# Kafka Metadata Quorum Check Fails During Controller Setup – Connection Refused to Broker

**URL:** <https://forum.confluent.io/t/kafka-metadata-quorum-check-fails-during-controller-setup-connection-refused-to-broker/38195>\
**Category:** Cluster Replication\
**Created:** [4 December 2025 08:46 UTC](https://forum.confluent.io/t/kafka-metadata-quorum-check-fails-during-controller-setup-connection-refused-to-broker/38195 "2025-12-04T08:46:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shaheerahmad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Shaheerahmad](https://forum.confluent.io/u/Shaheerahmad)\
**Post date:** [4 December 2025 08:46 UTC](https://forum.confluent.io/t/kafka-metadata-quorum-check-fails-during-controller-setup-connection-refused-to-broker/38195/1 "2025-12-04T08:46:18Z")

</div>

Hi Confluent Community,

I’m running into an issue while setting up a new KRaft-based Kafka cluster using Ansible and the `confluent.platform.kafka_controller` role. The deployment is failing at the \*\*“Check Kafka Metadata Quorum”

Cluster is in AWS outposts. Ansible control node is in AWS Region. both have connectivity. and we are using Route 53 private hosted zone

Below is my Hosts.yaml  
\*\*  
all:

vars:

ansible\_connection: ssh

validate\_hosts: false

force\_offline\_installation: true

ansible\_become: true

ansible\_user: abc

ansible\_ssh\_pass: abc

ansible\_sudo\_pass: abc

ansible\_ssh\_common\_args: -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no

### Airgap Installation ###

installation\_method: archive

archive\_destination\_path: /app/confluent

confluent\_cli\_base\_path: /app/confluent-cli

use\_local\_rpms: true

install\_java: false

custom\_java\_path: /usr/lib/jvm/java-17-openjdk-17.0.14.0.7-2.el9.x86\_64

confluent\_package\_version: 7.8.0

skip\_package\_installation: true

confluent\_archive\_file\_source: “/tmp/confluent-7.8.0.tar.gz”

confluent\_archive\_file\_remote: false

confluent\_cli\_archive\_file\_source: “/tmp/confluent\_4.45.1\_linux\_amd64.tar.gz”

confluent\_cli\_archive\_file\_remote: false

common\_extra\_packages:

```
  - python3-cryptography    

```

### License for all components ###

kafka\_controller\_custom\_properties:

confluent.license: abc  
kafka\_broker\_custom\_properties:

confluent.license:  
log.dirs: “/app/data/kafka”

num.partitions: 3

min.insync.replicas: 2

default.replication.factor: 3

auto.create.topics.enable: false

schema\_registry\_custom\_properties: confluent.license:

kafka\_connect\_custom\_properties:

confluent.license:

kafka\_connect\_custom\_properties:

confluent.license:

control\_center\_custom\_properties:

confluent.license:

kafka\_controller:

hosts:

kafka-controller-1.sit.kafka.internal:

ansible\_host: kafka-controller-1.sit.kafka.internal

kafka\_broker:

hosts:

kafka-broker-1.sit.kafka.internal:

ansible\_host: kafka-broker-1.sit.kafka.internal

kafka\_connect:

hosts:

kafka-connect-1.sit.kafka.internal:

ansible\_host: kafka-connect-1.sit.kafka.internal

vars:

kafka\_connect\_plugins:

```
  - confluentinc/kafka-connect-datagen:latest

```

schema\_registry:

hosts:

kafka-schema-registry-1.sit.kafka.internal:

ansible\_host: kafka-schema-registry-1.sit.kafka.internal

control\_center:

hosts:

kafka-control-center-1.sit.kafka.internal:

ansible\_host: kafka-control-center-1.sit.kafka.internal

This is where it crashes

TASK [confluent.platform.kafka\_controller : Kafka Started] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*  
changed: [kafka-controller-1.sit.kafka.internal]

TASK [confluent.platform.kafka\_controller : Wait for Controller health checks to complete] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*  
included: /root/.ansible/collections/ansible\_collections/confluent/platform/roles/kafka\_controller/tasks/health\_check.yml for kafka-controller-1.sit.kafka.internal

TASK [confluent.platform.kafka\_controller : Check Kafka Metadata Quorum using bootstrap controller] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*  
ok: [kafka-controller-1.sit.kafka.internal]

TASK [confluent.platform.kafka\_controller : Set Hostnames and Ports] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*  
ok: [kafka-controller-1.sit.kafka.internal]

TASK [confluent.platform.kafka\_controller : Set Server/Controller Host and Port values] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*  
ok: [kafka-controller-1.sit.kafka.internal]

TASK [confluent.platform.kafka\_controller : Check Kafka Metadata Quorum] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*  
fatal: [kafka-controller-1.sit.kafka.internal]: FAILED! =\> {“changed”: false, “cmd”: “/app/confluent/confluent-7.8.0/bin/kafka-metadata-quorum --bootstrap-server kafka-broker-1.sit.kafka.internal:9091 --command-config /app/confluent/etc/controller/client.properties describe --replication\n”, “delta”: “0:01:01.315892”, “end”: “2025-12-04 16:14:38.633254”, “msg”: “non-zero return code”, “rc”: 1, “start”: “2025-12-04 16:13:37.317362”, “stderr”: "[2025-12-04 16:13:38,327] WARN [AdminClient clientId=adminclient-1] Connection to node -1 (kafka-broker-1.sit.kafka.internal could not be established. Node may not be available.