diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index 032b7548608..e67502d4fda 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -45,6 +45,10 @@ Release 0.23-PB - Unreleased
 
     HDFS-2479 HDFS Client Data Types in Protocol Buffers (sanjay)
 
+    HADOOP-7862   Hdfs changes to work with HADOOP 7862: 
+    Move the support for multiple protocols to lower layer so that Writable,
+    PB and Avro can all use it (Sanjay)
+
   BUG FIXES
  
     HDFS-2481 Unknown protocol: org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.protocol.ClientProtocol (sanjay)
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/DataNode.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/DataNode.java
index 104eb242847..730a6fcfe2c 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/DataNode.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/DataNode.java
@@ -142,6 +142,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.ProtocolSignature;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.RPC;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.RemoteException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.Server;
+import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.RpcPayloadHeader.RpcKind;
 import org.apache.hadoop.metrics2.lib.DefaultMetricsSystem;
 import org.apache.hadoop.metrics2.util.MBeans;
 import org.apache.hadoop.net.DNS;
@@ -535,7 +536,7 @@ public class DataNode extends Configured
     InterDatanodeProtocolServerSideTranslatorR23 
         interDatanodeProtocolServerTranslator = 
           new InterDatanodeProtocolServerSideTranslatorR23(this);
-    ipcServer.addProtocol(InterDatanodeWireProtocol.class, 
+    ipcServer.addProtocol(RpcKind.RPC_WRITABLE, InterDatanodeWireProtocol.class, 
         interDatanodeProtocolServerTranslator);
     
     // set service-level authorization security policy
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/BackupNode.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/BackupNode.java
index a04f4de1e46..708f04cc457 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/BackupNode.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/BackupNode.java
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.protocol.NamenodeProtocol;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.protocol.NamenodeRegistration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.protocol.NamespaceInfo;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.RPC;
+import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.RpcPayloadHeader.RpcKind;
 import org.apache.hadoop.net.NetUtils;
 
 /**
@@ -200,7 +201,7 @@ public class BackupNode extends NameNode {
       super(conf, nn);
       JournalProtocolServerSideTranslatorR23 journalProtocolTranslator = 
           new JournalProtocolServerSideTranslatorR23(this);
-      this.clientRpcServer.addProtocol(JournalWireProtocol.class,
+      this.clientRpcServer.addProtocol(RpcKind.RPC_WRITABLE, JournalWireProtocol.class,
           journalProtocolTranslator);
       nnRpcAddress = nn.nnRpcAddress;
     }
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNodeRpcServer.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNodeRpcServer.java
index 89d68bbf2cd..07c3eda3d02 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNodeRpcServer.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNodeRpcServer.java
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.io.Text;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.ProtocolSignature;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.RPC;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.Server;
+import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.RpcPayloadHeader.RpcKind;
 import org.apache.hadoop.net.Node;
 import org.apache.hadoop.security.AccessControlException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.security.Groups;
@@ -147,13 +148,16 @@ class NameNodeRpcServer implements NamenodeProtocols {
           dnSocketAddr.getHostName(), dnSocketAddr.getPort(), 
           serviceHandlerCount,
           false, conf, namesystem.getDelegationTokenSecretManager());
-      this.serviceRpcServer.addProtocol(DatanodeProtocol.class, this);
-      this.serviceRpcServer.addProtocol(NamenodeProtocol.class, this);
-      this.serviceRpcServer.addProtocol(
+      this.serviceRpcServer.addProtocol(RpcKind.RPC_WRITABLE,
+          DatanodeProtocol.class, this);
+      this.serviceRpcServer.addProtocol(RpcKind.RPC_WRITABLE,
+          NamenodeProtocol.class, this);
+      this.serviceRpcServer.addProtocol(RpcKind.RPC_WRITABLE,
           RefreshAuthorizationPolicyProtocol.class, this);
-      this.serviceRpcServer.addProtocol(
+      this.serviceRpcServer.addProtocol(RpcKind.RPC_WRITABLE,
           RefreshUserMappingsProtocol.class, this);
-      this.serviceRpcServer.addProtocol(GetUserMappingsProtocol.class, this);
+      this.serviceRpcServer.addProtocol(RpcKind.RPC_WRITABLE, 
+          GetUserMappingsProtocol.class, this);
       
       this.serviceRPCAddress = this.serviceRpcServer.getListenerAddress();
       nn.setRpcServiceServerAddress(conf, serviceRPCAddress);
@@ -168,12 +172,16 @@ class NameNodeRpcServer implements NamenodeProtocols {
             clientProtocolServerTranslator, socAddr.getHostName(),
             socAddr.getPort(), handlerCount, false, conf,
             namesystem.getDelegationTokenSecretManager());
-    this.clientRpcServer.addProtocol(DatanodeProtocol.class, this);
-    this.clientRpcServer.addProtocol(NamenodeProtocol.class, this);
-    this.clientRpcServer.addProtocol(
+    this.clientRpcServer.addProtocol(RpcKind.RPC_WRITABLE,
+        DatanodeProtocol.class, this);
+    this.clientRpcServer.addProtocol(RpcKind.RPC_WRITABLE,
+        NamenodeProtocol.class, this);
+    this.clientRpcServer.addProtocol(RpcKind.RPC_WRITABLE,
         RefreshAuthorizationPolicyProtocol.class, this);
-    this.clientRpcServer.addProtocol(RefreshUserMappingsProtocol.class, this);
-    this.clientRpcServer.addProtocol(GetUserMappingsProtocol.class, this);
+    this.clientRpcServer.addProtocol(RpcKind.RPC_WRITABLE,
+        RefreshUserMappingsProtocol.class, this);
+    this.clientRpcServer.addProtocol(RpcKind.RPC_WRITABLE,
+        GetUserMappingsProtocol.class, this);
     
 
     // set service-level authorization security policy
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestDFSClientRetries.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestDFSClientRetries.java
index 05294c74d1a..59ca951ad84 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestDFSClientRetries.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestDFSClientRetries.java
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.protocol.NamenodeProtocols;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.RemoteException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.RPC;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.Server;
+import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.RpcPayloadHeader.RpcKind;
 import org.apache.hadoop.net.NetUtils;
 import org.mockito.internal.stubbing.answers.ThrowsException;
 import org.mockito.invocation.InvocationOnMock;
@@ -96,7 +97,7 @@ public class TestDFSClientRetries extends TestCase {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public Writable call(String protocol, Writable param, long receiveTime)
+    public Writable call(RpcKind rpcKind, String protocol, Writable param, long receiveTime)
         throws IOException {
       if (sleep) {
         // sleep a bit
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/TestInterDatanodeProtocol.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/TestInterDatanodeProtocol.java
index d50376aaff2..5f48651c890 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/TestInterDatanodeProtocol.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/TestInterDatanodeProtocol.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import java.net.SocketTimeoutException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.Writable;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.LongWritable;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.RPC;
+import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.RpcPayloadHeader.RpcKind;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.Server;
 import org.apache.hadoop.net.NetUtils;
 
@@ -81,7 +82,7 @@ public class TestInterDatanodeProtocol {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public Writable call(String protocol, Writable param, long receiveTime)
+    public Writable call(RpcKind rpcKind, String protocol, Writable param, long receiveTime)
         throws IOException {
       if (sleep) {
         // sleep a bit