diff --git .reviewboardrc .reviewboardrc
index 5e8d670..df89065 100644
--- .reviewboardrc
+++ .reviewboardrc
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
 REPOSITORY = 'git://git.apache.org/kafka.git'
 TARGET_GROUPS = 'kafka'
-GUESS_FIELDS = True	
+GUESS_FIELDS = True
+TRACKING_BRANCH = "origin/trunk"
+BRANCH = "trunk"
diff --git core/src/main/scala/kafka/utils/ZkUtils.scala core/src/main/scala/kafka/utils/ZkUtils.scala
index 56e3e88..0db9093 100644
--- core/src/main/scala/kafka/utils/ZkUtils.scala
+++ core/src/main/scala/kafka/utils/ZkUtils.scala
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import org.I0Itec.zkclient.ZkClient
 import org.I0Itec.zkclient.exception.{ZkNodeExistsException, ZkNoNodeException,
   ZkMarshallingError, ZkBadVersionException}
 import org.I0Itec.zkclient.serialize.ZkSerializer
+import org.apache.kafka.common.config.ConfigException
 import collection._
 import kafka.api.LeaderAndIsr
 import org.apache.zookeeper.data.Stat
@@ -216,8 +217,14 @@ object ZkUtils extends Logging {
    */
   private def createParentPath(client: ZkClient, path: String): Unit = {
     val parentDir = path.substring(0, path.lastIndexOf('/'))
-    if (parentDir.length != 0)
+    if (parentDir.length != 0) {
+      if (!client.exists("/")) {
+        throw new ConfigException("Zookeeper namespace does not exist. Can not create znode %s"
+          .format(parentDir))
+      }
+
       client.createPersistent(parentDir, true)
+    }
   }
 
   /**