diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegionServer.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegionServer.java
index b3b5113e350..d14571b6e38 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegionServer.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegionServer.java
@@ -1628,7 +1628,9 @@ public class HRegionServer extends HasThread implements
     private final HRegionServer instance;
     private final int majorCompactPriority;
     private final static int DEFAULT_PRIORITY = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
-    private long iteration = 0;
+    //Iteration is 1-based rather than 0-based so we don't check for compaction
+    // immediately upon region server startup
+    private long iteration = 1;
 
     CompactionChecker(final HRegionServer h, final int sleepTime,
         final Stoppable stopper) {