diff --git a/include/villas/sample.h b/include/villas/sample.h
index f7fbffe56..707058739 100644
--- a/include/villas/sample.h
+++ b/include/villas/sample.h
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ struct sample {
 };
 
 /** Request \p cnt samples from memory pool \p p and initialize them.
- *  This will leave the reference count of the sample to zero.
+ *  The reference count will already be set to 1.
  *  Use the sample_get() function to increase it. */
 int sample_alloc(struct pool *p, struct sample *smps[], int cnt);
 
diff --git a/lib/nodes/shmem.c b/lib/nodes/shmem.c
index 4156f13ec..0541b2db8 100644
--- a/lib/nodes/shmem.c
+++ b/lib/nodes/shmem.c
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 #include "nodes/shmem.h"
 #include "plugin.h"
 #include "shmem.h"
+#include "timing.h"
 #include "utils.h"
 
 int shmem_parse(struct node *n, config_setting_t *cfg)
@@ -159,8 +160,9 @@ int shmem_read(struct node *n, struct sample *smps[], unsigned cnt)
 
 	int ret, recv;
 
-	recv = shm->polling ? queue_pull_many(&shm->shared->in.q, (void**) smps, cnt)
-			   : queue_signalled_pull_many(&shm->shared->in.qs, (void**) smps, cnt);
+	struct sample *shared_smps[cnt];
+	recv = shm->polling ? queue_pull_many(&shm->shared->in.q, (void**) shared_smps, cnt)
+			   : queue_signalled_pull_many(&shm->shared->in.qs, (void**) shared_smps, cnt);
 
 	if (recv <= 0)
 		return recv;
@@ -168,8 +170,13 @@ int shmem_read(struct node *n, struct sample *smps[], unsigned cnt)
 	/* Check if remote process is still running */
 	ret = atomic_load_explicit(&shm->shared->ext_stopped, memory_order_relaxed);
 	if (ret)
-		return ret;
+		return -1;
 
+	sample_copy_many(smps, shared_smps, recv);
+	sample_put_many(shared_smps, recv);
+	struct timespec ts_recv = time_now();
+	for (int i = 0; i < recv; i++)
+		smps[i]->ts.received = ts_recv;
 	return recv;
 }
 
@@ -196,8 +203,6 @@ int shmem_write(struct node *n, struct sample *smps[], unsigned cnt)
 		memcpy(shared_smps[i]->data, smps[i]->data, SAMPLE_DATA_LEN(len));
 
 		shared_smps[i]->length = len;
-
-		sample_get(shared_smps[i]);
 	}
 
 	if (atomic_load_explicit(&shm->shared->ext_stopped, memory_order_relaxed)) {
diff --git a/lib/web.c b/lib/web.c
index 11f87c5a3..b7f6bec7f 100644
--- a/lib/web.c
+++ b/lib/web.c
@@ -223,11 +223,11 @@ int web_start(struct web *w)
 			error("WebSocket: failed to initialize server");
 	}
 
+	w->state = STATE_STARTED;
 	ret = pthread_create(&w->thread, NULL, worker, w);
 	if (ret)
 		error("Failed to start Web worker");
 
-	w->state = STATE_STARTED;
 
 	return ret;
 }