diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
index 779bfa98a4b..efbbdb2231f 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -73,6 +73,9 @@ Release 2.5.0 - UNRELEASED
     YARN-1982. Renamed the daemon name to be TimelineServer instead of History
     Server and deprecated the old usage. (Zhijie Shen via vinodkv)
 
+    YARN-1987. Wrapper for leveldb DBIterator to aid in handling database exceptions.
+    (Jason Lowe via kasha)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
   BUG FIXES 
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-common/pom.xml b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-common/pom.xml
index 26fc908f32d..acf330fd1d8 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-common/pom.xml
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-common/pom.xml
@@ -85,6 +85,10 @@
       <groupId>org.apache.zookeeper</groupId>
       <artifactId>zookeeper</artifactId>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.fusesource.leveldbjni</groupId>
+      <artifactId>leveldbjni-all</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
   </dependencies>
 
   <build>
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/utils/LeveldbIterator.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/utils/LeveldbIterator.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f33cb5f1d89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/utils/LeveldbIterator.java
@@ -0,0 +1,210 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.utils;
+
+import java.io.Closeable;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Iterator;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience.Public;
+import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceStability.Evolving;
+import org.iq80.leveldb.DB;
+import org.iq80.leveldb.DBException;
+import org.iq80.leveldb.DBIterator;
+import org.iq80.leveldb.ReadOptions;
+
+/**
+ * A wrapper for a DBIterator to translate the raw RuntimeExceptions that
+ * can be thrown into DBExceptions.
+ */
+@Public
+@Evolving
+public class LeveldbIterator implements Iterator<Map.Entry<byte[], byte[]>>,
+                                        Closeable {
+  private DBIterator iter;
+
+  /**
+   * Create an iterator for the specified database
+   */
+  public LeveldbIterator(DB db) {
+    iter = db.iterator();
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Create an iterator for the specified database
+   */
+  public LeveldbIterator(DB db, ReadOptions options) {
+    iter = db.iterator(options);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Create an iterator using the specified underlying DBIterator
+   */
+  public LeveldbIterator(DBIterator iter) {
+    this.iter = iter;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Repositions the iterator so the key of the next BlockElement
+   * returned greater than or equal to the specified targetKey.
+   */
+  public void seek(byte[] key) throws DBException {
+    try {
+      iter.seek(key);
+    } catch (DBException e) {
+      throw e;
+    } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+      throw new DBException(e.getMessage(), e);
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Repositions the iterator so is is at the beginning of the Database.
+   */
+  public void seekToFirst() throws DBException {
+    try {
+      iter.seekToFirst();
+    } catch (DBException e) {
+      throw e;
+    } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+      throw new DBException(e.getMessage(), e);
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Repositions the iterator so it is at the end of of the Database.
+   */
+  public void seekToLast() throws DBException {
+    try {
+      iter.seekToLast();
+    } catch (DBException e) {
+      throw e;
+    } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+      throw new DBException(e.getMessage(), e);
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns <tt>true</tt> if the iteration has more elements.
+   */
+  public boolean hasNext() throws DBException {
+    try {
+      return iter.hasNext();
+    } catch (DBException e) {
+      throw e;
+    } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+      throw new DBException(e.getMessage(), e);
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns the next element in the iteration.
+   */
+  @Override
+  public Map.Entry<byte[], byte[]> next() throws DBException {
+    try {
+      return iter.next();
+    } catch (DBException e) {
+      throw e;
+    } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+      throw new DBException(e.getMessage(), e);
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns the next element in the iteration, without advancing the
+   * iteration.
+   */
+  public Map.Entry<byte[], byte[]> peekNext() throws DBException {
+    try {
+      return iter.peekNext();
+    } catch (DBException e) {
+      throw e;
+    } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+      throw new DBException(e.getMessage(), e);
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * @return true if there is a previous entry in the iteration.
+   */
+  public boolean hasPrev() throws DBException {
+    try {
+      return iter.hasPrev();
+    } catch (DBException e) {
+      throw e;
+    } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+      throw new DBException(e.getMessage(), e);
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * @return the previous element in the iteration and rewinds the iteration.
+   */
+  public Map.Entry<byte[], byte[]> prev() throws DBException {
+    try {
+      return iter.prev();
+    } catch (DBException e) {
+      throw e;
+    } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+      throw new DBException(e.getMessage(), e);
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * @return the previous element in the iteration, without rewinding the
+   * iteration.
+   */
+  public Map.Entry<byte[], byte[]> peekPrev() throws DBException {
+    try {
+      return iter.peekPrev();
+    } catch (DBException e) {
+      throw e;
+    } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+      throw new DBException(e.getMessage(), e);
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Removes from the database the last element returned by the iterator.
+   */
+  @Override
+  public void remove() throws DBException {
+    try {
+      iter.remove();
+    } catch (DBException e) {
+      throw e;
+    } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+      throw new DBException(e.getMessage(), e);
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Closes the iterator.
+   */
+  @Override
+  public void close() throws IOException {
+    try {
+      iter.close();
+    } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+      throw new IOException(e.getMessage(), e);
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/utils/TestLeveldbIterator.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/utils/TestLeveldbIterator.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..12e646deb4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/utils/TestLeveldbIterator.java
@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.utils;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.lang.reflect.InvocationHandler;
+import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
+import java.lang.reflect.Method;
+import java.lang.reflect.Proxy;
+
+import org.iq80.leveldb.DBException;
+import org.iq80.leveldb.DBIterator;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+public class TestLeveldbIterator {
+  private static class CallInfo {
+    String methodName;
+    Object[] args;
+    Class<?>[] argTypes;
+
+    public CallInfo(String methodName, Object... args) {
+      this.methodName = methodName;
+      this.args = args;
+      argTypes = new Class[args.length];
+      for (int i = 0; i < args.length; ++i) {
+        argTypes[i] = args[i].getClass();
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  // array of methods that should throw DBException instead of raw
+  // runtime exceptions
+  private static CallInfo[] RTEXC_METHODS = new CallInfo[] {
+    new CallInfo("seek", new byte[0]),
+    new CallInfo("seekToFirst"),
+    new CallInfo("seekToLast"),
+    new CallInfo("hasNext"),
+    new CallInfo("next"),
+    new CallInfo("peekNext"),
+    new CallInfo("hasPrev"),
+    new CallInfo("prev"),
+    new CallInfo("peekPrev"),
+    new CallInfo("remove")
+  };
+
+  @Test
+  public void testExceptionHandling() throws Exception {
+    InvocationHandler rtExcHandler = new InvocationHandler() {
+      @Override
+      public Object invoke(Object proxy, Method method, Object[] args)
+          throws Throwable {
+        throw new RuntimeException("forced runtime error");
+      }
+    };
+    DBIterator dbiter = (DBIterator) Proxy.newProxyInstance(
+        DBIterator.class.getClassLoader(), new Class[] { DBIterator.class },
+        rtExcHandler);
+    LeveldbIterator iter = new LeveldbIterator(dbiter);
+    for (CallInfo ci : RTEXC_METHODS) {
+      Method method = iter.getClass().getMethod(ci.methodName, ci.argTypes);
+      assertNotNull("unable to locate method " + ci.methodName, method);
+      try {
+        method.invoke(iter, ci.args);
+        fail("operation should have thrown");
+      } catch (InvocationTargetException ite) {
+        Throwable exc = ite.getTargetException();
+        assertTrue("Method " + ci.methodName + " threw non-DBException: "
+            + exc, exc instanceof DBException);
+        assertFalse("Method " + ci.methodName + " double-wrapped DBException",
+            exc.getCause() instanceof DBException);
+      }
+    }
+
+    // check close() throws IOException
+    try {
+      iter.close();
+      fail("operation shoul have thrown");
+    } catch (IOException e) {
+      // expected
+    }
+  }
+}