diff --git a/roles/slurm-start/tasks/main.yml b/roles/slurm-start/tasks/main.yml
index 50c8ea943d16b341cac35193d79ada45fd8d3186..1bc6f0155048f853bedabe2bbdf8487a7a9895b8 100644
--- a/roles/slurm-start/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/slurm-start/tasks/main.yml
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@
 - name: "create cluster in slurm db"
   shell:  "{{slurm_dir}}/bin/sacctmgr -i create cluster {{ clustername }}"
   become: true
-  when: '"1" = slurm_cluster_count.stdout'
+  when: '"1" is slurm_cluster_count.stdout'
 
 - name: make sure munge is started 
   service: name=munge state=started enabled=yes