diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.HDFS-1623.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.HDFS-1623.txt
index 4cc37a3d1c3..523c3c81684 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.HDFS-1623.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.HDFS-1623.txt
@@ -196,3 +196,5 @@ HDFS-2912. Namenode not shutting down when shared edits dir is inaccessible. (Bi
 HDFS-2917. HA: haadmin should not work if run by regular user (eli)
 
 HDFS-2939. TestHAStateTransitions fails on Windows. (Uma Maheswara Rao G via atm)
+
+HDFS-2947. On startup NN throws an NPE in the metrics system. (atm)
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNode.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNode.java
index eb7f4616909..2e7292229cf 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNode.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNode.java
@@ -534,16 +534,16 @@ public class NameNode {
     String nsId = getNameServiceId(conf);
     String namenodeId = HAUtil.getNameNodeId(conf, nsId);
     this.haEnabled = HAUtil.isHAEnabled(conf, nsId);
+    if (!haEnabled) {
+      state = ACTIVE_STATE;
+    } else {
+      state = STANDBY_STATE;;
+    }
     this.allowStaleStandbyReads = HAUtil.shouldAllowStandbyReads(conf);
     this.haContext = createHAContext();
     try {
       initializeGenericKeys(conf, nsId, namenodeId);
       initialize(conf);
-      if (!haEnabled) {
-        state = ACTIVE_STATE;
-      } else {
-        state = STANDBY_STATE;;
-      }
       state.prepareToEnterState(haContext);
       state.enterState(haContext);
     } catch (IOException e) {