diff --git a/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/container/balancer/ContainerBalancerSelectionCriteria.java b/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/container/balancer/ContainerBalancerSelectionCriteria.java
index 1d8a06fbbb4c..23abe6e93490 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/container/balancer/ContainerBalancerSelectionCriteria.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/container/balancer/ContainerBalancerSelectionCriteria.java
@@ -120,7 +120,8 @@ public NavigableSet<ContainerID> getCandidateContainers(
    * @param second second container to compare
    * @return An integer greater than 0 if first is more used, 0 if they're
    * the same containers or a container is not found, and a value less than 0
-   * if first is not more used than second.
+   * if first is less used than second. If both containers have equal used
+   * space, they're compared using {@link ContainerID#compareTo(ContainerID)}.
    */
   private int isContainerMoreUsed(ContainerID first,
                                   ContainerID second) {
@@ -132,8 +133,10 @@ private int isContainerMoreUsed(ContainerID first,
       ContainerInfo secondInfo = containerManager.getContainer(second);
       if (firstInfo.getUsedBytes() > secondInfo.getUsedBytes()) {
         return 1;
-      } else {
+      } else if (firstInfo.getUsedBytes() < secondInfo.getUsedBytes()) {
         return -1;
+      } else {
+        return first.compareTo(second);
       }
     } catch (ContainerNotFoundException e) {
       LOG.warn("Could not retrieve ContainerInfo from container manager for " +
diff --git a/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/container/balancer/TestContainerBalancerTask.java b/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/container/balancer/TestContainerBalancerTask.java
index ac7de02bd7ae..e3dba0a22fca 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/container/balancer/TestContainerBalancerTask.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/container/balancer/TestContainerBalancerTask.java
@@ -1163,7 +1163,8 @@ private void createReplicasForContainers() {
 
         // randomly pick a datanode for this replica
         int datanodeIndex = RANDOM.nextInt(0, numberOfNodes);
-        if (nodeUtilizations.get(i) != 0.0d) {
+        // don't put replicas in DNs that are supposed to have 0 utilization
+        if (Math.abs(nodeUtilizations.get(datanodeIndex) - 0.0d) > 0.00001) {
           DatanodeDetails node =
               nodesInCluster.get(datanodeIndex).getDatanodeDetails();
           Set<ContainerReplica> replicas =
@@ -1171,6 +1172,8 @@ private void createReplicasForContainers() {
           replicas.add(createReplica(container.containerID(), node,
               container.getUsedBytes()));
           cidToReplicasMap.put(container.containerID(), replicas);
+          datanodeToContainersMap.get(nodesInCluster.get(datanodeIndex))
+              .add(container.containerID());
         }
       }
     }