diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index 5f2fb795a3..66eab12040 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -315,6 +315,9 @@ Release 2.1.1-beta - UNRELEASED
     HDFS-5091. Support for spnego keytab separate from the JournalNode keytab 
     for secure HA. (jing9)
 
+    HDFS-5051. nn fails to download checkpointed image from snn in some
+    setups. (Vinay and suresh via suresh)
+
 Release 2.1.0-beta - 2013-08-06
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/GetImageServlet.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/GetImageServlet.java
index dfe1c6af69..35c3cfb288 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/GetImageServlet.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/GetImageServlet.java
@@ -310,11 +310,14 @@ static String getParamStringForLog(RemoteEditLog log,
   
   static String getParamStringToPutImage(long txid,
       InetSocketAddress imageListenAddress, Storage storage) {
-    
+    String machine = !imageListenAddress.isUnresolved()
+        && imageListenAddress.getAddress().isAnyLocalAddress() ? null
+        : imageListenAddress.getHostName();
     return "putimage=1" +
       "&" + TXID_PARAM + "=" + txid +
       "&port=" + imageListenAddress.getPort() +
-      "&" + STORAGEINFO_PARAM + "=" +
+      (machine != null ? "&machine=" + machine : "")
+      + "&" + STORAGEINFO_PARAM + "=" +
       storage.toColonSeparatedString();
   }
 
@@ -341,10 +344,6 @@ public GetImageParams(HttpServletRequest request,
       Map<String, String[]> pmap = request.getParameterMap();
       isGetImage = isGetEdit = isPutImage = fetchLatest = false;
       remoteport = 0;
-      machineName = request.getRemoteHost();
-      if (InetAddresses.isInetAddress(machineName)) {
-        machineName = NetUtils.getHostNameOfIP(machineName);
-      }
 
       for (Map.Entry<String, String[]> entry : pmap.entrySet()) {
         String key = entry.getKey();
@@ -369,11 +368,20 @@ public GetImageParams(HttpServletRequest request,
           txId = ServletUtil.parseLongParam(request, TXID_PARAM);
         } else if (key.equals("port")) { 
           remoteport = new Integer(val[0]).intValue();
+        } else if (key.equals("machine")) {
+          machineName = val[0];
         } else if (key.equals(STORAGEINFO_PARAM)) {
           storageInfoString = val[0];
         }
       }
 
+      if (machineName == null) {
+        machineName = request.getRemoteHost();
+        if (InetAddresses.isInetAddress(machineName)) {
+          machineName = NetUtils.getHostNameOfIP(machineName);
+        }
+      }
+
       int numGets = (isGetImage?1:0) + (isGetEdit?1:0);
       if ((numGets > 1) || (numGets == 0) && !isPutImage) {
         throw new IOException("Illegal parameters to TransferFsImage");