diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/FailoverController.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/FailoverController.java
index 6ab1a99ae55..0060567ebbd 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/FailoverController.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/FailoverController.java
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ public class FailoverController {
           "Can't failover to an active service");
     }
     try {
-      toSvc.monitorHealth();
+      HAServiceProtocolHelper.monitorHealth(toSvc);
     } catch (HealthCheckFailedException hce) {
       throw new FailoverFailedException(
           "Can't failover to an unhealthy service", hce);
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ public class FailoverController {
 
     // Try to make fromSvc standby
     try {
-      fromSvc.transitionToStandby();
+      HAServiceProtocolHelper.transitionToStandby(fromSvc);
     } catch (ServiceFailedException sfe) {
       LOG.warn("Unable to make " + fromSvcName + " standby (" +
           sfe.getMessage() + ")");
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ public class FailoverController {
     boolean failed = false;
     Throwable cause = null;
     try {
-      toSvc.transitionToActive();
+      HAServiceProtocolHelper.transitionToActive(toSvc);
     } catch (ServiceFailedException sfe) {
       LOG.error("Unable to make " + toSvcName + " active (" +
           sfe.getMessage() + "). Failing back");
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ public class FailoverController {
     if (failed) {
       String msg = "Unable to failover to " + toSvcName;
       try {
-        fromSvc.transitionToActive();
+        HAServiceProtocolHelper.transitionToActive(fromSvc);
       } catch (ServiceFailedException sfe) {
         msg = "Failback to " + fromSvcName + " failed (" +
               sfe.getMessage() + ")";
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/HAAdmin.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/HAAdmin.java
index 2dc5c1f39a3..7dbc17ed6e7 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/HAAdmin.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/HAAdmin.java
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ public class HAAdmin extends Configured implements Tool {
     }
     
     HAServiceProtocol proto = getProtocol(argv[1]);
-    proto.transitionToActive();
+    HAServiceProtocolHelper.transitionToActive(proto);
     return 0;
   }
 
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ public class HAAdmin extends Configured implements Tool {
     }
     
     HAServiceProtocol proto = getProtocol(argv[1]);
-    proto.transitionToStandby();
+    HAServiceProtocolHelper.transitionToStandby(proto);
     return 0;
   }
 
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ public class HAAdmin extends Configured implements Tool {
     
     HAServiceProtocol proto = getProtocol(argv[1]);
     try {
-      proto.monitorHealth();
+      HAServiceProtocolHelper.monitorHealth(proto);
     } catch (HealthCheckFailedException e) {
       errOut.println("Health check failed: " + e.getLocalizedMessage());
       return 1;
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/HAServiceProtocolHelper.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/HAServiceProtocolHelper.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c8de74269e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/HAServiceProtocolHelper.java
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+/**
+ * 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.ha;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
+import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceStability;
+import org.apache.hadoop.ha.HAServiceProtocol.HAServiceState;
+import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.RemoteException;
+
+/**
+ * Helper for making {@link HAServiceProtocol} RPC calls. This helper
+ * unwraps the {@link RemoteException} to specific exceptions.
+ * 
+ */
+@InterfaceAudience.Public
+@InterfaceStability.Evolving
+public class HAServiceProtocolHelper {
+  public static void monitorHealth(HAServiceProtocol svc)
+      throws IOException {
+    try {
+      svc.monitorHealth();
+    } catch (RemoteException e) {
+      throw e.unwrapRemoteException(HealthCheckFailedException.class);
+    }
+  }
+
+  public static void transitionToActive(HAServiceProtocol svc)
+      throws IOException {
+    try {
+      svc.transitionToActive();
+    } catch (RemoteException e) {
+      throw e.unwrapRemoteException(ServiceFailedException.class);
+    }
+  }
+
+  public static void transitionToStandby(HAServiceProtocol svc)
+      throws IOException {
+    try {
+      svc.transitionToStandby();
+    } catch (RemoteException e) {
+      throw e.unwrapRemoteException(ServiceFailedException.class);
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/MiniDFSCluster.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/MiniDFSCluster.java
index da9724ef1f7..0357c5d714f 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/MiniDFSCluster.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/MiniDFSCluster.java
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
 import static org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSConfigKeys.*;
 
 import org.apache.hadoop.ha.HAServiceProtocol;
+import org.apache.hadoop.ha.HAServiceProtocolHelper;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ha.ServiceFailedException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.MiniDFSNNTopology.NNConf;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.protocol.Block;
@@ -1590,12 +1591,12 @@ public class MiniDFSCluster {
   
   public void transitionToActive(int nnIndex) throws IOException,
       ServiceFailedException {
-    getHaServiceClient(nnIndex).transitionToActive();
+    HAServiceProtocolHelper.transitionToActive(getHaServiceClient(nnIndex));
   }
   
   public void transitionToStandby(int nnIndex) throws IOException,
       ServiceFailedException {
-    getHaServiceClient(nnIndex).transitionToStandby();
+    HAServiceProtocolHelper.transitionToStandby(getHaServiceClient(nnIndex));
   }