diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index c790e35509..4bb4e45be4 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1032,6 +1032,9 @@ Release 0.21.0 - Unreleased
 
   BUG FIXES
 
+    HADOOP-6836. [Herriot]: Generic method for adding/modifying the attributes
+    for new configuration. (Vinay Thota via cos)
+
     HADOOP-6839. [Herriot] Implement a functionality for getting the user list
     for creating proxy users. (Vinay Thota via cos)
 
diff --git a/src/test/system/java/org/apache/hadoop/test/system/AbstractDaemonCluster.java b/src/test/system/java/org/apache/hadoop/test/system/AbstractDaemonCluster.java
index db43b6627f..c7d991af01 100644
--- a/src/test/system/java/org/apache/hadoop/test/system/AbstractDaemonCluster.java
+++ b/src/test/system/java/org/apache/hadoop/test/system/AbstractDaemonCluster.java
@@ -347,7 +347,7 @@ private String getHadoopLocalConfDir() {
    * @param configFile configuration file.
    * @throws IOException if an I/O error occurs.
    */
-  public void restartClusterWithNewConfig(Hashtable<String,Long> props, 
+  public void restartClusterWithNewConfig(Hashtable<String,?> props, 
       String configFile) throws IOException {
 
     String mapredConf = null;
@@ -359,8 +359,8 @@ public void restartClusterWithNewConfig(Hashtable<String,Long> props,
     Enumeration<String> e = props.keys();
     while (e.hasMoreElements()) {
       String propKey = e.nextElement();
-      Long propValue = props.get(propKey);
-      initConf.setLong(propKey,propValue.longValue());
+      Object propValue = props.get(propKey);
+      initConf.set(propKey,propValue.toString());
     }
 
     localDirPath = getHadoopLocalConfDir();