diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/metadata/SQLMetadataSegmentManager.java b/server/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/metadata/SQLMetadataSegmentManager.java
index db1d19e49ae..2f37fd6ed71 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/metadata/SQLMetadataSegmentManager.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/metadata/SQLMetadataSegmentManager.java
@@ -950,14 +950,10 @@ public class SQLMetadataSegmentManager implements MetadataSegmentManager
         }
     );
 
-    if (segments == null || segments.isEmpty()) {
-      log.info("No segments found in the database!");
-      return;
-    }
-
-    log.info("Polled and found %,d segments in the database", segments.size());
-
-    ImmutableMap<String, String> dataSourceProperties = createDefaultDataSourceProperties();
+    Preconditions.checkNotNull(
+        segments,
+        "Unexpected 'null' when polling segments from the db, aborting snapshot update."
+    );
 
     // dataSourcesSnapshot is updated only here and the DataSourcesSnapshot object is immutable. If data sources or
     // segments are marked as used or unused directly (via markAs...() methods in MetadataSegmentManager), the
@@ -967,6 +963,13 @@ public class SQLMetadataSegmentManager implements MetadataSegmentManager
     // segment mark calls in rapid succession. So the snapshot update is not done outside of database poll at this time.
     // Updates outside of database polls were primarily for the user experience, so users would immediately see the
     // effect of a segment mark call reflected in MetadataResource API calls.
+
+    ImmutableMap<String, String> dataSourceProperties = createDefaultDataSourceProperties();
+    if (segments.isEmpty()) {
+      log.info("No segments found in the database!");
+    } else {
+      log.info("Polled and found %,d segments in the database", segments.size());
+    }
     dataSourcesSnapshot = DataSourcesSnapshot.fromUsedSegments(
         Iterables.filter(segments, Objects::nonNull), // Filter corrupted entries (see above in this method).
         dataSourceProperties
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/apache/druid/metadata/SQLMetadataSegmentManagerEmptyTest.java b/server/src/test/java/org/apache/druid/metadata/SQLMetadataSegmentManagerEmptyTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..1e3f5d8e25b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/apache/druid/metadata/SQLMetadataSegmentManagerEmptyTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF 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 org.apache.druid.metadata;
+
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
+import com.google.common.base.Suppliers;
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableSet;
+import org.apache.druid.client.ImmutableDruidDataSource;
+import org.apache.druid.segment.TestHelper;
+import org.joda.time.Period;
+import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Assert;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Rule;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
+
+
+/**
+ * Like {@link SQLMetadataRuleManagerTest} except with no segments to make sure it behaves when it's empty
+ */
+public class SQLMetadataSegmentManagerEmptyTest
+{
+
+  @Rule
+  public final TestDerbyConnector.DerbyConnectorRule derbyConnectorRule = new TestDerbyConnector.DerbyConnectorRule();
+
+  private SQLMetadataSegmentManager sqlSegmentsMetadata;
+  private final ObjectMapper jsonMapper = TestHelper.makeJsonMapper();
+
+  @Before
+  public void setUp() throws Exception
+  {
+    TestDerbyConnector connector = derbyConnectorRule.getConnector();
+    MetadataSegmentManagerConfig config = new MetadataSegmentManagerConfig();
+    config.setPollDuration(Period.seconds(1));
+    sqlSegmentsMetadata = new SQLMetadataSegmentManager(
+        jsonMapper,
+        Suppliers.ofInstance(config),
+        derbyConnectorRule.metadataTablesConfigSupplier(),
+        connector
+    );
+    sqlSegmentsMetadata.start();
+
+    connector.createSegmentTable();
+  }
+
+  @After
+  public void teardown()
+  {
+    if (sqlSegmentsMetadata.isPollingDatabasePeriodically()) {
+      sqlSegmentsMetadata.stopPollingDatabasePeriodically();
+    }
+    sqlSegmentsMetadata.stop();
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testPollEmpty()
+  {
+    sqlSegmentsMetadata.startPollingDatabasePeriodically();
+    sqlSegmentsMetadata.poll();
+    Assert.assertTrue(sqlSegmentsMetadata.isPollingDatabasePeriodically());
+    Assert.assertEquals(
+        ImmutableList.of(),
+        sqlSegmentsMetadata.retrieveAllDataSourceNames()
+    );
+    Assert.assertEquals(
+        ImmutableList.of(),
+        sqlSegmentsMetadata
+            .getImmutableDataSourcesWithAllUsedSegments()
+            .stream()
+            .map(ImmutableDruidDataSource::getName)
+            .collect(Collectors.toList())
+    );
+    Assert.assertEquals(
+        null,
+        sqlSegmentsMetadata.getImmutableDataSourceWithUsedSegments("wikipedia")
+    );
+    Assert.assertEquals(
+        ImmutableSet.of(),
+        ImmutableSet.copyOf(sqlSegmentsMetadata.iterateAllUsedSegments())
+    );
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testStopAndStart()
+  {
+    // Simulate successive losing and getting the coordinator leadership
+    sqlSegmentsMetadata.startPollingDatabasePeriodically();
+    sqlSegmentsMetadata.stopPollingDatabasePeriodically();
+    sqlSegmentsMetadata.startPollingDatabasePeriodically();
+    sqlSegmentsMetadata.stopPollingDatabasePeriodically();
+  }
+}