diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-shuffle/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/ShuffleHandler.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-shuffle/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/ShuffleHandler.java
index 15a1b89f84..863da7efde 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-shuffle/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/ShuffleHandler.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-shuffle/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/ShuffleHandler.java
@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@
 import org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelFactory;
 import org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelFuture;
 import org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelFutureListener;
+import org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelHandler;
 import org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelHandlerContext;
 import org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelPipeline;
 import org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelPipelineFactory;
@@ -126,7 +127,13 @@
 import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.http.QueryStringDecoder;
 import org.jboss.netty.handler.ssl.SslHandler;
 import org.jboss.netty.handler.stream.ChunkedWriteHandler;
+import org.jboss.netty.handler.timeout.IdleState;
+import org.jboss.netty.handler.timeout.IdleStateAwareChannelHandler;
+import org.jboss.netty.handler.timeout.IdleStateEvent;
+import org.jboss.netty.handler.timeout.IdleStateHandler;
 import org.jboss.netty.util.CharsetUtil;
+import org.jboss.netty.util.HashedWheelTimer;
+import org.jboss.netty.util.Timer;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.http.HttpHeader;
 
 import com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
@@ -240,6 +247,7 @@ public class ShuffleHandler extends AuxiliaryService {
   public static final boolean DEFAULT_SHUFFLE_TRANSFERTO_ALLOWED = true;
   public static final boolean WINDOWS_DEFAULT_SHUFFLE_TRANSFERTO_ALLOWED = 
       false;
+  private static final String TIMEOUT_HANDLER = "timeout";
 
   /* the maximum number of files a single GET request can
    open simultaneously during shuffle
@@ -249,8 +257,9 @@ public class ShuffleHandler extends AuxiliaryService {
   public static final int DEFAULT_SHUFFLE_MAX_SESSION_OPEN_FILES = 3;
 
   boolean connectionKeepAliveEnabled = false;
-  int connectionKeepAliveTimeOut;
-  int mapOutputMetaInfoCacheSize;
+  private int connectionKeepAliveTimeOut;
+  private int mapOutputMetaInfoCacheSize;
+  private Timer timer;
 
   @Metrics(about="Shuffle output metrics", context="mapred")
   static class ShuffleMetrics implements ChannelFutureListener {
@@ -293,7 +302,15 @@ public void operationComplete(ChannelFuture future) throws Exception {
       int waitCount = this.reduceContext.getMapsToWait().decrementAndGet();
       if (waitCount == 0) {
         metrics.operationComplete(future);
-        future.getChannel().close();
+        // Let the idle timer handler close keep-alive connections
+        if (reduceContext.getKeepAlive()) {
+          ChannelPipeline pipeline = future.getChannel().getPipeline();
+          TimeoutHandler timeoutHandler =
+              (TimeoutHandler)pipeline.get(TIMEOUT_HANDLER);
+          timeoutHandler.setEnabledTimeout(true);
+        } else {
+          future.getChannel().close();
+        }
       } else {
         pipelineFact.getSHUFFLE().sendMap(reduceContext);
       }
@@ -314,11 +331,12 @@ private static class ReduceContext {
     private String user;
     private Map<String, Shuffle.MapOutputInfo> infoMap;
     private String jobId;
+    private final boolean keepAlive;
 
     public ReduceContext(List<String> mapIds, int rId,
                          ChannelHandlerContext context, String usr,
                          Map<String, Shuffle.MapOutputInfo> mapOutputInfoMap,
-                         String jobId) {
+                         String jobId, boolean keepAlive) {
 
       this.mapIds = mapIds;
       this.reduceId = rId;
@@ -339,6 +357,7 @@ public ReduceContext(List<String> mapIds, int rId,
       this.user = usr;
       this.infoMap = mapOutputInfoMap;
       this.jobId = jobId;
+      this.keepAlive = keepAlive;
     }
 
     public int getReduceId() {
@@ -372,6 +391,10 @@ public AtomicInteger getMapsToSend() {
     public AtomicInteger getMapsToWait() {
       return mapsToWait;
     }
+
+    public boolean getKeepAlive() {
+      return keepAlive;
+    }
   }
 
   ShuffleHandler(MetricsSystem ms) {
@@ -508,8 +531,10 @@ protected void serviceStart() throws Exception {
     secretManager = new JobTokenSecretManager();
     recoverState(conf);
     ServerBootstrap bootstrap = new ServerBootstrap(selector);
+    // Timer is shared across entire factory and must be released separately
+    timer = new HashedWheelTimer();
     try {
-      pipelineFact = new HttpPipelineFactory(conf);
+      pipelineFact = new HttpPipelineFactory(conf, timer);
     } catch (Exception ex) {
       throw new RuntimeException(ex);
     }
@@ -549,6 +574,10 @@ protected void serviceStop() throws Exception {
     if (pipelineFact != null) {
       pipelineFact.destroy();
     }
+    if (timer != null) {
+      // Release this shared timer resource
+      timer.stop();
+    }
     if (stateDb != null) {
       stateDb.close();
     }
@@ -755,12 +784,29 @@ public void log(String message) {
     }
   }
 
+  static class TimeoutHandler extends IdleStateAwareChannelHandler {
+
+    private boolean enabledTimeout;
+
+    void setEnabledTimeout(boolean enabledTimeout) {
+      this.enabledTimeout = enabledTimeout;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void channelIdle(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, IdleStateEvent e) {
+      if (e.getState() == IdleState.WRITER_IDLE && enabledTimeout) {
+        e.getChannel().close();
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
   class HttpPipelineFactory implements ChannelPipelineFactory {
 
     final Shuffle SHUFFLE;
     private SSLFactory sslFactory;
+    private final ChannelHandler idleStateHandler;
 
-    public HttpPipelineFactory(Configuration conf) throws Exception {
+    public HttpPipelineFactory(Configuration conf, Timer timer) throws Exception {
       SHUFFLE = getShuffle(conf);
       if (conf.getBoolean(MRConfig.SHUFFLE_SSL_ENABLED_KEY,
                           MRConfig.SHUFFLE_SSL_ENABLED_DEFAULT)) {
@@ -768,6 +814,7 @@ public HttpPipelineFactory(Configuration conf) throws Exception {
         sslFactory = new SSLFactory(SSLFactory.Mode.SERVER, conf);
         sslFactory.init();
       }
+      this.idleStateHandler = new IdleStateHandler(timer, 0, connectionKeepAliveTimeOut, 0);
     }
 
     public Shuffle getSHUFFLE() {
@@ -791,6 +838,8 @@ public ChannelPipeline getPipeline() throws Exception {
       pipeline.addLast("encoder", new HttpResponseEncoder());
       pipeline.addLast("chunking", new ChunkedWriteHandler());
       pipeline.addLast("shuffle", SHUFFLE);
+      pipeline.addLast("idle", idleStateHandler);
+      pipeline.addLast(TIMEOUT_HANDLER, new TimeoutHandler());
       return pipeline;
       // TODO factor security manager into pipeline
       // TODO factor out encode/decode to permit binary shuffle
@@ -981,6 +1030,10 @@ public void messageReceived(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, MessageEvent evt)
       Map<String, MapOutputInfo> mapOutputInfoMap =
           new HashMap<String, MapOutputInfo>();
       Channel ch = evt.getChannel();
+      ChannelPipeline pipeline = ch.getPipeline();
+      TimeoutHandler timeoutHandler =
+          (TimeoutHandler)pipeline.get(TIMEOUT_HANDLER);
+      timeoutHandler.setEnabledTimeout(false);
       String user = userRsrc.get(jobId);
 
       try {
@@ -995,8 +1048,9 @@ public void messageReceived(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, MessageEvent evt)
       }
       ch.write(response);
       //Initialize one ReduceContext object per messageReceived call
+      boolean keepAlive = keepAliveParam || connectionKeepAliveEnabled;
       ReduceContext reduceContext = new ReduceContext(mapIds, reduceId, ctx,
-          user, mapOutputInfoMap, jobId);
+          user, mapOutputInfoMap, jobId, keepAlive);
       for (int i = 0; i < Math.min(maxSessionOpenFiles, mapIds.size()); i++) {
         ChannelFuture nextMap = sendMap(reduceContext);
         if(nextMap == null) {
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-shuffle/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/TestShuffleHandler.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-shuffle/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/TestShuffleHandler.java
index 1e439374b5..7fb2051cb3 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-shuffle/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/TestShuffleHandler.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-shuffle/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/TestShuffleHandler.java
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
 import java.net.URL;
+import java.net.SocketAddress;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Arrays;
@@ -79,6 +80,7 @@
 import org.jboss.netty.channel.Channel;
 import org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelFuture;
 import org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelHandlerContext;
+import org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelPipeline;
 import org.jboss.netty.channel.socket.SocketChannel;
 import org.jboss.netty.channel.MessageEvent;
 import org.jboss.netty.channel.AbstractChannel;
@@ -309,6 +311,15 @@ protected void sendError(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, String message,
     Assert.assertTrue("sendError called when client closed connection",
         failures.size() == 0);
   }
+  static class LastSocketAddress {
+    SocketAddress lastAddress;
+    void setAddress(SocketAddress lastAddress) {
+      this.lastAddress = lastAddress;
+    }
+    SocketAddress getSocketAddres() {
+      return lastAddress;
+    }
+  }
 
   @Test(timeout = 10000)
   public void testKeepAlive() throws Exception {
@@ -318,6 +329,8 @@ public void testKeepAlive() throws Exception {
     conf.setBoolean(ShuffleHandler.SHUFFLE_CONNECTION_KEEP_ALIVE_ENABLED, true);
     // try setting to -ve keep alive timeout.
     conf.setInt(ShuffleHandler.SHUFFLE_CONNECTION_KEEP_ALIVE_TIME_OUT, -100);
+    final LastSocketAddress lastSocketAddress = new LastSocketAddress();
+
     ShuffleHandler shuffleHandler = new ShuffleHandler() {
       @Override
       protected Shuffle getShuffle(final Configuration conf) {
@@ -363,6 +376,7 @@ protected void populateHeaders(List<String> mapIds, String jobId,
           protected ChannelFuture sendMapOutput(ChannelHandlerContext ctx,
               Channel ch, String user, String mapId, int reduce,
               MapOutputInfo info) throws IOException {
+            lastSocketAddress.setAddress(ch.getRemoteAddress());
             HttpResponse response = new DefaultHttpResponse(HTTP_1_1, OK);
 
             // send a shuffle header and a lot of data down the channel
@@ -422,6 +436,9 @@ protected void sendError(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, String message,
     Assert.assertEquals(HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK, conn.getResponseCode());
     ShuffleHeader header = new ShuffleHeader();
     header.readFields(input);
+    byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
+    while (input.read(buffer) != -1) {}
+    SocketAddress firstAddress = lastSocketAddress.getSocketAddres();
     input.close();
 
     // For keepAlive via URL
@@ -443,6 +460,14 @@ protected void sendError(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, String message,
     header = new ShuffleHeader();
     header.readFields(input);
     input.close();
+    SocketAddress secondAddress = lastSocketAddress.getSocketAddres();
+    Assert.assertNotNull("Initial shuffle address should not be null",
+        firstAddress);
+    Assert.assertNotNull("Keep-Alive shuffle address should not be null",
+        secondAddress);
+    Assert.assertEquals("Initial shuffle address and keep-alive shuffle "
+        + "address should be the same", firstAddress, secondAddress);
+
   }
 
   @Test(timeout = 10000)
@@ -1058,14 +1083,20 @@ public void testSendMapCount() throws Exception {
         Mockito.mock(ChannelHandlerContext.class);
     final MessageEvent mockEvt = Mockito.mock(MessageEvent.class);
     final Channel mockCh = Mockito.mock(AbstractChannel.class);
+    final ChannelPipeline mockPipeline = Mockito.mock(ChannelPipeline.class);
 
     // Mock HttpRequest and ChannelFuture
     final HttpRequest mockHttpRequest = createMockHttpRequest();
     final ChannelFuture mockFuture = createMockChannelFuture(mockCh,
         listenerList);
+    final ShuffleHandler.TimeoutHandler timerHandler =
+        new ShuffleHandler.TimeoutHandler();
 
     // Mock Netty Channel Context and Channel behavior
     Mockito.doReturn(mockCh).when(mockCtx).getChannel();
+    Mockito.when(mockCh.getPipeline()).thenReturn(mockPipeline);
+    Mockito.when(mockPipeline.get(
+        Mockito.any(String.class))).thenReturn(timerHandler);
     Mockito.when(mockCtx.getChannel()).thenReturn(mockCh);
     Mockito.doReturn(mockFuture).when(mockCh).write(Mockito.any(Object.class));
     Mockito.when(mockCh.write(Object.class)).thenReturn(mockFuture);