diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
index d81fc50246..b9db11cf17 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -212,6 +212,9 @@ Release 2.2.1 - UNRELEASED
     MAPREDUCE-5457. Add a KeyOnlyTextOutputReader to enable streaming to write
     out text files without separators (Sandy Ryza)
 
+    MAPREDUCE-5596. Allow configuring the number of threads used to serve
+    shuffle connections (Sandy Ryza via jlowe)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
     MAPREDUCE-4680. Job history cleaner should only check timestamps of files in
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/resources/mapred-default.xml b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/resources/mapred-default.xml
index 598d106ce9..29facecb6b 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/resources/mapred-default.xml
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/resources/mapred-default.xml
@@ -304,6 +304,16 @@
   </description>
 </property>
 
+<property>
+  <name>mapreduce.shuffle.max.threads</name>
+  <value>0</value>
+  <description>Max allowed threads for serving shuffle connections. Set to zero
+  to indicate the default of 2 times the number of available
+  processors (as reported by Runtime.availableProcessors()). Netty is used to
+  serve requests, so a thread is not needed for each connection.
+  </description>
+</property>
+
 <property>
   <name>mapreduce.reduce.markreset.buffer.percent</name>
   <value>0.0</value>
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 82fd59e551..9f377e23ac 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
@@ -163,6 +163,10 @@ public class ShuffleHandler extends AuxiliaryService {
 
   public static final String MAX_SHUFFLE_CONNECTIONS = "mapreduce.shuffle.max.connections";
   public static final int DEFAULT_MAX_SHUFFLE_CONNECTIONS = 0; // 0 implies no limit
+  
+  public static final String MAX_SHUFFLE_THREADS = "mapreduce.shuffle.max.threads";
+  // 0 implies Netty default of 2 * number of available processors
+  public static final int DEFAULT_MAX_SHUFFLE_THREADS = 0;
 
   @Metrics(about="Shuffle output metrics", context="mapred")
   static class ShuffleMetrics implements ChannelFutureListener {
@@ -282,6 +286,11 @@ protected void serviceInit(Configuration conf) throws Exception {
     
     maxShuffleConnections = conf.getInt(MAX_SHUFFLE_CONNECTIONS, 
                                         DEFAULT_MAX_SHUFFLE_CONNECTIONS);
+    int maxShuffleThreads = conf.getInt(MAX_SHUFFLE_THREADS,
+                                        DEFAULT_MAX_SHUFFLE_THREADS);
+    if (maxShuffleThreads == 0) {
+      maxShuffleThreads = 2 * Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors();
+    }
 
     ThreadFactory bossFactory = new ThreadFactoryBuilder()
       .setNameFormat("ShuffleHandler Netty Boss #%d")
@@ -292,7 +301,8 @@ protected void serviceInit(Configuration conf) throws Exception {
     
     selector = new NioServerSocketChannelFactory(
         Executors.newCachedThreadPool(bossFactory),
-        Executors.newCachedThreadPool(workerFactory));
+        Executors.newCachedThreadPool(workerFactory),
+        maxShuffleThreads);
     super.serviceInit(new Configuration(conf));
   }