diff --git a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/routing/ConnectionRouter.java b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/routing/ConnectionRouter.java
index fed0bc0a80..9d72862983 100644
--- a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/routing/ConnectionRouter.java
+++ b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/routing/ConnectionRouter.java
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ public class ConnectionRouter implements ActiveMQComponent {
          return localTarget;
       }
 
-      if (pool == null) {
+      if (policy == null || pool == null) {
          return TargetResult.REFUSED_USE_ANOTHER_RESULT;
       }
 
diff --git a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/routing/ConnectionRouterManager.java b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/routing/ConnectionRouterManager.java
index 86aea1dc32..66b9de4440 100644
--- a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/routing/ConnectionRouterManager.java
+++ b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/routing/ConnectionRouterManager.java
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ public final class ConnectionRouterManager implements ActiveMQComponent {
 
       policy.init(policyConfig.getProperties());
 
-      if (policy.getTargetProbe() != null) {
+      if (pool != null && policy.getTargetProbe() != null) {
          pool.addTargetProbe(policy.getTargetProbe());
       }
 
diff --git a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/routing/caches/LocalCache.java b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/routing/caches/LocalCache.java
index 3831948790..7fb320382f 100644
--- a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/routing/caches/LocalCache.java
+++ b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/routing/caches/LocalCache.java
@@ -71,9 +71,11 @@ public class LocalCache implements Cache, RemovalListener<String, String> {
       if (persisted) {
          persistedCacheEntries = storageManager.getPersistedKeyValuePairs(id);
 
-         for (Map.Entry<String, PersistedKeyValuePair> cacheEntry : persistedCacheEntries.entrySet()) {
-            cache.put(cacheEntry.getKey(), cacheEntry.getValue().getValue());
-            logger.info(cacheEntry.toString());
+         if (persistedCacheEntries != null) {
+            for (Map.Entry<String, PersistedKeyValuePair> cacheEntry : persistedCacheEntries.entrySet()) {
+               cache.put(cacheEntry.getKey(), cacheEntry.getValue().getValue());
+               logger.info(cacheEntry.toString());
+            }
          }
       }