diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/balancer/BaseLoadBalancer.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/balancer/BaseLoadBalancer.java
index f52dbdfe3a7..dc5bace2224 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/balancer/BaseLoadBalancer.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/balancer/BaseLoadBalancer.java
@@ -1016,6 +1016,19 @@ public abstract class BaseLoadBalancer implements LoadBalancer {
     return tables != null && tables.length > 0;
   }
 
+  public static boolean userTablesOnMaster(Configuration conf) {
+    String[] tables = getTablesOnMaster(conf);
+    if (tables == null || tables.length == 0) {
+      return false;
+    }
+    for (String tn:tables) {
+      if (!tn.startsWith("hbase:")) {
+        return true;
+      }
+    }
+    return false;
+  }
+
   @Override
   public void setConf(Configuration conf) {
     setSlop(conf);
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 1c1000e6144..877c3db2a5e 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
@@ -118,6 +118,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.ipc.ServerRpcController;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.master.HMaster;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.master.RegionState.State;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.master.TableLockManager;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.master.balancer.BaseLoadBalancer;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.mob.MobCacheConfig;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.procedure.RegionServerProcedureManagerHost;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.protobuf.ProtobufUtil;
@@ -2651,6 +2652,11 @@ public class HRegionServer extends HasThread implements
   static private void createNewReplicationInstance(Configuration conf,
     HRegionServer server, FileSystem fs, Path logDir, Path oldLogDir) throws IOException{
 
+    if ((server instanceof HMaster) &&
+        (!BaseLoadBalancer.userTablesOnMaster(conf))) {
+      return;
+    }
+
     // read in the name of the source replication class from the config file.
     String sourceClassname = conf.get(HConstants.REPLICATION_SOURCE_SERVICE_CLASSNAME,
                                HConstants.REPLICATION_SERVICE_CLASSNAME_DEFAULT);