diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index 1ea68298ca..d3a7edb1eb 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -421,6 +421,9 @@ Release 2.4.0 - UNRELEASED
     HDFS-5318. Support read-only and read-write paths to shared replicas.
     (Eric Sirianni via Arpit Agarwal)
 
+    HDFS-5868. Make hsync implementation pluggable on the DataNode.
+    (Buddy Taylor via Arpit Agarwal)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
     HDFS-5790. LeaseManager.findPath is very slow when many leases need recovery
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/BlockReceiver.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/BlockReceiver.java
index 3106f7f688..c1ed03ceb3 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/BlockReceiver.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/BlockReceiver.java
@@ -78,7 +78,6 @@ class BlockReceiver implements Closeable {
   private boolean needsChecksumTranslation;
   private OutputStream out = null; // to block file at local disk
   private FileDescriptor outFd;
-  private OutputStream cout = null; // output stream for cehcksum file
   private DataOutputStream checksumOut = null; // to crc file at local disk
   private int bytesPerChecksum;
   private int checksumSize;
@@ -223,9 +222,8 @@ class BlockReceiver implements Closeable {
         LOG.warn("Could not get file descriptor for outputstream of class " +
             out.getClass());
       }
-      this.cout = streams.getChecksumOut();
       this.checksumOut = new DataOutputStream(new BufferedOutputStream(
-          cout, HdfsConstants.SMALL_BUFFER_SIZE));
+          streams.getChecksumOut(), HdfsConstants.SMALL_BUFFER_SIZE));
       // write data chunk header if creating a new replica
       if (isCreate) {
         BlockMetadataHeader.writeHeader(checksumOut, diskChecksum);
@@ -280,9 +278,9 @@ class BlockReceiver implements Closeable {
         long flushStartNanos = System.nanoTime();
         checksumOut.flush();
         long flushEndNanos = System.nanoTime();
-        if (syncOnClose && (cout instanceof FileOutputStream)) {
+        if (syncOnClose) {
           long fsyncStartNanos = flushEndNanos;
-          ((FileOutputStream)cout).getChannel().force(true);
+          streams.syncChecksumOut();
           datanode.metrics.addFsyncNanos(System.nanoTime() - fsyncStartNanos);
         }
         flushTotalNanos += flushEndNanos - flushStartNanos;
@@ -302,9 +300,9 @@ class BlockReceiver implements Closeable {
         long flushStartNanos = System.nanoTime();
         out.flush();
         long flushEndNanos = System.nanoTime();
-        if (syncOnClose && (out instanceof FileOutputStream)) {
+        if (syncOnClose) {
           long fsyncStartNanos = flushEndNanos;
-          ((FileOutputStream)out).getChannel().force(true);
+          streams.syncDataOut();
           datanode.metrics.addFsyncNanos(System.nanoTime() - fsyncStartNanos);
         }
         flushTotalNanos += flushEndNanos - flushStartNanos;
@@ -338,9 +336,9 @@ class BlockReceiver implements Closeable {
       long flushStartNanos = System.nanoTime();
       checksumOut.flush();
       long flushEndNanos = System.nanoTime();
-      if (isSync && (cout instanceof FileOutputStream)) {
+      if (isSync) {
         long fsyncStartNanos = flushEndNanos;
-        ((FileOutputStream)cout).getChannel().force(true);
+        streams.syncChecksumOut();
         datanode.metrics.addFsyncNanos(System.nanoTime() - fsyncStartNanos);
       }
       flushTotalNanos += flushEndNanos - flushStartNanos;
@@ -349,9 +347,9 @@ class BlockReceiver implements Closeable {
       long flushStartNanos = System.nanoTime();
       out.flush();
       long flushEndNanos = System.nanoTime();
-      if (isSync && (out instanceof FileOutputStream)) {
+      if (isSync) {
         long fsyncStartNanos = flushEndNanos;
-        ((FileOutputStream)out).getChannel().force(true);
+        streams.syncDataOut();
         datanode.metrics.addFsyncNanos(System.nanoTime() - fsyncStartNanos);
       }
       flushTotalNanos += flushEndNanos - flushStartNanos;
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/fsdataset/ReplicaOutputStreams.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/fsdataset/ReplicaOutputStreams.java
index 3866392d93..95044c825d 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/fsdataset/ReplicaOutputStreams.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/fsdataset/ReplicaOutputStreams.java
@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@
 package org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.datanode.fsdataset;
 
 import java.io.Closeable;
+import java.io.FileOutputStream;
 import java.io.OutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
 
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.IOUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.util.DataChecksum;
@@ -62,4 +64,23 @@ public class ReplicaOutputStreams implements Closeable {
     IOUtils.closeStream(dataOut);
     IOUtils.closeStream(checksumOut);
   }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+
+  /**
+   * Sync the data stream if it supports it.
+   */
+  public void syncDataOut() throws IOException {
+    if (dataOut instanceof FileOutputStream) {
+      ((FileOutputStream)dataOut).getChannel().force(true);
+    }
+  }
+  
+  /**
+   * Sync the checksum stream if it supports it.
+   */
+  public void syncChecksumOut() throws IOException {
+    if (checksumOut instanceof FileOutputStream) {
+      ((FileOutputStream)checksumOut).getChannel().force(true);
+    }
+  }
+
+}