diff --git a/src/slurmctld/fed_mgr.c b/src/slurmctld/fed_mgr.c
index dbf2a0a2360e5ac8cea762654d1eea26b1b6de39..9508bfa71c71ce6ca479ab665f4c24abdb3bb7e6 100644
--- a/src/slurmctld/fed_mgr.c
+++ b/src/slurmctld/fed_mgr.c
@@ -317,7 +317,8 @@ extern int fed_mgr_update_feds(slurmdb_update_object_t *update)
 			slurmdb_init_cluster_rec(conn, false);
 			slurmdb_copy_cluster_rec(conn, cluster);
 
-			conn->sockfd = _open_controller_conn(conn);
+			if (xstrcmp(cluster->name, fed_mgr_cluster_name))
+				_open_controller_conn(conn);
 			list_append(fed_mgr_siblings, conn);
 		}