diff --git a/metron-platform/metron-solr/metron-solr-common/src/main/scripts/create_collection.sh b/metron-platform/metron-solr/metron-solr-common/src/main/scripts/create_collection.sh
index 7693646e25..ae2e94a8a2 100755
--- a/metron-platform/metron-solr/metron-solr-common/src/main/scripts/create_collection.sh
+++ b/metron-platform/metron-solr/metron-solr-common/src/main/scripts/create_collection.sh
@@ -16,8 +16,6 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 #
-METRON_VERSION=${project.version}
-METRON_HOME=/usr/metron/$METRON_VERSION
 ZOOKEEPER=${ZOOKEEPER:-localhost:2181}
 ZOOKEEPER_HOME=${ZOOKEEPER_HOME:-/usr/hdp/current/zookeeper-client}
 SECURITY_ENABLED=${SECURITY_ENABLED:-false}
@@ -26,6 +24,15 @@ if [ ${SECURITY_ENABLED,,} == 'true' ]; then
     NEGOTIATE=' --negotiate -u : '
 fi
 
+# test for errors
+if [[ ${SOLR_NODE} =~ .*:null ]]; then
+  echo "Error occurred while attempting to read SOLR Cloud configuration data from Zookeeper.";
+  if ! [[ ${ZOOKEEPER} =~ .*/solr ]]; then
+    echo "Warning! Environment variable ZOOKEEPER=$ZOOKEEPER does not contain a chrooted zookeeper ensemble address - are you sure you do not mean ZOOKEEPER=$ZOOKEEPER/solr?";
+  fi
+  exit 1;
+fi
+
 # Get the first Solr node from the list of live nodes in Zookeeper
 SOLR_NODE=`$ZOOKEEPER_HOME/bin/zkCli.sh -server $ZOOKEEPER ls /live_nodes | tail -n 1 | sed 's/\[\([^,]*\).*\]/\1/' | sed 's/_solr//'`
 
diff --git a/metron-platform/metron-solr/metron-solr-common/src/main/scripts/delete_collection.sh b/metron-platform/metron-solr/metron-solr-common/src/main/scripts/delete_collection.sh
index c8b45e7e1b..8279aa83b4 100755
--- a/metron-platform/metron-solr/metron-solr-common/src/main/scripts/delete_collection.sh
+++ b/metron-platform/metron-solr/metron-solr-common/src/main/scripts/delete_collection.sh
@@ -16,8 +16,6 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 #
-METRON_VERSION=${project.version}
-METRON_HOME=/usr/metron/$METRON_VERSION
 ZOOKEEPER=${ZOOKEEPER:-localhost:2181}
 ZOOKEEPER_HOME=${ZOOKEEPER_HOME:-/usr/hdp/current/zookeeper-client}
 SECURITY_ENABLED=${SECURITY_ENABLED:-false}
@@ -29,5 +27,14 @@ fi
 # Get the first Solr node from the list of live nodes in Zookeeper
 SOLR_NODE=`$ZOOKEEPER_HOME/bin/zkCli.sh -server $ZOOKEEPER ls /live_nodes | tail -n 1 | sed 's/\[\([^,]*\).*\]/\1/' | sed 's/_solr//'`
 
+# test for errors
+if [[ ${SOLR_NODE} =~ .*:null ]]; then
+  echo "Error occurred while attempting to read SOLR Cloud configuration data from Zookeeper.";
+  if ! [[ ${ZOOKEEPER} =~ .*/solr ]]; then
+    echo "Warning! Environment variable ZOOKEEPER=$ZOOKEEPER does not contain a chrooted zookeeper ensemble address - are you sure you do not mean ZOOKEEPER=$ZOOKEEPER/solr?";
+  fi
+  exit 1;
+fi
+
 # Delete the collection
 curl -X GET $NEGOTIATE "http://$SOLR_NODE/solr/admin/collections?action=DELETE&name=$1"