diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index a031cb0c918..3494779c522 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -91,6 +91,8 @@ Release 0.23-PB - Unreleased
     HDFS-2532. TestDfsOverAvroRpc timing out in trunk (Uma Maheswara Rao G
     via todd)
 
+    HDFS-2694. Removal of Avro broke non-PB NN services. (atm)
+
 Release 0.23.1 - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNodeRpcServer.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNodeRpcServer.java
index bfc9ecb0992..a0e7f51463f 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNodeRpcServer.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNodeRpcServer.java
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.ProtobufRpcEngine;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.ProtocolSignature;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.RPC;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.Server;
+import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.WritableRpcEngine;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.RpcPayloadHeader.RpcKind;
 import org.apache.hadoop.net.Node;
 import org.apache.hadoop.security.AccessControlException;
@@ -162,6 +163,8 @@ class NameNodeRpcServer implements NamenodeProtocols {
 	  BlockingService NNPbService = NamenodeProtocolService
           .newReflectiveBlockingService(namenodeProtocolXlator);
     
+    WritableRpcEngine.ensureInitialized();
+    
     InetSocketAddress dnSocketAddr = nn.getServiceRpcServerAddress(conf);
     if (dnSocketAddr != null) {
       int serviceHandlerCount =