diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index 99d5c01cb4..77832433c1 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -518,6 +518,9 @@ Release 2.6.0 - UNRELEASED
 
     HDFS-6690. Deduplicate xattr names in memory. (wang)
 
+    HDFS-6773. MiniDFSCluster should skip edit log fsync by default (Stephen
+    Chu via Colin Patrick McCabe)
+
   BUG FIXES
 
     HDFS-6823. dfs.web.authentication.kerberos.principal shows up in logs for 
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/MiniDFSCluster.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/MiniDFSCluster.java
index 98ca316004..0e49cfec05 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/MiniDFSCluster.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/MiniDFSCluster.java
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.datanode.fsdataset.FsVolumeSpi;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.datanode.fsdataset.impl.FsDatasetUtil;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.datanode.fsdataset.impl.FsVolumeImpl;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.EditLogFileOutputStream;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.FSNamesystem;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.NameNode;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.NameNodeAdapter;
@@ -172,6 +173,7 @@ public static class Builder {
     private boolean checkDataNodeAddrConfig = false;
     private boolean checkDataNodeHostConfig = false;
     private Configuration[] dnConfOverlays;
+    private boolean skipFsyncForTesting = true;
     
     public Builder(Configuration conf) {
       this.conf = conf;
@@ -405,6 +407,15 @@ public Builder dataNodeConfOverlays(Configuration[] dnConfOverlays) {
       this.dnConfOverlays = dnConfOverlays;
       return this;
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Default: true
+     * When true, we skip fsync() calls for speed improvements.
+     */
+    public Builder skipFsyncForTesting(boolean val) {
+      this.skipFsyncForTesting = val;
+      return this;
+    }
     
     /**
      * Construct the actual MiniDFSCluster
@@ -472,7 +483,8 @@ protected MiniDFSCluster(Builder builder) throws IOException {
                        builder.checkExitOnShutdown,
                        builder.checkDataNodeAddrConfig,
                        builder.checkDataNodeHostConfig,
-                       builder.dnConfOverlays);
+                       builder.dnConfOverlays,
+                       builder.skipFsyncForTesting);
   }
   
   public class DataNodeProperties {
@@ -727,7 +739,8 @@ public MiniDFSCluster(int nameNodePort,
                        manageNameDfsDirs, true, manageDataDfsDirs, manageDataDfsDirs,
                        operation, null, racks, hosts,
                        null, simulatedCapacities, null, true, false,
-                       MiniDFSNNTopology.simpleSingleNN(nameNodePort, 0), true, false, false, null);
+                       MiniDFSNNTopology.simpleSingleNN(nameNodePort, 0),
+                       true, false, false, null, true);
   }
 
   private void initMiniDFSCluster(
@@ -742,7 +755,8 @@ private void initMiniDFSCluster(
       MiniDFSNNTopology nnTopology, boolean checkExitOnShutdown,
       boolean checkDataNodeAddrConfig,
       boolean checkDataNodeHostConfig,
-      Configuration[] dnConfOverlays)
+      Configuration[] dnConfOverlays,
+      boolean skipFsyncForTesting)
   throws IOException {
     boolean success = false;
     try {
@@ -782,6 +796,8 @@ private void initMiniDFSCluster(
             + "Standby node since no IPC ports have been specified.");
         conf.setInt(DFS_HA_LOGROLL_PERIOD_KEY, -1);
       }
+
+      EditLogFileOutputStream.setShouldSkipFsyncForTesting(skipFsyncForTesting);
     
       federation = nnTopology.isFederated();
       try {
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/TestFsDatasetCache.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/TestFsDatasetCache.java
index 5ac13eec27..d6e70d8003 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/TestFsDatasetCache.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/TestFsDatasetCache.java
@@ -108,7 +108,6 @@ public class TestFsDatasetCache {
   private static CacheManipulator prevCacheManipulator;
 
   static {
-    EditLogFileOutputStream.setShouldSkipFsyncForTesting(false);
     LogManager.getLogger(FsDatasetCache.class).setLevel(Level.DEBUG);
   }
 
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestCacheDirectives.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestCacheDirectives.java
index d54b90e663..93076928f3 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestCacheDirectives.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestCacheDirectives.java
@@ -110,7 +110,6 @@ public class TestCacheDirectives {
 
   static {
     NativeIO.POSIX.setCacheManipulator(new NoMlockCacheManipulator());
-    EditLogFileOutputStream.setShouldSkipFsyncForTesting(false);
   }
 
   private static final long BLOCK_SIZE = 4096;