diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 12303ef4c2f738b7ed59cadd302bb6ceb7a9dc4f..6ebfdd86b8cdbbf6d2f8b849ef4a195a656714ae 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -172,6 +172,7 @@ documents those changes that are of interest to users and administrators.
     option has long been obsolete.
  -- cons_tres - change definition of the "least loaded node" (LLN) to the
     node with the greatest ratio of available cpus to total cpus.
+ -- Fatal if more than one burst buffer plugin is configured.
 
 * Changes in Slurm 21.08.7
 ==========================
diff --git a/RELEASE_NOTES b/RELEASE_NOTES
index 69d23cd58034df577c7016057c0463f8ea78e9cc..9d15630f5d86368aff92aeee609516403085e008 100644
--- a/RELEASE_NOTES
+++ b/RELEASE_NOTES
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ CONFIGURATION FILE CHANGES (see man appropriate man page for details)
     jobs within the same qos.
  -- Fatal error if CgroupReleaseAgentDir is configured in cgroup.conf. The
     option has long been obsolete.
+ -- Fatal if more than one burst buffer plugin is configured.
 
 COMMAND CHANGES (see man pages for details)
 ===========================================
diff --git a/src/slurmctld/burst_buffer.c b/src/slurmctld/burst_buffer.c
index 612b8ed66c63b01c0eeb1317323687823d7f17d9..714b45e8b41d19a04737707404e7772298f10f0f 100644
--- a/src/slurmctld/burst_buffer.c
+++ b/src/slurmctld/burst_buffer.c
@@ -166,6 +166,17 @@ extern int bb_g_init(void)
 	}
 	init_run = true;
 
+	/*
+	 * Although the burst buffer plugin interface was designed to support
+	 * multiple burst buffer plugins, this currently does not work. For
+	 * now, do not allow multiple burst buffer plugins to be configured.
+	 */
+	if (g_context_cnt > 1) {
+		error("%d burst buffer plugins configured; can not run with more than one burst buffer plugin",
+		      g_context_cnt);
+		rc = SLURM_ERROR;
+	}
+
 fini:
 	slurm_mutex_unlock(&g_context_lock);