diff --git a/src/main/java/io/openliberty/tools/common/plugins/util/InstallFeatureUtil.java b/src/main/java/io/openliberty/tools/common/plugins/util/InstallFeatureUtil.java
index c5867143..d88ff826 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/openliberty/tools/common/plugins/util/InstallFeatureUtil.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/openliberty/tools/common/plugins/util/InstallFeatureUtil.java
@@ -320,8 +320,7 @@ public abstract File downloadArtifact(String groupId, String artifactId, String
      * @param collections a collection of strings
      * @return the combined set of strings, ignoring case
      */
-    @SafeVarargs
-    public static Set<String> combineToSet(Collection<String>... collections) {
+    public Set<String> combineToSet(Collection<String>... collections) {
         Set<String> result = new HashSet<String>();
         Set<String> lowercaseSet = new HashSet<String>();
         for (Collection<String> collection : collections) {
@@ -329,7 +328,12 @@ public static Set<String> combineToSet(Collection<String>... collections) {
                 for (String value : collection) {
                     if (!lowercaseSet.contains(value.toLowerCase())) {
                         lowercaseSet.add(value.toLowerCase());
-                        result.add(value);
+                        // if the value is empty or blank, issue a warning and do not add it to the list of features to install
+                        if (value.isEmpty() || value.trim().isEmpty()) {
+                            warn("An empty feature was specified in a server configuration file. Ensure that the features are valid.");
+                        } else {
+                            result.add(value);
+                        }
                     }
                 }
             }
diff --git a/src/test/java/io/openliberty/tools/common/plugins/util/InstallFeatureUtilTest.java b/src/test/java/io/openliberty/tools/common/plugins/util/InstallFeatureUtilTest.java
index 21ecb2b0..24602c52 100644
--- a/src/test/java/io/openliberty/tools/common/plugins/util/InstallFeatureUtilTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/io/openliberty/tools/common/plugins/util/InstallFeatureUtilTest.java
@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@ public void testInstallFeatures() throws Exception {
     
     @Test
     public void testCombineToSet() throws Exception {
+        InstallFeatureUtil util = getNewInstallFeatureUtil();
         Set<String> a = new HashSet<String>();
         a.add("1");
         a.add("2");
@@ -106,12 +107,13 @@ public void testCombineToSet() throws Exception {
         List<String> c = new ArrayList<String>();
         c.add("4");
         c.add("5");
-        Set<String> result = InstallFeatureUtil.combineToSet(a, b, c);
+        Set<String> result = util.combineToSet(a, b, c);
         assertEquals(5, result.size());
     }
 
     @Test
     public void testCombineToSetCaseInsensitive() throws Exception {
+        InstallFeatureUtil util = getNewInstallFeatureUtil();
         Set<String> a = new HashSet<String>();
         a.add("mpconfig-1.3");
         a.add("mpOpenAPI-1.0");
@@ -125,7 +127,7 @@ public void testCombineToSetCaseInsensitive() throws Exception {
         c.add("mpHealth-1.0");
         c.add("ejblite-3.2");
         c.add("EJBLITE-3.2");
-        Set<String> result = InstallFeatureUtil.combineToSet(a, b, c);
+        Set<String> result = util.combineToSet(a, b, c);
         assertEquals(5, result.size());
         assertTrue(result.contains("mpconfig-1.3"));
         assertTrue(result.contains("mpOpenAPI-1.0"));