diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
index f023fd33841..6ce4211957b 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -204,6 +204,9 @@ Release 2.7.1 - 2015-07-06
     YARN-3850. NM fails to read files from full disks which can lead to
     container logs being lost and other issues (Varun Saxena via jlowe)
 
+    YARN-3969. Allow jobs to be submitted to reservation that is active 
+    but does not have any allocations. (subru via curino)
+
 Release 2.7.0 - 2015-04-20
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/scheduler/capacity/ReservationQueue.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/scheduler/capacity/ReservationQueue.java
index a8d17cfd0d1..19ce9f33123 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/scheduler/capacity/ReservationQueue.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/scheduler/capacity/ReservationQueue.java
@@ -39,12 +39,9 @@ public class ReservationQueue extends LeafQueue {
 
   private PlanQueue parent;
 
-  private int maxSystemApps;
-
   public ReservationQueue(CapacitySchedulerContext cs, String queueName,
       PlanQueue parent) throws IOException {
     super(cs, queueName, parent, null);
-    maxSystemApps = cs.getConfiguration().getMaximumSystemApplications();
     // the following parameters are common to all reservation in the plan
     updateQuotas(parent.getUserLimitForReservation(),
         parent.getUserLimitFactor(),
@@ -90,7 +87,6 @@ public class ReservationQueue extends LeafQueue {
     }
     setCapacity(capacity);
     setAbsoluteCapacity(getParent().getAbsoluteCapacity() * getCapacity());
-    setMaxApplications((int) (maxSystemApps * getAbsoluteCapacity()));
     // note: we currently set maxCapacity to capacity
     // this might be revised later
     setMaxCapacity(entitlement.getMaxCapacity());
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/scheduler/capacity/TestReservationQueue.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/scheduler/capacity/TestReservationQueue.java
index 4e6c73d56a3..e23e93c99dd 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/scheduler/capacity/TestReservationQueue.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/scheduler/capacity/TestReservationQueue.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 
 package org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.resourcemanager.scheduler.capacity;
 
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
@@ -39,6 +40,7 @@ public class TestReservationQueue {
 
   CapacitySchedulerConfiguration csConf;
   CapacitySchedulerContext csContext;
+  final static int DEF_MAX_APPS = 10000;
   final static int GB = 1024;
   private final ResourceCalculator resourceCalculator =
       new DefaultResourceCalculator();
@@ -66,7 +68,13 @@ public class TestReservationQueue {
     // create a queue
     PlanQueue pq = new PlanQueue(csContext, "root", null, null);
     reservationQueue = new ReservationQueue(csContext, "a", pq);
+  }
 
+  private void validateReservationQueue(double capacity) {
+    assertTrue(" actual capacity: " + reservationQueue.getCapacity(),
+        reservationQueue.getCapacity() - capacity < CSQueueUtils.EPSILON);
+    assertEquals(reservationQueue.maxApplications, DEF_MAX_APPS);
+    assertEquals(reservationQueue.maxApplicationsPerUser, DEF_MAX_APPS);
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -74,25 +82,20 @@ public class TestReservationQueue {
 
     // verify that setting, adding, subtracting capacity works
     reservationQueue.setCapacity(1.0F);
-    assertTrue(" actual capacity: " + reservationQueue.getCapacity(),
-        reservationQueue.getCapacity() - 1 < CSQueueUtils.EPSILON);
+    validateReservationQueue(1);
     reservationQueue.setEntitlement(new QueueEntitlement(0.9f, 1f));
-    assertTrue(" actual capacity: " + reservationQueue.getCapacity(),
-        reservationQueue.getCapacity() - 0.9 < CSQueueUtils.EPSILON);
+    validateReservationQueue(0.9);
     reservationQueue.setEntitlement(new QueueEntitlement(1f, 1f));
-    assertTrue(" actual capacity: " + reservationQueue.getCapacity(),
-        reservationQueue.getCapacity() - 1 < CSQueueUtils.EPSILON);
+    validateReservationQueue(1);
     reservationQueue.setEntitlement(new QueueEntitlement(0f, 1f));
-    assertTrue(" actual capacity: " + reservationQueue.getCapacity(),
-        reservationQueue.getCapacity() < CSQueueUtils.EPSILON);
+    validateReservationQueue(0);
 
     try {
       reservationQueue.setEntitlement(new QueueEntitlement(1.1f, 1f));
       fail();
     } catch (SchedulerDynamicEditException iae) {
       // expected
-      assertTrue(" actual capacity: " + reservationQueue.getCapacity(),
-          reservationQueue.getCapacity() - 1 < CSQueueUtils.EPSILON);
+      validateReservationQueue(1);
     }
 
     try {
@@ -100,8 +103,7 @@ public class TestReservationQueue {
       fail();
     } catch (SchedulerDynamicEditException iae) {
       // expected
-      assertTrue(" actual capacity: " + reservationQueue.getCapacity(),
-          reservationQueue.getCapacity() - 1 < CSQueueUtils.EPSILON);
+      validateReservationQueue(1);
     }
 
   }