diff --git a/core/net/src/main/java/org/onosproject/cluster/impl/ConfigFileBasedClusterMetadataProvider.java b/core/net/src/main/java/org/onosproject/cluster/impl/ConfigFileBasedClusterMetadataProvider.java
index 788619b..14b97aa 100644
--- a/core/net/src/main/java/org/onosproject/cluster/impl/ConfigFileBasedClusterMetadataProvider.java
+++ b/core/net/src/main/java/org/onosproject/cluster/impl/ConfigFileBasedClusterMetadataProvider.java
@@ -318,6 +318,9 @@
      * Monitors the metadata url for any updates and notifies providerService accordingly.
      */
     private void watchUrl(String metadataUrl) {
+        if (!isAvailable()) {
+            return;
+        }
         // TODO: We are merely polling the url.
         // This can be easily addressed for files. For http urls we need to move to a push style protocol.
         try {