diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.HDFS-1623.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.HDFS-1623.txt
index 56e11457c5..56e1d8f823 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.HDFS-1623.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.HDFS-1623.txt
@@ -15,3 +15,6 @@ HADOOP-7922. Improve some logging for client IPC failovers and
              StandbyExceptions (todd)
 
 HADOOP-7921. StandbyException should extend IOException (todd)
+
+HADOOP-7928. HA: Client failover policy is incorrectly trying to fail over all
+             IOExceptions (atm)
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/retry/RetryPolicies.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/retry/RetryPolicies.java
index 5afda59475..a96dc9ee0b 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/retry/RetryPolicies.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/retry/RetryPolicies.java
@@ -341,7 +341,7 @@ public RetryAction shouldRetry(Exception e, int retries,
             failovers == 0 ? 0 :
                 calculateExponentialTime(delayMillis, failovers, maxDelayBase));
       } else if (e instanceof SocketException ||
-                 e instanceof IOException) {
+                 (e instanceof IOException && !(e instanceof RemoteException))) {
         if (isMethodIdempotent) {
           return RetryAction.FAILOVER_AND_RETRY;
         } else {
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/retry/TestFailoverProxy.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/retry/TestFailoverProxy.java
index b52814cfc1..0a2963f7be 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/retry/TestFailoverProxy.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/retry/TestFailoverProxy.java
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ public void testFailoverOnNetworkExceptionIdempotentOperation()
     
     assertEquals("impl1", unreliable.succeedsOnceThenFailsReturningString());
     try {
-      assertEquals("impl2", unreliable.succeedsOnceThenFailsReturningString());
+      unreliable.succeedsOnceThenFailsReturningString();
       fail("should not have succeeded twice");
     } catch (IOException e) {
       // Make sure we *don't* fail over since the first implementation threw an
@@ -304,4 +304,26 @@ public void run() {
     String result = unreliable.failsIfIdentifierDoesntMatch("renamed-impl1");
     assertEquals("renamed-impl1", result);
   }
+  
+  /**
+   * Ensure that normal IO exceptions don't result in a failover.
+   */
+  @Test
+  public void testExpectedIOException() {
+    UnreliableInterface unreliable = (UnreliableInterface)RetryProxy
+    .create(UnreliableInterface.class,
+        new FlipFlopProxyProvider(UnreliableInterface.class,
+          new UnreliableImplementation("impl1", TypeOfExceptionToFailWith.REMOTE_EXCEPTION),
+          new UnreliableImplementation("impl2", TypeOfExceptionToFailWith.UNRELIABLE_EXCEPTION)),
+          RetryPolicies.failoverOnNetworkException(
+              RetryPolicies.TRY_ONCE_THEN_FAIL, 10, 1000, 10000));
+    
+    try {
+      unreliable.failsIfIdentifierDoesntMatch("no-such-identifier");
+      fail("Should have thrown *some* exception");
+    } catch (Exception e) {
+      assertTrue("Expected IOE but got " + e.getClass(),
+          e instanceof IOException);
+    }
+  }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/retry/UnreliableImplementation.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/retry/UnreliableImplementation.java
index 74a63894d8..185ed2a442 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/retry/UnreliableImplementation.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/retry/UnreliableImplementation.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 
+import org.apache.hadoop.io.retry.UnreliableInterface.UnreliableException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.RemoteException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.StandbyException;
 
@@ -37,7 +38,8 @@ public class UnreliableImplementation implements UnreliableInterface {
   public static enum TypeOfExceptionToFailWith {
     UNRELIABLE_EXCEPTION,
     STANDBY_EXCEPTION,
-    IO_EXCEPTION
+    IO_EXCEPTION,
+    REMOTE_EXCEPTION
   }
   
   public UnreliableImplementation() {
@@ -95,14 +97,7 @@ public String succeedsOnceThenFailsReturningString()
     if (succeedsOnceThenFailsCount++ < 1) {
       return identifier;
     } else {
-      switch (exceptionToFailWith) {
-      case STANDBY_EXCEPTION:
-        throw new StandbyException(identifier);
-      case UNRELIABLE_EXCEPTION:
-        throw new UnreliableException(identifier);
-      case IO_EXCEPTION:
-        throw new IOException(identifier);
-      }
+      throwAppropriateException(exceptionToFailWith, identifier);
       return null;
     }
   }
@@ -113,16 +108,8 @@ public String succeedsTenTimesThenFailsReturningString()
     if (succeedsTenTimesThenFailsCount++ < 10) {
       return identifier;
     } else {
-      switch (exceptionToFailWith) {
-      case STANDBY_EXCEPTION:
-        throw new StandbyException(identifier);
-      case UNRELIABLE_EXCEPTION:
-        throw new UnreliableException(identifier);
-      case IO_EXCEPTION:
-        throw new IOException(identifier);
-      default:
-        throw new RuntimeException(identifier);
-      }
+      throwAppropriateException(exceptionToFailWith, identifier);
+      return null;
     }
   }
 
@@ -132,16 +119,8 @@ public String succeedsOnceThenFailsReturningStringIdempotent()
     if (succeedsOnceThenFailsIdempotentCount++ < 1) {
       return identifier;
     } else {
-      switch (exceptionToFailWith) {
-      case STANDBY_EXCEPTION:
-        throw new StandbyException(identifier);
-      case UNRELIABLE_EXCEPTION:
-        throw new UnreliableException(identifier);
-      case IO_EXCEPTION:
-        throw new IOException(identifier);
-      default:
-        throw new RuntimeException(identifier);
-      }
+      throwAppropriateException(exceptionToFailWith, identifier);
+      return null;
     }
   }
 
@@ -153,17 +132,24 @@ public String failsIfIdentifierDoesntMatch(String identifier)
     } else {
       String message = "expected '" + this.identifier + "' but received '" +
           identifier + "'";
-      switch (exceptionToFailWith) {
-      case STANDBY_EXCEPTION:
-        throw new StandbyException(message);
-      case UNRELIABLE_EXCEPTION:
-        throw new UnreliableException(message);
-      case IO_EXCEPTION:
-        throw new IOException(message);
-      default:
-        throw new RuntimeException(message);
-      }
+      throwAppropriateException(exceptionToFailWith, message);
+      return null;
     }
   }
 
+  private static void throwAppropriateException(TypeOfExceptionToFailWith eType,
+      String message) throws UnreliableException, StandbyException, IOException {
+    switch (eType) {
+    case STANDBY_EXCEPTION:
+      throw new StandbyException(message);
+    case UNRELIABLE_EXCEPTION:
+      throw new UnreliableException(message);
+    case IO_EXCEPTION:
+      throw new IOException(message);
+    case REMOTE_EXCEPTION:
+      throw new RemoteException(IOException.class.getName(), message);
+    default:
+      throw new RuntimeException(message);
+    }
+  }
 }