diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSImage.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSImage.java
index ccc69349297..86b4150777e 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSImage.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSImage.java
@@ -172,6 +172,7 @@ public class FSImage implements Closeable {
 
     this.editLog = FSEditLog.newInstance(conf, storage, editsDirs);
     archivalManager = new NNStorageRetentionManager(conf, storage, editLog);
+    FSImageFormatProtobuf.initParallelLoad(conf);
   }
  
   void format(FSNamesystem fsn, String clusterId, boolean force)
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSImageFormat.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSImageFormat.java
index dcc60bf5e71..478cec55d0d 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSImageFormat.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSImageFormat.java
@@ -242,6 +242,7 @@ public class FSImageFormat {
    * the layout version.
    */
   public static LoaderDelegator newLoader(Configuration conf, FSNamesystem fsn) {
+
     return new LoaderDelegator(conf, fsn);
   }
 
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSImageFormatProtobuf.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSImageFormatProtobuf.java
index 5c40efc797c..7556727e629 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSImageFormatProtobuf.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSImageFormatProtobuf.java
@@ -88,6 +88,8 @@ public final class FSImageFormatProtobuf {
   private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory
       .getLogger(FSImageFormatProtobuf.class);
 
+  private static volatile boolean enableParallelLoad = false;
+
   public static final class LoaderContext {
     private SerialNumberManager.StringTable stringTable;
     private final ArrayList<INodeReference> refList = Lists.newArrayList();
@@ -582,9 +584,7 @@ public final class FSImageFormatProtobuf {
   }
 
   private static boolean enableParallelSaveAndLoad(Configuration conf) {
-    boolean loadInParallel =
-        conf.getBoolean(DFSConfigKeys.DFS_IMAGE_PARALLEL_LOAD_KEY,
-            DFSConfigKeys.DFS_IMAGE_PARALLEL_LOAD_DEFAULT);
+    boolean loadInParallel = enableParallelLoad;
     boolean compressionEnabled = conf.getBoolean(
         DFSConfigKeys.DFS_IMAGE_COMPRESS_KEY,
         DFSConfigKeys.DFS_IMAGE_COMPRESS_DEFAULT);
@@ -600,6 +600,20 @@ public final class FSImageFormatProtobuf {
     return loadInParallel;
   }
 
+  public static void initParallelLoad(Configuration conf) {
+    enableParallelLoad =
+        conf.getBoolean(DFSConfigKeys.DFS_IMAGE_PARALLEL_LOAD_KEY,
+            DFSConfigKeys.DFS_IMAGE_PARALLEL_LOAD_DEFAULT);
+  }
+
+  public static void refreshParallelSaveAndLoad(boolean enable) {
+    enableParallelLoad = enable;
+  }
+
+  public static boolean getEnableParallelLoad() {
+    return enableParallelLoad;
+  }
+
   public static final class Saver {
     public static final int CHECK_CANCEL_INTERVAL = 4096;
     private boolean writeSubSections = false;
@@ -640,10 +654,6 @@ public final class FSImageFormatProtobuf {
       return inodesPerSubSection;
     }
 
-    public boolean shouldWriteSubSections() {
-      return writeSubSections;
-    }
-
     /**
      * Commit the length and offset of a fsimage section to the summary index,
      * including the sub section, which will be committed before the section is
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 3225bab32a0..54671ea6cf4 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
@@ -123,6 +123,8 @@ import static org.apache.hadoop.fs.CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.FS_TRASH_INTERV
 import static org.apache.hadoop.fs.CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.FS_TRASH_INTERVAL_KEY;
 import static org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSConfigKeys.DFS_HA_NN_NOT_BECOME_ACTIVE_IN_SAFEMODE;
 import static org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSConfigKeys.DFS_HA_NN_NOT_BECOME_ACTIVE_IN_SAFEMODE_DEFAULT;
+import static org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSConfigKeys.DFS_IMAGE_PARALLEL_LOAD_DEFAULT;
+import static org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSConfigKeys.DFS_IMAGE_PARALLEL_LOAD_KEY;
 import static org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.client.HdfsClientConfigKeys.DFS_NAMENODE_RPC_PORT_DEFAULT;
 import static org.apache.hadoop.fs.CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.HADOOP_CALLER_CONTEXT_ENABLED_KEY;
 import static org.apache.hadoop.fs.CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.HADOOP_CALLER_CONTEXT_ENABLED_DEFAULT;
@@ -325,7 +327,8 @@ public class NameNode extends ReconfigurableBase implements
           DFS_NAMENODE_REPLICATION_STREAMS_HARD_LIMIT_KEY,
           DFS_NAMENODE_REPLICATION_WORK_MULTIPLIER_PER_ITERATION,
           DFS_BLOCK_REPLICATOR_CLASSNAME_KEY,
-          DFS_BLOCK_PLACEMENT_EC_CLASSNAME_KEY));
+          DFS_BLOCK_PLACEMENT_EC_CLASSNAME_KEY,
+          DFS_IMAGE_PARALLEL_LOAD_KEY));
 
   private static final String USAGE = "Usage: hdfs namenode ["
       + StartupOption.BACKUP.getName() + "] | \n\t["
@@ -2184,6 +2187,8 @@ public class NameNode extends ReconfigurableBase implements
         .equals(DFS_BLOCK_PLACEMENT_EC_CLASSNAME_KEY)) {
       reconfBlockPlacementPolicy();
       return newVal;
+    } else if (property.equals(DFS_IMAGE_PARALLEL_LOAD_KEY)) {
+      return reconfigureParallelLoad(newVal);
     } else {
       throw new ReconfigurationException(property, newVal, getConf().get(
           property));
@@ -2359,6 +2364,17 @@ public class NameNode extends ReconfigurableBase implements
     return newVal;
   }
 
+  String reconfigureParallelLoad(String newVal) {
+    boolean enableParallelLoad;
+    if (newVal == null) {
+      enableParallelLoad = DFS_IMAGE_PARALLEL_LOAD_DEFAULT;
+    } else {
+      enableParallelLoad = Boolean.parseBoolean(newVal);
+    }
+    FSImageFormatProtobuf.refreshParallelSaveAndLoad(enableParallelLoad);
+    return Boolean.toString(enableParallelLoad);
+  }
+
   @Override  // ReconfigurableBase
   protected Configuration getNewConf() {
     return new HdfsConfiguration();
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestNameNodeReconfigure.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestNameNodeReconfigure.java
index 3265bed80c1..ada7c82150a 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestNameNodeReconfigure.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestNameNodeReconfigure.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.After;
 
+import static org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSConfigKeys.DFS_IMAGE_PARALLEL_LOAD_KEY;
 import static org.junit.Assert.*;
 
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
@@ -378,6 +379,21 @@ public class TestNameNodeReconfigure {
         datanodeManager.getBlockInvalidateLimit());
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testEnableParallelLoadAfterReconfigured()
+      throws ReconfigurationException {
+    final NameNode nameNode = cluster.getNameNode();
+
+    // By default, enableParallelLoad is false
+    assertEquals(false, FSImageFormatProtobuf.getEnableParallelLoad());
+
+    nameNode.reconfigureProperty(DFS_IMAGE_PARALLEL_LOAD_KEY,
+        Boolean.toString(true));
+
+    // After reconfigured, enableParallelLoad is true
+    assertEquals(true, FSImageFormatProtobuf.getEnableParallelLoad());
+  }
+
   @After
   public void shutDown() throws IOException {
     if (cluster != null) {
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/TestDFSAdmin.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/TestDFSAdmin.java
index 278db064fdd..736d66f2f4a 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/TestDFSAdmin.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/TestDFSAdmin.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import static org.apache.hadoop.fs.CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.IPC_CLIENT_CONN
 import static org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSConfigKeys.DFS_DATANODE_DATA_DIR_KEY;
 import static org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSConfigKeys.DFS_HEARTBEAT_INTERVAL_DEFAULT;
 import static org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSConfigKeys.DFS_HEARTBEAT_INTERVAL_KEY;
+import static org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSConfigKeys.DFS_IMAGE_PARALLEL_LOAD_KEY;
 import static org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSConfigKeys.DFS_NAMENODE_HEARTBEAT_RECHECK_INTERVAL_KEY;
 import static org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSConfigKeys.DFS_BLOCK_PLACEMENT_EC_CLASSNAME_KEY;
 import static org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSConfigKeys.DFS_BLOCK_REPLICATOR_CLASSNAME_KEY;
@@ -429,11 +430,12 @@ public class TestDFSAdmin {
     final List<String> outs = Lists.newArrayList();
     final List<String> errs = Lists.newArrayList();
     getReconfigurableProperties("namenode", address, outs, errs);
-    assertEquals(12, outs.size());
+    assertEquals(13, outs.size());
     assertEquals(DFS_BLOCK_PLACEMENT_EC_CLASSNAME_KEY, outs.get(1));
     assertEquals(DFS_BLOCK_REPLICATOR_CLASSNAME_KEY, outs.get(2));
     assertEquals(DFS_HEARTBEAT_INTERVAL_KEY, outs.get(3));
-    assertEquals(DFS_NAMENODE_HEARTBEAT_RECHECK_INTERVAL_KEY, outs.get(4));
+    assertEquals(DFS_IMAGE_PARALLEL_LOAD_KEY, outs.get(4));
+    assertEquals(DFS_NAMENODE_HEARTBEAT_RECHECK_INTERVAL_KEY, outs.get(5));
     assertEquals(errs.size(), 0);
   }