diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSConfigKeys.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSConfigKeys.java
index 962b0dce83..9e1333f952 100755
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSConfigKeys.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSConfigKeys.java
@@ -1404,6 +1404,10 @@ public class DFSConfigKeys extends CommonConfigurationKeys {
       "dfs.journalnode.edits.dir.perm";
   public static final String DFS_JOURNAL_EDITS_DIR_PERMISSION_DEFAULT =
       "700";
+  public static final String  DFS_JOURNALNODE_HANDLER_COUNT_KEY =
+      "dfs.journalnode.handler.count";
+  public static final int     DFS_JOURNALNODE_HANDLER_COUNT_DEFAULT = 5;
+
 
   public static final String  DFS_JOURNALNODE_HTTP_ADDRESS_KEY = "dfs.journalnode.http-address";
   public static final int     DFS_JOURNALNODE_HTTP_PORT_DEFAULT = 8480;
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/qjournal/server/JournalNodeRpcServer.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/qjournal/server/JournalNodeRpcServer.java
index 46820d3866..ad67cf481a 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/qjournal/server/JournalNodeRpcServer.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/qjournal/server/JournalNodeRpcServer.java
@@ -55,6 +55,8 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
 import java.net.URL;
 
+import static org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSConfigKeys.DFS_JOURNALNODE_HANDLER_COUNT_DEFAULT;
+import static org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSConfigKeys.DFS_JOURNALNODE_HANDLER_COUNT_KEY;
 import static org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSConfigKeys.DFS_JOURNALNODE_RPC_BIND_HOST_KEY;
 
 
@@ -63,9 +65,9 @@ import static org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSConfigKeys.DFS_JOURNALNODE_RPC_BIND_HOST
 public class JournalNodeRpcServer implements QJournalProtocol,
     InterQJournalProtocol {
   private static final Logger LOG = JournalNode.LOG;
-  private static final int HANDLER_COUNT = 5;
   private final JournalNode jn;
   private Server server;
+  private final int handlerCount;
 
   JournalNodeRpcServer(Configuration conf, JournalNode jn) throws IOException {
     this.jn = jn;
@@ -90,13 +92,25 @@ public class JournalNodeRpcServer implements QJournalProtocol,
         new QJournalProtocolServerSideTranslatorPB(this);
     BlockingService service = QJournalProtocolService
         .newReflectiveBlockingService(translator);
+    int confHandlerCount = conf.getInt(DFS_JOURNALNODE_HANDLER_COUNT_KEY,
+        DFS_JOURNALNODE_HANDLER_COUNT_DEFAULT);
+    if (confHandlerCount <= 0) {
+      LOG.warn("Invalid value for: {} = {}, Should be > 0,"
+              + " will use default value of: {}.",
+          DFS_JOURNALNODE_HANDLER_COUNT_KEY, confHandlerCount,
+          DFS_JOURNALNODE_HANDLER_COUNT_DEFAULT);
+      confHandlerCount = DFS_JOURNALNODE_HANDLER_COUNT_DEFAULT;
+    }
+    this.handlerCount = confHandlerCount;
+    LOG.info("The number of JournalNodeRpcServer handlers is {}.",
+        this.handlerCount);
     
     this.server = new RPC.Builder(confCopy)
         .setProtocol(QJournalProtocolPB.class)
         .setInstance(service)
         .setBindAddress(bindHost)
         .setPort(addr.getPort())
-        .setNumHandlers(HANDLER_COUNT)
+        .setNumHandlers(this.handlerCount)
         .setVerbose(false)
         .build();
 
@@ -121,6 +135,11 @@ public class JournalNodeRpcServer implements QJournalProtocol,
     this.server.setTracer(jn.tracer);
   }
 
+  @VisibleForTesting
+  protected int getHandlerCount() {
+    return this.handlerCount;
+  }
+
   void start() {
     this.server.start();
   }
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/resources/hdfs-default.xml b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/resources/hdfs-default.xml
index bffde8cf74..ba371a5824 100755
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/resources/hdfs-default.xml
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/resources/hdfs-default.xml
@@ -6253,6 +6253,15 @@
     </description>
   </property>
 
+  <property>
+    <name>dfs.journalnode.handler.count</name>
+    <value>5</value>
+    <description>
+      The number of JournalNode RPC server threads that listen to
+      requests from clients.
+    </description>
+  </property>
+
   <property>
     <name>dfs.namenode.lease-hard-limit-sec</name>
     <value>1200</value>
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/qjournal/server/TestJournalNode.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/qjournal/server/TestJournalNode.java
index a8d4442bdf..064dd9e5dd 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/qjournal/server/TestJournalNode.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/qjournal/server/TestJournalNode.java
@@ -142,6 +142,10 @@ public class TestJournalNode {
           "qjournal://journalnode0:9900;journalnode1:9901/" + journalId);
       conf.set(DFSConfigKeys.DFS_NAMENODE_SHARED_EDITS_DIR_KEY +".ns1" +".nn2",
           "qjournal://journalnode0:9902;journalnode1:9903/" + journalId);
+    } else if (testName.getMethodName().equals("testConfAbnormalHandlerNumber")) {
+      conf.setInt(DFSConfigKeys.DFS_JOURNALNODE_HANDLER_COUNT_KEY, -1);
+    } else if (testName.getMethodName().equals("testConfNormalHandlerNumber")) {
+      conf.setInt(DFSConfigKeys.DFS_JOURNALNODE_HANDLER_COUNT_KEY, 10);
     }
     jn = new JournalNode();
     jn.setConf(conf);
@@ -672,4 +676,26 @@ public class TestJournalNode {
     }
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testConfNormalHandlerNumber() {
+    int confHandlerNumber = jn.getConf().getInt(
+        DFSConfigKeys.DFS_JOURNALNODE_HANDLER_COUNT_KEY,
+        DFSConfigKeys.DFS_JOURNALNODE_HANDLER_COUNT_DEFAULT);
+    assertTrue(confHandlerNumber > 0);
+    int handlerCount = jn.getRpcServer().getHandlerCount();
+    assertEquals(confHandlerNumber, handlerCount);
+    assertEquals(10, handlerCount);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testConfAbnormalHandlerNumber() {
+    int confHandlerCount = jn.getConf().getInt(
+        DFSConfigKeys.DFS_JOURNALNODE_HANDLER_COUNT_KEY,
+        DFSConfigKeys.DFS_JOURNALNODE_HANDLER_COUNT_DEFAULT);
+    assertTrue(confHandlerCount <= 0);
+    int handlerCount = jn.getRpcServer().getHandlerCount();
+    assertEquals(
+        DFSConfigKeys.DFS_JOURNALNODE_HANDLER_COUNT_DEFAULT,
+        handlerCount);
+  }
 }