diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/app/replication/NcLifecycleCoordinator.java b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/app/replication/NcLifecycleCoordinator.java
index 844851a..5c497aa 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/app/replication/NcLifecycleCoordinator.java
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/app/replication/NcLifecycleCoordinator.java
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@
             return buildActiveNCRegTasks(isMetadataNode);
         }
         final List<INCLifecycleTask> tasks = new ArrayList<>();
-        tasks.add(new UpdateNodeStatusTask(NodeStatus.ACTIVE));
+        tasks.add(new UpdateNodeStatusTask(NodeStatus.BOOTING));
         if (state == SystemState.CORRUPTED) {
             //need to perform local recovery for node partitions
             LocalRecoveryTask rt = new LocalRecoveryTask(Arrays.asList(clusterManager.getNodePartitions(nodeId))
@@ -167,6 +167,7 @@
             tasks.add(new BindMetadataNodeTask());
         }
         tasks.add(new ReportLocalCountersTask());
+        tasks.add(new UpdateNodeStatusTask(NodeStatus.ACTIVE));
         return tasks;
     }
 
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/NCApplication.java b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/NCApplication.java
index 0cd01ae..494198b 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/NCApplication.java
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/NCApplication.java
@@ -89,6 +89,8 @@
     @Override
     public void init(IServiceContext serviceCtx) throws Exception {
         ncServiceCtx = (INCServiceContext) serviceCtx;
+        // set the node status initially to idle to indicate that it is pending booting
+        ((NodeControllerService) serviceCtx.getControllerService()).setNodeStatus(NodeStatus.IDLE);
         ncServiceCtx.setThreadFactory(
                 new AsterixThreadFactory(ncServiceCtx.getThreadFactory(), ncServiceCtx.getLifeCycleComponentManager()));
     }
@@ -253,7 +255,7 @@
     }
 
     private boolean isPendingStartupTasks(NodeStatus nodeStatus, CcId primaryCc, CcId registeredCc) {
-        return nodeStatus == NodeStatus.BOOTING && (primaryCc == null || primaryCc.equals(registeredCc));
+        return nodeStatus == NodeStatus.IDLE && (primaryCc == null || primaryCc.equals(registeredCc));
     }
 
     private SystemState getCurrentSystemState() {
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/java/org/apache/asterix/runtime/NcLifecycleTest.java b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/java/org/apache/asterix/runtime/NcLifecycleTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df0740b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/java/org/apache/asterix/runtime/NcLifecycleTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+/*
+ *  Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ *  or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ *  distributed with this work for additional information
+ *  regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ *  to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ *  "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ *  with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ *  software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ *  "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ *  KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ *  specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ *  under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.asterix.runtime;
+
+import org.apache.asterix.api.common.AsterixHyracksIntegrationUtil;
+import org.apache.asterix.common.TestDataUtil;
+import org.apache.asterix.common.config.GlobalConfig;
+import org.apache.asterix.test.common.TestExecutor;
+import org.apache.asterix.testframework.context.TestCaseContext;
+import org.apache.hyracks.api.client.NodeStatus;
+import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Assert;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+public class NcLifecycleTest {
+
+    protected static final String TEST_CONFIG_FILE_NAME = "src/main/resources/cc.conf";
+    private static final TestExecutor testExecutor = new TestExecutor();
+    private static final AsterixHyracksIntegrationUtil integrationUtil = new AsterixHyracksIntegrationUtil();
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() throws Exception {
+        System.setProperty(GlobalConfig.CONFIG_FILE_PROPERTY, TEST_CONFIG_FILE_NAME);
+        integrationUtil.init(true, TEST_CONFIG_FILE_NAME);
+    }
+
+    @After
+    public void tearDown() throws Exception {
+        integrationUtil.deinit(true);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void nodeNotActiveTest() throws Exception {
+        final String datasetName = "ds";
+        TestDataUtil.createIdOnlyDataset(datasetName);
+        integrationUtil.ncs[0].setNodeStatus(NodeStatus.BOOTING);
+        boolean thrown = false;
+        try {
+            testExecutor.executeSqlppUpdateOrDdl("select count(*) from " + datasetName + ";",
+                    TestCaseContext.OutputFormat.CLEAN_JSON);
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            thrown = true;
+            Assert.assertTrue(e.getMessage().contains(integrationUtil.ncs[0].getId()));
+        }
+        Assert.assertTrue(thrown);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/api/client/NodeStatus.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/api/client/NodeStatus.java
index 10a9a3c..076dd10 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/api/client/NodeStatus.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/api/client/NodeStatus.java
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@
 package org.apache.hyracks.api.client;
 
 public enum NodeStatus {
-    ACTIVE,
-    BOOTING,
-    DEAD
+    ACTIVE, // node is ready to process tasks
+    BOOTING, // node is executing startup tasks
+    DEAD,
+    IDLE
 }
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/api/exceptions/ErrorCode.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/api/exceptions/ErrorCode.java
index 0dca782..0691005 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/api/exceptions/ErrorCode.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/api/exceptions/ErrorCode.java
@@ -147,6 +147,7 @@
     public static final int CANNOT_CONTINUE_TEXT_SEARCH_BUFFER_MANAGER_IS_NULL = 111;
     public static final int CANNOT_ADD_ELEMENT_TO_INVERTED_INDEX_SEARCH_RESULT = 112;
     public static final int UNDEFINED_INVERTED_LIST_MERGE_TYPE = 113;
+    public static final int NODE_IS_NOT_ACTIVE = 114;
 
     // Compilation error codes.
     public static final int RULECOLLECTION_NOT_INSTANCE_OF_LIST = 10000;
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/resources/errormsg/en.properties b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/resources/errormsg/en.properties
index 50e1ad4..8635efd 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/resources/errormsg/en.properties
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/resources/errormsg/en.properties
@@ -130,5 +130,6 @@
 111 = To conduct an inverted-index search, the given buffer manager cannot be null.
 112 = Cannot add an element to an inverted-index search result.
 113 = Undefined inverted-list merge type: %1$s
+114 = Node (%1$s) is not active
 
 10000 = The given rule collection %1$s is not an instance of the List class.
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/NodeControllerService.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/NodeControllerService.java
index b67bfac..2c73df1 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/NodeControllerService.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/NodeControllerService.java
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@
 
     private final Map<CcId, AtomicLong> maxJobIds = new ConcurrentHashMap<>();
 
-    private NodeStatus status = NodeStatus.BOOTING;
+    private volatile NodeStatus status = NodeStatus.ACTIVE;
 
     private NodeRegistration nodeRegistration;
 
@@ -633,11 +633,11 @@
         return workQueue;
     }
 
-    public synchronized NodeStatus getNodeStatus() {
+    public NodeStatus getNodeStatus() {
         return status;
     }
 
-    public synchronized void setNodeStatus(NodeStatus status) {
+    public void setNodeStatus(NodeStatus status) {
         this.status = status;
     }
 
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/work/StartTasksWork.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/work/StartTasksWork.java
index e229149..6a5785a 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/work/StartTasksWork.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/work/StartTasksWork.java
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 import java.util.Set;
 
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.application.INCServiceContext;
+import org.apache.hyracks.api.client.NodeStatus;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.comm.IFrameWriter;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.comm.IPartitionCollector;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.comm.IPartitionWriterFactory;
@@ -45,6 +46,7 @@
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.dataflow.value.IRecordDescriptorProvider;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.dataflow.value.RecordDescriptor;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.deployment.DeploymentId;
+import org.apache.hyracks.api.exceptions.ErrorCode;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.exceptions.HyracksDataException;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.exceptions.HyracksException;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.job.ActivityCluster;
@@ -116,6 +118,9 @@
             ncs.updateMaxJobId(jobId);
             NCServiceContext serviceCtx = ncs.getContext();
             Joblet joblet = getOrCreateLocalJoblet(deploymentId, serviceCtx, acgBytes);
+            if (ncs.getNodeStatus() != NodeStatus.ACTIVE) {
+                throw HyracksException.create(ErrorCode.NODE_IS_NOT_ACTIVE, ncs.getId());
+            }
             final ActivityClusterGraph acg = joblet.getActivityClusterGraph();
             IRecordDescriptorProvider rdp = new IRecordDescriptorProvider() {
                 @Override