diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/Server.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/Server.java
index a594d2be01ccb..993be9d813a8e 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/Server.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/Server.java
@@ -120,6 +120,7 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.security.token.SecretManager.InvalidToken;
 import org.apache.hadoop.security.token.TokenIdentifier;
 import org.apache.hadoop.util.ExitUtil;
+import org.apache.hadoop.util.Preconditions;
 import org.apache.hadoop.util.ProtoUtil;
 import org.apache.hadoop.util.StringUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.util.Time;
@@ -3996,6 +3997,8 @@ private class ConnectionManager {
           new ConcurrentHashMap<Connection,Boolean>(
               maxQueueSize, 0.75f, readThreads+2));
       this.userToConnectionsMap = new ConcurrentHashMap<>();
+      Preconditions.checkArgument(idleScanInterval >= 0, "%s should be non-negative", 
+          CommonConfigurationKeys.IPC_CLIENT_CONNECTION_IDLESCANINTERVAL_KEY);
     }
 
     private boolean add(Connection connection) {