diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index a2a29289edc..9e451fdb45d 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -280,6 +280,7 @@ RALLY_EXTRA_FLAGS?=
 RALLY_CLIENT_OPTIONS?=basic_auth_user:'admin',basic_auth_password:'changeme'
 RALLY_FLAGS?=--pipeline=benchmark-only --client-options="$(RALLY_CLIENT_OPTIONS)" $(RALLY_EXTRA_FLAGS)
 RALLY_BULK_SIZE?=5000
+RALLY_GENCORPORA_REPLAY_COUNT?=1
 
 .PHONY: rally
 rally: $(PYTHON_BIN)/esrally rally/corpora
@@ -295,7 +296,7 @@ $(PYTHON_BIN)/esrally: $(PYTHON_BIN)
 .PHONY: rally/corpora
 rally/corpora:
 	@rm -fr rally/corpora && mkdir rally/corpora
-	@cd systemtest/cmd/gencorpora && $(GO) run . -write-dir $(CURRENT_DIR)/rally/corpora/
+	@cd systemtest/cmd/gencorpora && $(GO) run . -write-dir $(CURRENT_DIR)/rally/corpora/ -replay-count $(RALLY_GENCORPORA_REPLAY_COUNT)
 
 ##############################################################################
 # Smoke tests -- Basic smoke tests for APM Server.
diff --git a/systemtest/cmd/gencorpora/main.go b/systemtest/cmd/gencorpora/main.go
index 1154c323e49..73eeab38a70 100644
--- a/systemtest/cmd/gencorpora/main.go
+++ b/systemtest/cmd/gencorpora/main.go
@@ -19,90 +19,21 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"context"
-	"errors"
 	"flag"
-	"fmt"
 	"log"
 	"os"
 	"os/signal"
 	"syscall"
-	"time"
-
-	"github.com/hashicorp/go-multierror"
-	"golang.org/x/sync/errgroup"
 
 	"github.com/elastic/apm-server/systemtest/gencorpora"
-	"github.com/elastic/apm-server/systemtest/loadgen"
 )
 
-func run(rootCtx context.Context) error {
-	// Create fake ES server
-	esServer, err := gencorpora.NewCatBulkServer()
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	// Create APM-Server to send documents to fake ES
-	apmServer := gencorpora.NewAPMServer(rootCtx, esServer.Addr)
-	if err := apmServer.Start(); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(rootCtx)
-	g, gctx := errgroup.WithContext(ctx)
-	g.Go(func() error {
-		<-gctx.Done()
-
-		var result error
-		if err := apmServer.Close(); err != nil {
-			result = multierror.Append(result, err)
-		}
-		if err := esServer.Stop(); err != nil {
-			result = multierror.Append(result, err)
-		}
-
-		return result
-	})
-	g.Go(esServer.Serve)
-	g.Go(func() error {
-		return gencorpora.StreamAPMServerLogs(ctx, apmServer)
-	})
-	g.Go(func() error {
-		defer cancel()
-
-		waitCtx, waitCancel := context.WithTimeout(gctx, 10*time.Second)
-		defer waitCancel()
-		if err := apmServer.WaitForPublishReady(waitCtx); err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("failed while waiting for APM-Server to be ready with err %v", err)
-		}
-
-		return generateLoad(ctx, apmServer.URL)
-	})
-
-	if err := g.Wait(); !errors.Is(err, context.Canceled) {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	return nil
-}
-
-func generateLoad(ctx context.Context, serverURL string) error {
-	inf := loadgen.GetNewLimiter(0)
-	handler, err := loadgen.NewEventHandler(`*.ndjson`, serverURL, "", inf)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	_, err = handler.SendBatches(ctx)
-	return err
-}
-
 func main() {
 	flag.Parse()
 
 	ctx, cancel := signal.NotifyContext(context.Background(), os.Interrupt, syscall.SIGTERM)
 	defer cancel()
-	if err := run(ctx); err != nil {
+	if err := gencorpora.Run(ctx); err != nil {
 		log.Fatal(err)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/systemtest/gencorpora/catbulk.go b/systemtest/gencorpora/catbulk.go
index 6847675b6a5..115e3469104 100644
--- a/systemtest/gencorpora/catbulk.go
+++ b/systemtest/gencorpora/catbulk.go
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ func (s *CatBulkServer) Stop() error {
 	defer s.writer.Close()
 
 	if err := s.server.Shutdown(ctx); err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed to shutdown cat bulk server with error %v, no metadata written", err)
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to shutdown cat bulk server no metadata written: %w", err)
 	}
 
 	close(s.metaUpdateChan)
diff --git a/systemtest/gencorpora/config.go b/systemtest/gencorpora/config.go
index e114b2cf246..4b649596de7 100644
--- a/systemtest/gencorpora/config.go
+++ b/systemtest/gencorpora/config.go
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ var gencorporaConfig = struct {
 	CorporaPath  string
 	MetadataPath string
 	LoggingLevel zapcore.Level
+	ReplayCount  int
 }{
 	CorporaPath:  filepath.Join(defaultDir, getCorporaPath(defaultFilePrefix)),
 	MetadataPath: filepath.Join(defaultDir, getMetaPath(defaultFilePrefix)),
@@ -55,6 +56,12 @@ func init() {
 			return nil
 		},
 	)
+	flag.IntVar(
+		&gencorporaConfig.ReplayCount,
+		"replay-count",
+		1,
+		"Number of times the events are replayed",
+	)
 	flag.Var(
 		&gencorporaConfig.LoggingLevel,
 		"logging-level",
diff --git a/systemtest/gencorpora/gencorpora.go b/systemtest/gencorpora/gencorpora.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..94537dff678
--- /dev/null
+++ b/systemtest/gencorpora/gencorpora.go
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+// Licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one or more contributor
+// license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+// this work for additional information regarding copyright
+// ownership. Elasticsearch B.V. licenses this file to you under
+// the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+// not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+// software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+// "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+// KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+// specific language governing permissions and limitations
+// under the License.
+
+package gencorpora
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/hashicorp/go-multierror"
+	"golang.org/x/sync/errgroup"
+
+	"github.com/elastic/apm-server/systemtest/loadgen"
+)
+
+// Run runs APM-Server and CatBulk server followed by sending
+// load to APM-Server and writing the generated corpus to a file.
+// Run exits on error or on successful corpora generation.
+func Run(rootCtx context.Context) error {
+	// Create fake ES server
+	esServer, err := NewCatBulkServer()
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// Create APM-Server to send documents to fake ES
+	apmServer := NewAPMServer(rootCtx, esServer.Addr)
+	if err := apmServer.Start(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(rootCtx)
+	g, gctx := errgroup.WithContext(ctx)
+	g.Go(func() error {
+		<-gctx.Done()
+
+		var result error
+		if err := apmServer.Close(); err != nil {
+			result = multierror.Append(result, err)
+		}
+		if err := esServer.Stop(); err != nil {
+			result = multierror.Append(result, err)
+		}
+
+		return result
+	})
+	g.Go(esServer.Serve)
+	g.Go(func() error {
+		return StreamAPMServerLogs(ctx, apmServer)
+	})
+	g.Go(func() error {
+		defer cancel()
+
+		waitCtx, waitCancel := context.WithTimeout(gctx, 10*time.Second)
+		defer waitCancel()
+		if err := apmServer.WaitForPublishReady(waitCtx); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("failed while waiting for APM-Server to be ready: %w", err)
+		}
+
+		return generateLoad(ctx, apmServer.URL, gencorporaConfig.ReplayCount)
+	})
+
+	if err := g.Wait(); !errors.Is(err, context.Canceled) {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+func generateLoad(ctx context.Context, serverURL string, replayCount int) error {
+	inf := loadgen.GetNewLimiter(0)
+	handler, err := loadgen.NewEventHandler(`*.ndjson`, serverURL, "", inf)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	for i := 0; i < replayCount; i++ {
+		if _, err = handler.SendBatches(ctx); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("failed sending batches on iteration %d: %w", i+1, err)
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}