The node /hbase is not in ZooKeeper. It should have been written by the master. Check the value configured in 'zookeeper.znode.parent'. There could be a mismatch with the one configured in the master. If you come across this error, while starting Hbase, then, check Hbase-Site.XML file (For me it was in /usr/lib/hbase-0.96.2-hadoop2/conf folder). Check if Znode is present else add this property to existing XML node. <configuration> <property> <name>zookeeper.znode.parent</name> <value>/hbase-unsecure</value> </property> </configuration> This is done for Stand-Alone mode. I am not sure how it is done for clusters.