diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index a4a35538baf..6c2404d5413 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -2073,6 +2073,9 @@ Release 0.23.7 - UNRELEASED
 
     HDFS-4288. NN accepts incremental BR as IBR in safemode (daryn via kihwal)
 
+    HDFS-4495. Allow client-side lease renewal to be retried beyond soft-limit
+    (kihwal)
+
 Release 0.23.6 - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSClient.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSClient.java
index e6908598aaa..6352de81e19 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSClient.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSClient.java
@@ -622,10 +622,10 @@ public class DFSClient implements java.io.Closeable {
       } catch (IOException e) {
         // Abort if the lease has already expired. 
         final long elapsed = Time.now() - getLastLeaseRenewal();
-        if (elapsed > HdfsConstants.LEASE_SOFTLIMIT_PERIOD) {
+        if (elapsed > HdfsConstants.LEASE_HARDLIMIT_PERIOD) {
           LOG.warn("Failed to renew lease for " + clientName + " for "
               + (elapsed/1000) + " seconds (>= soft-limit ="
-              + (HdfsConstants.LEASE_SOFTLIMIT_PERIOD/1000) + " seconds.) "
+              + (HdfsConstants.LEASE_HARDLIMIT_PERIOD/1000) + " seconds.) "
               + "Closing all files being written ...", e);
           closeAllFilesBeingWritten(true);
         } else {
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestLease.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestLease.java
index 1940b6dcd03..7470def9693 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestLease.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestLease.java
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileSystem;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Options;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.protocol.ClientProtocol;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.protocol.HdfsConstants;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.NameNodeAdapter;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.protocol.NamenodeProtocols;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.RemoteException;
@@ -85,9 +86,26 @@ public class TestLease {
 
       // We don't need to wait the lease renewer thread to act.
       // call renewLease() manually.
-      // make it look like lease has already expired.
+      // make it look like the soft limit has been exceeded.
       LeaseRenewer originalRenewer = dfs.getLeaseRenewer();
-      dfs.lastLeaseRenewal = Time.now() - 300000;
+      dfs.lastLeaseRenewal = Time.now()
+      - HdfsConstants.LEASE_SOFTLIMIT_PERIOD - 1000;
+      try {
+        dfs.renewLease();
+      } catch (IOException e) {}
+
+      // Things should continue to work it passes hard limit without
+      // renewing.
+      try {
+        d_out.write(buf, 0, 1024);
+        LOG.info("Write worked beyond the soft limit as expected.");
+      } catch (IOException e) {
+        Assert.fail("Write failed.");
+      }
+
+      // make it look like the hard limit has been exceeded.
+      dfs.lastLeaseRenewal = Time.now()
+      - HdfsConstants.LEASE_HARDLIMIT_PERIOD - 1000;
       dfs.renewLease();
 
       // this should not work.