stop() {
+	s.cancelFunc()
+}
+
+// runWatch handles any update events from the cache.Notify until the
+// config watch is shut down.
 func (s *serviceConfigWatch) runWatch() {
 	for {
 		select {
@@ -132,14 +153,24 @@ func (s *serviceConfigWatch) runWatch() {
 			return
 		case event := <-s.updateCh:
 			if err := s.handleUpdate(event, false); err != nil {
-				s.agent.logger.Printf("[ERR] agent: error handling service update: %v", err)
-				continue
+				s.agent.logger.Printf("[ERR] agent.manager: error handling service update: %v", err)
 			}
 		}
 	}
 }
 
+// handleUpdate receives an update event about either the service registration or the
+// global config defaults, updates the local state and re-registers the service with
+// the newly merged config. This function takes the serviceConfigWatch lock to ensure
+// only one update can be happening at a time.
 func (s *serviceConfigWatch) handleUpdate(event cache.UpdateEvent, locked bool) error {
+	// Take the agent state lock if needed. This is done before the local config watch
+	// lock in order to prevent a race between this config watch and others - the config
+	// watch lock is the inner lock and the agent stateLock is the outer lock.
+	if !locked {
+		s.agent.stateLock.Lock()
+		defer s.agent.stateLock.Unlock()
+	}
 	s.Lock()
 	defer s.Unlock()
 
@@ -158,12 +189,6 @@ func (s *serviceConfigWatch) handleUpdate(event cache.UpdateEvent, locked bool)
 	}
 
 	service := s.mergeServiceConfig()
-
-	if !locked {
-		s.agent.stateLock.Lock()
-		defer s.agent.stateLock.Unlock()
-	}
-
 	err := s.agent.addServiceInternal(service, s.registration.chkTypes, s.registration.persist, s.registration.token, s.registration.source)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("error updating service registration: %v", err)
@@ -172,6 +197,8 @@ func (s *serviceConfigWatch) handleUpdate(event cache.UpdateEvent, locked bool)
 	return nil
 }
 
+// startConfigWatch starts a cache.Notify goroutine to run a continuous blocking query
+// on the resolved service config for this service.
 func (s *serviceConfigWatch) startConfigWatch() error {
 	name := s.registration.service.Service
 
@@ -188,12 +215,16 @@ func (s *serviceConfigWatch) startConfigWatch() error {
 	return err
 }
 
+// updateRegistration does a synchronous update of the local service registration and
+// returns the result.
 func (s *serviceConfigWatch) updateRegistration(registration *serviceRegistration) error {
 	return s.handleUpdate(cache.UpdateEvent{
 		Result: registration,
 	}, true)
 }
 
+// mergeServiceConfig returns the final effective config for the watched service,
+// including the latest known global defaults from the servers.
 func (s *serviceConfigWatch) mergeServiceConfig() *structs.NodeService {
 	if s.config == nil {
 		return s.registration.service
@@ -204,7 +235,3 @@ func (s *serviceConfigWatch) mergeServiceConfig() *structs.NodeService {
 
 	return svc
 }
-
-func (s *serviceConfigWatch) Stop() {
-	s.cancelFunc()
-}