diff --git a/cluster/saltbase/salt/kube-addons/kube-addon-update.sh b/cluster/saltbase/salt/kube-addons/kube-addon-update.sh
index 9cd7b70f11d..6ba07b15f71 100755
--- a/cluster/saltbase/salt/kube-addons/kube-addon-update.sh
+++ b/cluster/saltbase/salt/kube-addons/kube-addon-update.sh
@@ -349,6 +349,12 @@ function match-objects() {
     new_files=""
 
     addon_nsnames_on_server=$(get-addon-nsnames-from-server "${obj_type}")
+    # if the api server is unavailable then abandon the update for this cycle 
+    if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
+        log ERR "unable to query ${obj_type} - exiting"
+        exit 1
+    fi
+
     addon_paths_in_files=$(get-addon-paths-from-disk "${addon_dir}" "${obj_type}")
 
     log DB2 "addon_nsnames_on_server=${addon_nsnames_on_server}"