diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
index 632c88810ae..7c47126fcf8 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -599,6 +599,9 @@ Release 2.8.0 - UNRELEASED
     YARN-4358. Reservation System: Improve relationship between SharingPolicy
     and ReservationAgent. (Carlo Curino via asuresh)
 
+    YARN-3456. Improve handling of incomplete TimelineEntities. (Varun Saxena 
+    via rohithsharmaks)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
     YARN-3339. TestDockerContainerExecutor should pull a single image and not
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/client/api/impl/TimelineClientImpl.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/client/api/impl/TimelineClientImpl.java
index 04c84ca5f73..019c7a5a119 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/client/api/impl/TimelineClientImpl.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/client/api/impl/TimelineClientImpl.java
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@
 import java.net.URLConnection;
 import java.security.GeneralSecurityException;
 import java.security.PrivilegedExceptionAction;
-import java.util.Arrays;
 
 import javax.net.ssl.HostnameVerifier;
 import javax.net.ssl.HttpsURLConnection;
@@ -301,7 +300,12 @@ protected void serviceInit(Configuration conf) throws Exception {
   public TimelinePutResponse putEntities(
       TimelineEntity... entities) throws IOException, YarnException {
     TimelineEntities entitiesContainer = new TimelineEntities();
-    entitiesContainer.addEntities(Arrays.asList(entities));
+    for (TimelineEntity entity : entities) {
+      if (entity.getEntityId() == null || entity.getEntityType() == null) {
+        throw new YarnException("Incomplete entity without entity id/type");
+      }
+      entitiesContainer.addEntity(entity);
+    }
     ClientResponse resp = doPosting(entitiesContainer, null);
     return resp.getEntity(TimelinePutResponse.class);
   }
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/client/api/impl/TestTimelineClient.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/client/api/impl/TestTimelineClient.java
index 859a6c9e222..4c74c618ac1 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/client/api/impl/TestTimelineClient.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/client/api/impl/TestTimelineClient.java
@@ -95,6 +95,15 @@ public void testPostEntitiesWithError() throws Exception {
     }
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testPostIncompleteEntities() throws Exception {
+    try {
+      client.putEntities(new TimelineEntity());
+      Assert.fail("Exception should have been thrown");
+    } catch (YarnException e) {
+    }
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void testPostEntitiesNoResponse() throws Exception {
     mockEntityClientResponse(
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-applicationhistoryservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timeline/TimelineDataManager.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-applicationhistoryservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timeline/TimelineDataManager.java
index 459fd4e75ce..23ff8e4ddac 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-applicationhistoryservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timeline/TimelineDataManager.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-applicationhistoryservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timeline/TimelineDataManager.java
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.exceptions.YarnException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timeline.TimelineReader.Field;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timeline.security.TimelineACLsManager;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.webapp.BadRequestException;
 
 import com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
 
@@ -338,7 +339,10 @@ private TimelinePutResponse doPostEntities(
           entity.getDomainId().length() == 0) {
         entity.setDomainId(DEFAULT_DOMAIN_ID);
       }
-
+      if (entity.getEntityId() == null || entity.getEntityType() == null) {
+        throw new BadRequestException("Incomplete entity without entity"
+            + " id/type");
+      }
       // check if there is existing entity
       TimelineEntity existingEntity = null;
       try {
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-applicationhistoryservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timeline/webapp/TimelineWebServices.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-applicationhistoryservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timeline/webapp/TimelineWebServices.java
index 90f4d396135..eb47ef241e1 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-applicationhistoryservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timeline/webapp/TimelineWebServices.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-applicationhistoryservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timeline/webapp/TimelineWebServices.java
@@ -229,6 +229,8 @@ public TimelinePutResponse postEntities(
     }
     try {
       return timelineDataManager.postEntities(entities, callerUGI);
+    } catch (BadRequestException bre) {
+      throw bre;
     } catch (Exception e) {
       LOG.error("Error putting entities", e);
       throw new WebApplicationException(e,
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-applicationhistoryservice/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timeline/webapp/TestTimelineWebServices.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-applicationhistoryservice/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timeline/webapp/TestTimelineWebServices.java
index ab7cffd878d..74466a89b01 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-applicationhistoryservice/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timeline/webapp/TestTimelineWebServices.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-applicationhistoryservice/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timeline/webapp/TestTimelineWebServices.java
@@ -502,6 +502,27 @@ public void testPostEntities() throws Exception {
     Assert.assertEquals("test type 1", entity.getEntityType());
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testPostIncompleteEntities() throws Exception {
+    TimelineEntities entities = new TimelineEntities();
+    TimelineEntity entity1 = new TimelineEntity();
+    entity1.setEntityId("test id 1");
+    entity1.setEntityType("test type 1");
+    entity1.setStartTime(System.currentTimeMillis());
+    entity1.setDomainId("domain_id_1");
+    entities.addEntity(entity1);
+    // Add an entity with no id or type.
+    entities.addEntity(new TimelineEntity());
+    WebResource r = resource();
+    // One of the entities has no id or type. HTTP 400 will be returned
+    ClientResponse response = r.path("ws").path("v1").path("timeline")
+        .queryParam("user.name", "tester").accept(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
+         .type(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON).post(ClientResponse.class, entities);
+    assertEquals(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_TYPE, response.getType());
+    assertEquals(ClientResponse.Status.BAD_REQUEST,
+        response.getClientResponseStatus());
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void testPostEntitiesWithYarnACLsEnabled() throws Exception {
     AdminACLsManager oldAdminACLsManager =