diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index a1e86bbdd0..d4abc55dcc 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -345,6 +345,9 @@ Release 2.5.0 - UNRELEASED
 
   IMPROVEMENTS
 
+    HADOOP-10278. Refactor to make CallQueue pluggable. (Chris Li via
+    Arpit Agarwal)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
   BUG FIXES 
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/CommonConfigurationKeys.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/CommonConfigurationKeys.java
index b57b3f2ce5..e2d4fbcb9d 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/CommonConfigurationKeys.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/CommonConfigurationKeys.java
@@ -82,6 +82,14 @@ public class CommonConfigurationKeys extends CommonConfigurationKeysPublic {
   /** Default value for IPC_SERVER_HANDLER_QUEUE_SIZE_KEY */
   public static final int     IPC_SERVER_HANDLER_QUEUE_SIZE_DEFAULT = 100;
 
+  /**
+   * CallQueue related settings. These are not used directly, but rather
+   * combined with a namespace and port. For instance:
+   * IPC_CALLQUEUE_NAMESPACE + ".8020." + IPC_CALLQUEUE_IMPL_KEY
+   */
+  public static final String IPC_CALLQUEUE_NAMESPACE = "ipc";
+  public static final String IPC_CALLQUEUE_IMPL_KEY = "callqueue.impl";
+
   /** Internal buffer size for Lzo compressor/decompressors */
   public static final String  IO_COMPRESSION_CODEC_LZO_BUFFERSIZE_KEY =
     "io.compression.codec.lzo.buffersize";
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/CallQueueManager.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/CallQueueManager.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dae7ace4bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/CallQueueManager.java
@@ -0,0 +1,159 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.hadoop.ipc;
+
+import java.util.concurrent.BlockingQueue;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
+
+import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
+
+/**
+ * Abstracts queue operations for different blocking queues.
+ */
+public class CallQueueManager<E> {
+  public static final Log LOG = LogFactory.getLog(CallQueueManager.class);
+
+  // Atomic refs point to active callQueue
+  // We have two so we can better control swapping
+  private final AtomicReference<BlockingQueue<E>> putRef;
+  private final AtomicReference<BlockingQueue<E>> takeRef;
+
+  public CallQueueManager(Class backingClass, int maxQueueSize,
+    String namespace, Configuration conf) {
+    BlockingQueue<E> bq = createCallQueueInstance(backingClass,
+      maxQueueSize, namespace, conf);
+    this.putRef = new AtomicReference<BlockingQueue<E>>(bq);
+    this.takeRef = new AtomicReference<BlockingQueue<E>>(bq);
+    LOG.info("Using callQueue " + backingClass);
+  }
+
+  @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+  private BlockingQueue<E> createCallQueueInstance(Class theClass, int maxLen,
+    String ns, Configuration conf) {
+
+    // Used for custom, configurable callqueues
+    try {
+      Constructor ctor = theClass.getDeclaredConstructor(int.class, String.class,
+        Configuration.class);
+      return (BlockingQueue<E>)ctor.newInstance(maxLen, ns, conf);
+    } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+      throw e;
+    } catch (Exception e) {
+    }
+
+    // Used for LinkedBlockingQueue, ArrayBlockingQueue, etc
+    try {
+      Constructor ctor = theClass.getDeclaredConstructor(int.class);
+      return (BlockingQueue<E>)ctor.newInstance(maxLen);
+    } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+      throw e;
+    } catch (Exception e) {
+    }
+
+    // Last attempt
+    try {
+      Constructor ctor = theClass.getDeclaredConstructor();
+      return (BlockingQueue<E>)ctor.newInstance();
+    } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+      throw e;
+    } catch (Exception e) {
+    }
+
+    // Nothing worked
+    throw new RuntimeException(theClass.getName() +
+      " could not be constructed.");
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Insert e into the backing queue or block until we can.
+   * If we block and the queue changes on us, we will insert while the
+   * queue is drained.
+   */
+  public void put(E e) throws InterruptedException {
+    putRef.get().put(e);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Retrieve an E from the backing queue or block until we can.
+   * Guaranteed to return an element from the current queue.
+   */
+  public E take() throws InterruptedException {
+    E e = null;
+
+    while (e == null) {
+      e = takeRef.get().poll(1000L, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
+    }
+
+    return e;
+  }
+
+  public int size() {
+    return takeRef.get().size();
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Replaces active queue with the newly requested one and transfers
+   * all calls to the newQ before returning.
+   */
+  public synchronized void swapQueue(Class queueClassToUse, int maxSize,
+    String ns, Configuration conf) {
+    BlockingQueue<E> newQ = createCallQueueInstance(queueClassToUse, maxSize,
+      ns, conf);
+
+    // Our current queue becomes the old queue
+    BlockingQueue<E> oldQ = putRef.get();
+
+    // Swap putRef first: allow blocked puts() to be unblocked
+    putRef.set(newQ);
+
+    // Wait for handlers to drain the oldQ
+    while (!queueIsReallyEmpty(oldQ)) {}
+
+    // Swap takeRef to handle new calls
+    takeRef.set(newQ);
+
+    LOG.info("Old Queue: " + stringRepr(oldQ) + ", " +
+      "Replacement: " + stringRepr(newQ));
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Checks if queue is empty by checking at two points in time.
+   * This doesn't mean the queue might not fill up at some point later, but
+   * it should decrease the probability that we lose a call this way.
+   */
+  private boolean queueIsReallyEmpty(BlockingQueue q) {
+    boolean wasEmpty = q.isEmpty();
+    try {
+      Thread.sleep(10);
+    } catch (InterruptedException ie) {
+      return false;
+    }
+    return q.isEmpty() && wasEmpty;
+  }
+
+  private String stringRepr(Object o) {
+    return o.getClass().getName() + '@' + Integer.toHexString(o.hashCode());
+  }
+}
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/Server.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/Server.java
index 9871a3d138..92d8bbaf26 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/Server.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/Server.java
@@ -365,7 +365,7 @@ public static boolean isRpcInvocation() {
   private final boolean tcpNoDelay; // if T then disable Nagle's Algorithm
 
   volatile private boolean running = true;         // true while server runs
-  private BlockingQueue<Call> callQueue; // queued calls
+  private CallQueueManager<Call> callQueue;
 
   // maintains the set of client connections and handles idle timeouts
   private ConnectionManager connectionManager;
@@ -469,6 +469,19 @@ public ServiceAuthorizationManager getServiceAuthorizationManager() {
     return serviceAuthorizationManager;
   }
 
+  /*
+   * Refresh the call queue
+   */
+  public synchronized void refreshCallQueue(Configuration conf) {
+    // Create the next queue
+    String prefix = CommonConfigurationKeys.IPC_CALLQUEUE_NAMESPACE + "." +
+      this.port;
+    Class queueClassToUse = conf.getClass(prefix + "." +
+      CommonConfigurationKeys.IPC_CALLQUEUE_IMPL_KEY, LinkedBlockingQueue.class);
+
+    callQueue.swapQueue(queueClassToUse, maxQueueSize, prefix, conf);
+  }
+
   /** A call queued for handling. */
   public static class Call {
     private final int callId;             // the client's call id
@@ -2193,7 +2206,15 @@ protected Server(String bindAddress, int port,
     this.readerPendingConnectionQueue = conf.getInt(
         CommonConfigurationKeys.IPC_SERVER_RPC_READ_CONNECTION_QUEUE_SIZE_KEY,
         CommonConfigurationKeys.IPC_SERVER_RPC_READ_CONNECTION_QUEUE_SIZE_DEFAULT);
-    this.callQueue  = new LinkedBlockingQueue<Call>(maxQueueSize); 
+
+    // Setup appropriate callqueue
+    String prefix = CommonConfigurationKeys.IPC_CALLQUEUE_NAMESPACE + "." +
+        this.port;
+    Class queueClassToUse = conf.getClass(prefix + "." +
+        CommonConfigurationKeys.IPC_CALLQUEUE_IMPL_KEY, LinkedBlockingQueue.class);
+    this.callQueue = new CallQueueManager<Call>(queueClassToUse, maxQueueSize,
+      prefix, conf);
+
     this.secretManager = (SecretManager<TokenIdentifier>) secretManager;
     this.authorize = 
       conf.getBoolean(CommonConfigurationKeys.HADOOP_SECURITY_AUTHORIZATION, 
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/TestCallQueueManager.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/TestCallQueueManager.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3e519af8d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/TestCallQueueManager.java
@@ -0,0 +1,223 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.hadoop.ipc;
+
+import java.util.concurrent.LinkedBlockingQueue;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNull;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
+
+import org.junit.Assert;
+import org.junit.Assume;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.After;
+
+public class TestCallQueueManager {
+  private CallQueueManager<FakeCall> manager;
+
+  public class FakeCall {
+    public final int tag; // Can be used for unique identification
+
+    public FakeCall(int tag) {
+      this.tag = tag;
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Putter produces FakeCalls
+   */
+  public class Putter implements Runnable {
+    private final CallQueueManager<FakeCall> cq;
+
+    public final int tag;
+    public volatile int callsAdded = 0; // How many calls we added, accurate unless interrupted
+    private final int maxCalls;
+
+    private boolean isRunning = true;
+
+    public Putter(CallQueueManager<FakeCall> aCq, int maxCalls, int tag) {
+      this.maxCalls = maxCalls;
+      this.cq = aCq;
+      this.tag = tag;
+    }
+
+    public void run() {
+      try {
+        // Fill up to max (which is infinite if maxCalls < 0)
+        while (isRunning && (callsAdded < maxCalls || maxCalls < 0)) {
+          cq.put(new FakeCall(this.tag));
+          callsAdded++;
+        }
+      } catch (InterruptedException e) {
+        return;
+      }
+    }
+
+    public void stop() {
+      this.isRunning = false;
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Taker consumes FakeCalls
+   */
+  public class Taker implements Runnable {
+    private final CallQueueManager<FakeCall> cq;
+
+    public final int tag; // if >= 0 means we will only take the matching tag, and put back
+                          // anything else
+    public volatile int callsTaken = 0; // total calls taken, accurate if we aren't interrupted
+    public volatile FakeCall lastResult = null; // the last thing we took
+    private final int maxCalls; // maximum calls to take
+
+    public Taker(CallQueueManager<FakeCall> aCq, int maxCalls, int tag) {
+      this.maxCalls = maxCalls;
+      this.cq = aCq;
+      this.tag = tag;
+    }
+
+    public void run() {
+      try {
+        // Take while we don't exceed maxCalls, or if maxCalls is undefined (< 0)
+        while (callsTaken < maxCalls || maxCalls < 0) {
+          FakeCall res = cq.take();
+
+          if (tag >= 0 && res.tag != this.tag) {
+            // This call does not match our tag, we should put it back and try again
+            cq.put(res);
+          } else {
+            callsTaken++;
+            lastResult = res;
+          }
+        }
+      } catch (InterruptedException e) {
+        return;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  // Assert we can take exactly the numberOfTakes
+  public void assertCanTake(CallQueueManager<FakeCall> cq, int numberOfTakes,
+    int takeAttempts) throws InterruptedException {
+
+    Taker taker = new Taker(cq, takeAttempts, -1);
+    Thread t = new Thread(taker);
+    t.start();
+    t.join(100);
+
+    assertEquals(taker.callsTaken, numberOfTakes);
+    t.interrupt();
+  }
+
+  // Assert we can put exactly the numberOfPuts
+  public void assertCanPut(CallQueueManager<FakeCall> cq, int numberOfPuts,
+    int putAttempts) throws InterruptedException {
+
+    Putter putter = new Putter(cq, putAttempts, -1);
+    Thread t = new Thread(putter);
+    t.start();
+    t.join(100);
+
+    assertEquals(putter.callsAdded, numberOfPuts);
+    t.interrupt();
+  }
+
+
+  @Test
+  public void testCallQueueCapacity() throws InterruptedException {
+    manager = new CallQueueManager<FakeCall>(LinkedBlockingQueue.class, 10, "", null);
+
+    assertCanPut(manager, 10, 20); // Will stop at 10 due to capacity
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testEmptyConsume() throws InterruptedException {
+    manager = new CallQueueManager<FakeCall>(LinkedBlockingQueue.class, 10, "", null);
+
+    assertCanTake(manager, 0, 1); // Fails since it's empty
+  }
+
+  @Test(timeout=60000)
+  public void testSwapUnderContention() throws InterruptedException {
+    manager = new CallQueueManager<FakeCall>(LinkedBlockingQueue.class, 5000, "", null);
+
+    ArrayList<Putter> producers = new ArrayList<Putter>();
+    ArrayList<Taker> consumers = new ArrayList<Taker>();
+
+    HashMap<Runnable, Thread> threads = new HashMap<Runnable, Thread>();
+
+    // Create putters and takers
+    for (int i=0; i < 50; i++) {
+      Putter p = new Putter(manager, -1, -1);
+      Thread pt = new Thread(p);
+      producers.add(p);
+      threads.put(p, pt);
+
+      pt.start();
+    }
+
+    for (int i=0; i < 20; i++) {
+      Taker t = new Taker(manager, -1, -1);
+      Thread tt = new Thread(t);
+      consumers.add(t);
+      threads.put(t, tt);
+
+      tt.start();
+    }
+
+    Thread.sleep(10);
+
+    assertTrue(manager.size() > 0);
+
+    for (int i=0; i < 5; i++) {
+      manager.swapQueue(LinkedBlockingQueue.class, 5000, "", null);
+    }
+
+    // Stop the producers
+    for (Putter p : producers) {
+      p.stop();
+    }
+
+    // Wait for consumers to wake up, then consume
+    Thread.sleep(2000);
+    assertEquals(0, manager.size());
+
+    // Ensure no calls were dropped
+    long totalCallsCreated = 0;
+    long totalCallsConsumed = 0;
+
+    for (Putter p : producers) {
+      totalCallsCreated += p.callsAdded;
+      threads.get(p).interrupt();
+    }
+    for (Taker t : consumers) {
+      totalCallsConsumed += t.callsTaken;
+      threads.get(t).interrupt();
+    }
+
+    assertEquals(totalCallsConsumed, totalCallsCreated);
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file