diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
index 1c346ffdaba..05b0f780b5f 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -513,6 +513,9 @@ Release 0.23.5 - UNRELEASED
 
     MAPREDUCE-4786. Job End Notification retry interval is 5 milliseconds by
     default (Ravi Prakash via bobby)
+
+    MAPREDUCE-4517. Too many INFO messages written out during AM to RM heartbeat
+    (Jason Lowe via tgraves)
  
 Release 0.23.4 - UNRELEASED
 
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/app/rm/RMContainerAllocator.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/app/rm/RMContainerAllocator.java
index 1e34365b5dc..96db3f13850 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/app/rm/RMContainerAllocator.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/app/rm/RMContainerAllocator.java
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.NodeId;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.NodeReport;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.NodeState;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.Priority;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.Resource;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.factory.providers.RecordFactoryProvider;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.util.RackResolver;
 
@@ -145,6 +146,8 @@ public class RMContainerAllocator extends RMContainerRequestor
   BlockingQueue<ContainerAllocatorEvent> eventQueue
     = new LinkedBlockingQueue<ContainerAllocatorEvent>();
 
+  private ScheduleStats scheduleStats = new ScheduleStats();
+
   public RMContainerAllocator(ClientService clientService, AppContext context) {
     super(clientService, context);
     this.stopped = new AtomicBoolean(false);
@@ -208,13 +211,10 @@ public class RMContainerAllocator extends RMContainerRequestor
 
   @Override
   protected synchronized void heartbeat() throws Exception {
-    LOG.info("Before Scheduling: " + getStat());
+    scheduleStats.updateAndLogIfChanged("Before Scheduling: ");
     List<Container> allocatedContainers = getResources();
-    LOG.info("After Scheduling: " + getStat());
     if (allocatedContainers.size() > 0) {
-      LOG.info("Before Assign: " + getStat());
       scheduledRequests.assign(allocatedContainers);
-      LOG.info("After Assign: " + getStat());
     }
 
     int completedMaps = getJob().getCompletedMaps();
@@ -235,6 +235,8 @@ public class RMContainerAllocator extends RMContainerRequestor
           maxReduceRampupLimit, reduceSlowStart);
       recalculateReduceSchedule = false;
     }
+
+    scheduleStats.updateAndLogIfChanged("After Scheduling: ");
   }
 
   @Override
@@ -245,7 +247,7 @@ public class RMContainerAllocator extends RMContainerRequestor
     }
     eventHandlingThread.interrupt();
     super.stop();
-    LOG.info("Final Stats: " + getStat());
+    scheduleStats.log("Final Stats: ");
   }
 
   public boolean getIsReduceStarted() {
@@ -427,7 +429,9 @@ public class RMContainerAllocator extends RMContainerRequestor
       return;
     }
     
-    LOG.info("Recalculating schedule...");
+    int headRoom = getAvailableResources() != null ?
+        getAvailableResources().getMemory() : 0;
+    LOG.info("Recalculating schedule, headroom=" + headRoom);
     
     //check for slow start
     if (!getIsReduceStarted()) {//not set yet
@@ -536,24 +540,6 @@ public class RMContainerAllocator extends RMContainerRequestor
     }
   }
   
-  /**
-   * Synchronized to avoid findbugs warnings
-   */
-  private synchronized String getStat() {
-    return "PendingReduces:" + pendingReduces.size() +
-        " ScheduledMaps:" + scheduledRequests.maps.size() +
-        " ScheduledReduces:" + scheduledRequests.reduces.size() +
-        " AssignedMaps:" + assignedRequests.maps.size() + 
-        " AssignedReduces:" + assignedRequests.reduces.size() +
-        " completedMaps:" + getJob().getCompletedMaps() + 
-        " completedReduces:" + getJob().getCompletedReduces() +
-        " containersAllocated:" + containersAllocated +
-        " containersReleased:" + containersReleased +
-        " hostLocalAssigned:" + hostLocalAssigned + 
-        " rackLocalAssigned:" + rackLocalAssigned +
-        " availableResources(headroom):" + getAvailableResources();
-  }
-
   @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
   private List<Container> getResources() throws Exception {
     int headRoom = getAvailableResources() != null ? getAvailableResources().getMemory() : 0;//first time it would be null
@@ -595,6 +581,9 @@ public class RMContainerAllocator extends RMContainerRequestor
     if (newContainers.size() + finishedContainers.size() > 0 || headRoom != newHeadRoom) {
       //something changed
       recalculateReduceSchedule = true;
+      if (LOG.isDebugEnabled() && headRoom != newHeadRoom) {
+        LOG.debug("headroom=" + newHeadRoom);
+      }
     }
 
     if (LOG.isDebugEnabled()) {
@@ -1123,4 +1112,60 @@ public class RMContainerAllocator extends RMContainerRequestor
       }
     }
   }
+
+  private class ScheduleStats {
+    int numPendingReduces;
+    int numScheduledMaps;
+    int numScheduledReduces;
+    int numAssignedMaps;
+    int numAssignedReduces;
+    int numCompletedMaps;
+    int numCompletedReduces;
+    int numContainersAllocated;
+    int numContainersReleased;
+
+    public void updateAndLogIfChanged(String msgPrefix) {
+      boolean changed = false;
+
+      // synchronized to fix findbug warnings
+      synchronized (RMContainerAllocator.this) {
+        changed |= (numPendingReduces != pendingReduces.size());
+        numPendingReduces = pendingReduces.size();
+        changed |= (numScheduledMaps != scheduledRequests.maps.size());
+        numScheduledMaps = scheduledRequests.maps.size();
+        changed |= (numScheduledReduces != scheduledRequests.reduces.size());
+        numScheduledReduces = scheduledRequests.reduces.size();
+        changed |= (numAssignedMaps != assignedRequests.maps.size());
+        numAssignedMaps = assignedRequests.maps.size();
+        changed |= (numAssignedReduces != assignedRequests.reduces.size());
+        numAssignedReduces = assignedRequests.reduces.size();
+        changed |= (numCompletedMaps != getJob().getCompletedMaps());
+        numCompletedMaps = getJob().getCompletedMaps();
+        changed |= (numCompletedReduces != getJob().getCompletedReduces());
+        numCompletedReduces = getJob().getCompletedReduces();
+        changed |= (numContainersAllocated != containersAllocated);
+        numContainersAllocated = containersAllocated;
+        changed |= (numContainersReleased != containersReleased);
+        numContainersReleased = containersReleased;
+      }
+
+      if (changed) {
+        log(msgPrefix);
+      }
+    }
+
+    public void log(String msgPrefix) {
+        LOG.info(msgPrefix + "PendingReds:" + numPendingReduces +
+        " ScheduledMaps:" + numScheduledMaps +
+        " ScheduledReds:" + numScheduledReduces +
+        " AssignedMaps:" + numAssignedMaps +
+        " AssignedReds:" + numAssignedReduces +
+        " CompletedMaps:" + numCompletedMaps +
+        " CompletedReds:" + numCompletedReduces +
+        " ContAlloc:" + numContainersAllocated +
+        " ContRel:" + numContainersReleased +
+        " HostLocal:" + hostLocalAssigned +
+        " RackLocal:" + rackLocalAssigned);
+    }
+  }
 }