diff --git a/zookeeper-server/src/main/java/org/apache/zookeeper/server/ZooKeeperServerMain.java b/zookeeper-server/src/main/java/org/apache/zookeeper/server/ZooKeeperServerMain.java
index 24e7f5b180e..6f58b1d2a11 100644
--- a/zookeeper-server/src/main/java/org/apache/zookeeper/server/ZooKeeperServerMain.java
+++ b/zookeeper-server/src/main/java/org/apache/zookeeper/server/ZooKeeperServerMain.java
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ public void runFromConfig(ServerConfig config) throws IOException, AdminServerEx
             } catch (MetricsProviderLifeCycleException error) {
                 throw new IOException("Cannot boot MetricsProvider " + config.getMetricsProviderClassName(), error);
             }
-            ServerMetrics.metricsProviderInitialized(metricsProvider);
+            metricsProviderInitialized();
             ProviderRegistry.initialize();
             // Note that this thread isn't going to be doing anything else,
             // so rather than spawning another thread, we will just call
@@ -295,4 +295,16 @@ public void close() {
 
     protected void serverStarted() {
     }
+
+    private void metricsProviderInitialized() {
+        try {
+            ServerMetrics.metricsProviderInitialized(metricsProvider);
+        } catch (Throwable throwable) {
+            if (throwable instanceof ClassNotFoundException) {
+                LOG.warn("Metrics provider not found, metrics will not be reported");
+                return;
+            }
+            throw throwable;
+        }
+    }
 }