private static void checkCodecs(final Configuration c) throws IOException {
    // check to see if the codec list is available:
    String[] codecs = c.getStrings(REGIONSERVER_CODEC, (String[]) null);
    if (codecs == null) {
      return;
    }
    for (String codec : codecs) {
      if (!CompressionTest.testCompression(codec)) {
        throw new IOException(
          "Compression codec " + codec + " not supported, aborting RS construction");
      }
    }
  }
Run test on configured codecs to make sure supporting libs are in place.
hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegionServer.java