diff --git a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/deployers/impl/FileConfigurationParser.java b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/deployers/impl/FileConfigurationParser.java
index bfb9f84dd3..087a6fb0b3 100644
--- a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/deployers/impl/FileConfigurationParser.java
+++ b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/deployers/impl/FileConfigurationParser.java
@@ -1268,6 +1268,11 @@ public final class FileConfigurationParser extends XMLConfigurationUtil {
 
       String connectorName = getString(e, "connector-ref", null, Validators.NOT_NULL_OR_EMPTY);
 
+      if (!mainConfig.getConnectorConfigurations().containsKey(connectorName)) {
+         ActiveMQServerLogger.LOGGER.connectorRefNotFound(connectorName, name);
+         return;
+      }
+
       boolean duplicateDetection = getBoolean(e, "use-duplicate-detection", ActiveMQDefaultConfiguration.isDefaultClusterDuplicateDetection());
 
       MessageLoadBalancingType messageLoadBalancingType;
diff --git a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/ActiveMQServerLogger.java b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/ActiveMQServerLogger.java
index 7e219c688e..332e8903b8 100644
--- a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/ActiveMQServerLogger.java
+++ b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/ActiveMQServerLogger.java
@@ -1283,6 +1283,9 @@ public interface ActiveMQServerLogger extends BasicLogger {
       format = Message.Format.MESSAGE_FORMAT)
    void negativeGlobalAddressSize(long size);
 
+   @LogMessage(level = Logger.Level.WARN)
+   @Message(id = 222217, value = "Cannot find connector-ref {0}. The cluster-connection {1} will not be deployed.", format = Message.Format.MESSAGE_FORMAT)
+   void connectorRefNotFound(String connectorRef, String clusterConnection);
 
    @LogMessage(level = Logger.Level.ERROR)
    @Message(id = 224000, value = "Failure in initialisation", format = Message.Format.MESSAGE_FORMAT)
diff --git a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/cluster/ClusterController.java b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/cluster/ClusterController.java
index 15595f83a6..b47dca985a 100644
--- a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/cluster/ClusterController.java
+++ b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/cluster/ClusterController.java
@@ -317,6 +317,10 @@ public class ClusterController implements ActiveMQComponent {
 
       @Override
       public void handlePacket(Packet packet) {
+         if (!isStarted()) {
+            return;
+         }
+
          if (!authorized) {
             if (packet.getType() == PacketImpl.CLUSTER_CONNECT) {
                ClusterConnection clusterConnection = acceptorUsed.getClusterConnection();