diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/HMaster.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/HMaster.java
index d17e297c343..0d0b5c1e854 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/HMaster.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/HMaster.java
@@ -1878,6 +1878,13 @@ public class HMaster extends HRegionServer implements MasterServices, Server {
       warnOrThrowExceptionForFailure(logWarn, CONF_KEY, message, null);
     }
 
+    // check that we have minimum 1 region replicas
+    int regionReplicas = htd.getRegionReplication();
+    if (regionReplicas < 1) {
+      String message = "Table region replication should be at least one.";
+      warnOrThrowExceptionForFailure(logWarn, CONF_KEY, message, null);
+    }
+
     for (HColumnDescriptor hcd : htd.getColumnFamilies()) {
       if (hcd.getTimeToLive() <= 0) {
         String message = "TTL for column family " + hcd.getNameAsString() + " must be positive.";
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestFromClientSide.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestFromClientSide.java
index 58ff20fe0f1..b63b27bd191 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestFromClientSide.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestFromClientSide.java
@@ -6547,4 +6547,25 @@ public class TestFromClientSide {
     }
   }
 
+  @Test(expected = DoNotRetryIOException.class)
+  public void testCreateTableWithZeroRegionReplicas() throws Exception {
+    TableName tableName = TableName.valueOf("testCreateTableWithZeroRegionReplicas");
+    HTableDescriptor desc = new HTableDescriptor(tableName);
+    desc.addFamily(new HColumnDescriptor("cf"));
+    desc.setRegionReplication(0);
+    TEST_UTIL.getHBaseAdmin().createTable(desc);
+  }
+
+  @Test(expected = DoNotRetryIOException.class)
+  public void testModifyTableWithZeroRegionReplicas() throws Exception {
+    TableName tableName = TableName.valueOf("testModifyTableWithZeroRegionReplicas");
+    HTableDescriptor desc = new HTableDescriptor(tableName);
+    desc.addFamily(new HColumnDescriptor("cf"));
+
+    TEST_UTIL.getHBaseAdmin().createTable(desc);
+    HTableDescriptor newDesc = new HTableDescriptor(desc);
+    newDesc.setRegionReplication(0);
+
+    TEST_UTIL.getHBaseAdmin().modifyTable(tableName, newDesc);
+  }
 }