diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index 11f21b0957..56ba7df649 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -723,6 +723,10 @@ Release 2.4.0 - UNRELEASED
     HDFS-5981. PBImageXmlWriter generates malformed XML.
     (Haohui Mai via cnauroth)
 
+    HDFS-6089. Standby NN while transitioning to active throws a connection
+    refused error when the prior active NN process is suspended.
+    (Jing Zhao via Andrew Wang)
+
   BREAKDOWN OF HDFS-4685 SUBTASKS AND RELATED JIRAS
 
     HDFS-5596. Implement RPC stubs. (Haohui Mai via cnauroth)
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSConfigKeys.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSConfigKeys.java
index 49b4516d5f..5a14f984ff 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSConfigKeys.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSConfigKeys.java
@@ -522,6 +522,8 @@ public class DFSConfigKeys extends CommonConfigurationKeys {
   public static final int DFS_HA_LOGROLL_PERIOD_DEFAULT = 2 * 60; // 2m
   public static final String DFS_HA_TAILEDITS_PERIOD_KEY = "dfs.ha.tail-edits.period";
   public static final int DFS_HA_TAILEDITS_PERIOD_DEFAULT = 60; // 1m
+  public static final String DFS_HA_LOGROLL_RPC_TIMEOUT_KEY = "dfs.ha.log-roll.rpc.timeout";
+  public static final int DFS_HA_LOGROLL_RPC_TIMEOUT_DEFAULT = 20000; // 20s
   public static final String DFS_HA_FENCE_METHODS_KEY = "dfs.ha.fencing.methods";
   public static final String DFS_HA_AUTO_FAILOVER_ENABLED_KEY = "dfs.ha.automatic-failover.enabled";
   public static final boolean DFS_HA_AUTO_FAILOVER_ENABLED_DEFAULT = false;
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/ha/EditLogTailer.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/ha/EditLogTailer.java
index 332cc61da6..4e8c46d8b2 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/ha/EditLogTailer.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/ha/EditLogTailer.java
@@ -135,9 +135,12 @@ private InetSocketAddress getActiveNodeAddress() {
   
   private NamenodeProtocol getActiveNodeProxy() throws IOException {
     if (cachedActiveProxy == null) {
-      NamenodeProtocolPB proxy = 
-        RPC.waitForProxy(NamenodeProtocolPB.class,
-            RPC.getProtocolVersion(NamenodeProtocolPB.class), activeAddr, conf);
+      int rpcTimeout = conf.getInt(
+          DFSConfigKeys.DFS_HA_LOGROLL_RPC_TIMEOUT_KEY,
+          DFSConfigKeys.DFS_HA_LOGROLL_RPC_TIMEOUT_DEFAULT);
+      NamenodeProtocolPB proxy = RPC.waitForProxy(NamenodeProtocolPB.class,
+          RPC.getProtocolVersion(NamenodeProtocolPB.class), activeAddr, conf,
+          rpcTimeout, Long.MAX_VALUE);
       cachedActiveProxy = new NamenodeProtocolTranslatorPB(proxy);
     }
     assert cachedActiveProxy != null;