diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/rsgroup/RSGroupInfoManagerImpl.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/rsgroup/RSGroupInfoManagerImpl.java
index 3ef9365456fd..67cb0b64e763 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/rsgroup/RSGroupInfoManagerImpl.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/rsgroup/RSGroupInfoManagerImpl.java
@@ -32,7 +32,9 @@
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.SortedSet;
 import java.util.TreeSet;
+import java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture;
 import java.util.concurrent.Future;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.function.Function;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
@@ -661,12 +663,14 @@ private synchronized void flushConfig(Map<String, RSGroupInfo> newGroupMap) thro
       return;
     }
 
+    // Make changes visible
+    resetRSGroupMap(newGroupMap);
+
     /* For online mode, persist to hbase:rsgroup and Zookeeper */
     flushConfigTable(newGroupMap);
-
-    // Make changes visible after having been persisted to the source of truth
-    resetRSGroupMap(newGroupMap);
     saveRSGroupMapToZK(newGroupMap);
+
+    // Update previous map
     updateCacheOfRSGroups(newGroupMap.keySet());
   }
 
@@ -825,6 +829,20 @@ private void createRSGroupTable() throws IOException {
     }
 
     public boolean isOnline() {
+      if (isMasterRunning(masterServices)) {
+        try {
+          // try reading from the table
+          CompletableFuture<Result> read = conn.getTable(RSGROUP_TABLE_NAME).get(new Get(ROW_KEY));
+          if (read.get(10000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS) != null) {
+            online = true;
+          }
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+          LOG.warn("Failed to read from " + RSGROUP_TABLE_NAME+ "; setting online = false");
+          online = false;
+        }
+      } else {
+        online = false;
+      }
       return online;
     }
   }
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/rsgroup/EnableRSGroupsTestBase.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/rsgroup/EnableRSGroupsTestBase.java
index 9611bafc2c9e..516975dc91ec 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/rsgroup/EnableRSGroupsTestBase.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/rsgroup/EnableRSGroupsTestBase.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 package org.apache.hadoop.hbase.rsgroup;
 
 import static java.lang.Thread.sleep;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -25,6 +26,7 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseTestingUtil;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.coprocessor.CoprocessorHost;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.EnvironmentEdgeManager;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.JVMClusterUtil;
 import org.junit.AfterClass;
 import org.junit.BeforeClass;
 import org.junit.Test;
@@ -72,7 +74,25 @@ public void testEnableRSGroup() throws IOException, InterruptedException {
       (RSGroupBasedLoadBalancer) TEST_UTIL.getMiniHBaseCluster().getMaster().getLoadBalancer();
     long start = EnvironmentEdgeManager.currentTime();
     while (EnvironmentEdgeManager.currentTime() - start <= 60000 && !loadBalancer.isOnline()) {
-      LOG.info("waiting for rsgroup load balancer onLine...");
+      LOG.info("Waiting for rsgroup load balancer online...");
+      sleep(200);
+    }
+
+    assertTrue(loadBalancer.isOnline());
+
+    // kill all RS, RSGroupBasedLoadBalancer should now be offline since rsgroup table unavailable
+    for (JVMClusterUtil.RegionServerThread t:
+      TEST_UTIL.getMiniHBaseCluster().getRegionServerThreads()) {
+      TEST_UTIL.getMiniHBaseCluster().killRegionServer(
+        t.getRegionServer().getServerName());
+    }
+
+    assertFalse(loadBalancer.isOnline());
+
+    TEST_UTIL.getMiniHBaseCluster().startRegionServer();
+    start = EnvironmentEdgeManager.currentTime();
+    while (EnvironmentEdgeManager.currentTime() - start <= 60000 && !loadBalancer.isOnline()) {
+      LOG.info("Waiting for rsgroup load balancer online...");
       sleep(200);
     }