diff --git a/locator/network_topology_strategy.cc b/locator/network_topology_strategy.cc
index f13025c664..f2c94b4775 100644
--- a/locator/network_topology_strategy.cc
+++ b/locator/network_topology_strategy.cc
@@ -230,6 +230,19 @@ public:
     host_id_set& replicas() noexcept {
         return _replicas;
     }
+
+    static void check_enough_endpoints(const token_metadata& tm, const std::unordered_map<sstring, size_t>& dc_rf) {
+        const auto& dc_endpoints = tm.get_topology().get_datacenter_endpoints();
+        auto endpoints_in = [&dc_endpoints](sstring dc) {
+            auto i = dc_endpoints.find(dc);
+            return i != dc_endpoints.end() ? i->second.size() : size_t(0);
+        };
+        for (const auto& p : dc_rf) {
+            if (p.second > endpoints_in(p.first)) {
+                throw exceptions::configuration_exception(fmt::format("Datacenter {} doesn't have enough nodes for replication_factor={}", p.first, p.second));
+            }
+        }
+    }
 };
 
 future<host_id_set>
@@ -315,6 +328,8 @@ static unsigned calculate_initial_tablets_from_topology(const schema& s, const t
 }
 
 future<tablet_map> network_topology_strategy::allocate_tablets_for_new_table(schema_ptr s, token_metadata_ptr tm, unsigned initial_scale) const {
+    natural_endpoints_tracker::check_enough_endpoints(*tm, _dc_rep_factor);
+
     auto tablet_count = get_initial_tablets();
     if (tablet_count == 0) {
         tablet_count = calculate_initial_tablets_from_topology(*s, tm->get_topology(), _dc_rep_factor) * initial_scale;
diff --git a/test/topology_custom/test_tablets.py b/test/topology_custom/test_tablets.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..080fa17ebe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/topology_custom/test_tablets.py
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2024-present ScyllaDB
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later
+#
+from cassandra.protocol import ConfigurationException
+from test.pylib.manager_client import ManagerClient
+import pytest
+import logging
+import asyncio
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_tablet_replication_factor_enough_nodes(manager: ManagerClient):
+    cfg = {'enable_user_defined_functions': False,
+           'experimental_features': ['tablets', 'consistent-topology-changes']}
+    servers = await manager.servers_add(2, config=cfg)
+
+    cql = manager.get_cql()
+    res = await cql.run_async("SELECT data_center FROM system.local")
+    this_dc = res[0].data_center
+
+    await cql.run_async(f"CREATE KEYSPACE test WITH replication = {{'class': 'NetworkTopologyStrategy', '{this_dc}': 3}}")
+    with pytest.raises(ConfigurationException, match=f"Datacenter {this_dc} doesn't have enough nodes"):
+        await cql.run_async("CREATE TABLE test.test (pk int PRIMARY KEY, c int);")
+
+    await cql.run_async(f"ALTER KEYSPACE test WITH replication = {{'class': 'NetworkTopologyStrategy', '{this_dc}': 2}}")
+    await cql.run_async("CREATE TABLE test.test (pk int PRIMARY KEY, c int);")