diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
index 714bfdc0e4..3ebf799ea4 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -565,6 +565,9 @@ Release 2.8.0 - UNRELEASED
     YARN-3859. LeafQueue doesn't print user properly for application add.
     (Varun Saxena via devaraj)
 
+    YARN-3860. rmadmin -transitionToActive should check the state of non-target node.
+    (Masatake Iwasaki via junping_du)
+
 Release 2.7.2 - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/client/cli/RMAdminCLI.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/client/cli/RMAdminCLI.java
index 932b62d008..36d29d6589 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/client/cli/RMAdminCLI.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/client/cli/RMAdminCLI.java
@@ -797,7 +797,15 @@ public class RMAdminCLI extends HAAdmin {
           "Could not connect to RM HA Admin for node " + rmId);
     }
   }
-  
+
+  /**
+   * returns the list of all resourcemanager ids for the given configuration.
+   */
+  @Override
+  protected Collection<String> getTargetIds(String targetNodeToActivate) {
+    return HAUtil.getRMHAIds(getConf());
+  }
+
   @Override
   protected String getUsageString() {
     return "Usage: rmadmin";
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-client/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/client/cli/TestRMAdminCLI.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-client/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/client/cli/TestRMAdminCLI.java
index a95412c974..6dc326a929 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-client/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/client/cli/TestRMAdminCLI.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-client/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/client/cli/TestRMAdminCLI.java
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import static org.mockito.Matchers.argThat;
 import static org.mockito.Matchers.eq;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.never;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
 
@@ -116,6 +117,7 @@ public class TestRMAdminCLI {
 
     YarnConfiguration conf = new YarnConfiguration();
     conf.setBoolean(YarnConfiguration.RM_HA_ENABLED, true);
+    conf.set(YarnConfiguration.RM_HA_IDS, "rm1,rm2");
     rmAdminCLIWithHAEnabled = new RMAdminCLI(conf) {
 
       @Override
@@ -259,6 +261,8 @@ public class TestRMAdminCLI {
     assertEquals(0, rmAdminCLIWithHAEnabled.run(args));
     verify(haadmin).transitionToActive(
         any(HAServiceProtocol.StateChangeRequestInfo.class));
+    // HAAdmin#isOtherTargetNodeActive should check state of non-target node.
+    verify(haadmin, times(1)).getServiceStatus();
   }
 
   @Test(timeout = 500)