diff --git a/hyracks/hyracks-hdfs/hyracks-hdfs-core/pom.xml b/hyracks/hyracks-hdfs/hyracks-hdfs-core/pom.xml
index a28c698a..2a4b0d1 100644
--- a/hyracks/hyracks-hdfs/hyracks-hdfs-core/pom.xml
+++ b/hyracks/hyracks-hdfs/hyracks-hdfs-core/pom.xml
@@ -1,14 +1,12 @@
 <?xml version="1.0"?>
-<project
-	xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd"
-	xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
 	<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
 	<artifactId>hyracks-hdfs-core</artifactId>
 	<name>hyracks-hdfs-core</name>
 	<parent>
 		<artifactId>hyracks-hdfs</artifactId>
 		<groupId>edu.uci.ics.hyracks</groupId>
-		<version>0.2.3-SNAPSHOT</version>
+		<version>0.2.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
 	</parent>
 
 	<build>
@@ -67,7 +65,7 @@
 				<dependency>
 					<groupId>edu.uci.ics.hyracks</groupId>
 					<artifactId>hyracks-hdfs-0.20.2</artifactId>
-					<version>0.2.3-SNAPSHOT</version>
+					<version>${project.version}</version>
 					<type>jar</type>
 					<scope>compile</scope>
 				</dependency>
@@ -86,7 +84,7 @@
 				<dependency>
 					<groupId>edu.uci.ics.hyracks</groupId>
 					<artifactId>hyracks-hdfs-0.20.2</artifactId>
-					<version>0.2.3-SNAPSHOT</version>
+					<version>${project.version}</version>
 					<type>jar</type>
 					<scope>compile</scope>
 				</dependency>
@@ -105,7 +103,7 @@
 				<dependency>
 					<groupId>edu.uci.ics.hyracks</groupId>
 					<artifactId>hyracks-hdfs-0.23.1</artifactId>
-					<version>0.2.3-SNAPSHOT</version>
+					<version>${project.version}</version>
 					<type>jar</type>
 					<scope>compile</scope>
 				</dependency>
@@ -124,7 +122,7 @@
 				<dependency>
 					<groupId>edu.uci.ics.hyracks</groupId>
 					<artifactId>hyracks-hdfs-0.23.1</artifactId>
-					<version>0.2.3-SNAPSHOT</version>
+					<version>${project.version}</version>
 					<type>jar</type>
 					<scope>compile</scope>
 				</dependency>
@@ -143,7 +141,7 @@
 				<dependency>
 					<groupId>edu.uci.ics.hyracks</groupId>
 					<artifactId>hyracks-hdfs-0.23.1</artifactId>
-					<version>0.2.3-SNAPSHOT</version>
+					<version>${project.version}</version>
 					<type>jar</type>
 					<scope>compile</scope>
 				</dependency>
@@ -162,7 +160,7 @@
 				<dependency>
 					<groupId>edu.uci.ics.hyracks</groupId>
 					<artifactId>hyracks-hdfs-0.23.1</artifactId>
-					<version>0.2.3-SNAPSHOT</version>
+					<version>${project.version}</version>
 					<type>jar</type>
 					<scope>compile</scope>
 				</dependency>
@@ -180,31 +178,31 @@
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>edu.uci.ics.hyracks</groupId>
 			<artifactId>hyracks-api</artifactId>
-			<version>0.2.3-SNAPSHOT</version>
+			<version>0.2.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
 			<scope>compile</scope>
 		</dependency>
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>edu.uci.ics.hyracks</groupId>
 			<artifactId>hyracks-dataflow-std</artifactId>
-			<version>0.2.3-SNAPSHOT</version>
+			<version>0.2.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
 			<scope>compile</scope>
 		</dependency>
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>edu.uci.ics.hyracks</groupId>
 			<artifactId>hyracks-dataflow-common</artifactId>
-			<version>0.2.3-SNAPSHOT</version>
+			<version>0.2.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
 			<scope>compile</scope>
 		</dependency>
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>edu.uci.ics.hyracks</groupId>
 			<artifactId>hyracks-control-cc</artifactId>
-			<version>0.2.3-SNAPSHOT</version>
+			<version>0.2.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
 			<scope>test</scope>
 		</dependency>
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>edu.uci.ics.hyracks</groupId>
 			<artifactId>hyracks-control-nc</artifactId>
-			<version>0.2.3-SNAPSHOT</version>
+			<version>0.2.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
 			<scope>test</scope>
 		</dependency>
 		<dependency>
diff --git a/hyracks/hyracks-hdfs/hyracks-hdfs-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/hdfs/scheduler/RackAwareNcCollectionBuilder.java b/hyracks/hyracks-hdfs/hyracks-hdfs-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/hdfs/scheduler/RackAwareNcCollectionBuilder.java
index 2b9e899..fa5e7ae 100644
--- a/hyracks/hyracks-hdfs/hyracks-hdfs-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/hdfs/scheduler/RackAwareNcCollectionBuilder.java
+++ b/hyracks/hyracks-hdfs/hyracks-hdfs-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/hdfs/scheduler/RackAwareNcCollectionBuilder.java
@@ -38,6 +38,11 @@
                 String ipAddress = InetAddress.getByAddress(
                         ncNameToNcInfos.get(NCs[i]).getNetworkAddress().getIpAddress()).getHostAddress();
                 topology.lookupNetworkTerminal(ipAddress, path);
+                if (path.size() <= 0) {
+                    // if the hyracks nc is not in the defined cluster
+                    path.add(Integer.MIN_VALUE);
+                    LOGGER.info(NCs[i] + "'s IP address is not in the cluster toplogy file!");
+                }
                 List<String> ncs = pathToNCs.get(path);
                 if (ncs == null) {
                     ncs = new ArrayList<String>();
@@ -70,6 +75,10 @@
                     String ipAddress = InetAddress.getByAddress(
                             ncNameToNcInfos.get(NCs[i]).getNetworkAddress().getIpAddress()).getHostAddress();
                     topology.lookupNetworkTerminal(ipAddress, path);
+                    if (path.size() <= 0) {
+                        // if the hyracks nc is not in the defined cluster
+                        path.add(Integer.MIN_VALUE);
+                    }
                     IntWritable availableSlot = availableIpsToSlots.get(path);
                     if (availableSlot == null) {
                         availableSlot = new IntWritable(slotLimit - workloads[i]);