diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index ce878835466..39deb70e404 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -241,6 +241,9 @@ Release 0.23.1 - Unreleased
    HADOOP-7948. Shell scripts created by hadoop-dist/pom.xml to build tar do not 
    properly propagate failure. (cim_michajlomatijkiw via tucu)
 
+   HADOOP-7949. Updated maxIdleTime default in the code to match
+   core-default.xml (eli)
+
 Release 0.23.0 - 2011-11-01 
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/CommonConfigurationKeys.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/CommonConfigurationKeys.java
index 7c9b25c957b..cbd283cc195 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/CommonConfigurationKeys.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/CommonConfigurationKeys.java
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ public class CommonConfigurationKeys extends CommonConfigurationKeysPublic {
   /** How often does RPC client send pings to RPC server */
   public static final String  IPC_PING_INTERVAL_KEY = "ipc.ping.interval";
   /** Default value for IPC_PING_INTERVAL_KEY */
-  public static final int     IPC_PING_INTERVAL_DEFAULT = 60000;
+  public static final int     IPC_PING_INTERVAL_DEFAULT = 60000; // 1 min
   /** Enables pings from RPC client to the server */
   public static final String  IPC_CLIENT_PING_KEY = "ipc.client.ping";
   /** Default value of IPC_CLIENT_PING_KEY */
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.java
index 3ea4ed70c2f..401d07ab11c 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.java
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ public class CommonConfigurationKeysPublic {
   public static final String  IPC_CLIENT_CONNECTION_MAXIDLETIME_KEY =
     "ipc.client.connection.maxidletime";
   /** Default value for IPC_CLIENT_CONNECTION_MAXIDLETIME_KEY */
-  public static final int     IPC_CLIENT_CONNECTION_MAXIDLETIME_DEFAULT = 10000;
+  public static final int     IPC_CLIENT_CONNECTION_MAXIDLETIME_DEFAULT = 10000; // 10s
   /** See <a href="{@docRoot}/../core-default.html">core-default.xml</a> */
   public static final String  IPC_CLIENT_CONNECT_MAX_RETRIES_KEY =
     "ipc.client.connect.max.retries";
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/Client.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/Client.java
index a6c2b472825..e8d39dcef73 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/Client.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/Client.java
@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ import org.apache.commons.logging.*;
 import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
 import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceStability;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.CommonConfigurationKeys;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.CommonConfigurationKeysPublic;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.RpcPayloadHeader.*;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.IOUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.Text;
@@ -87,8 +89,6 @@ public class Client {
   private SocketFactory socketFactory;           // how to create sockets
   private int refCount = 1;
   
-  final static String PING_INTERVAL_NAME = "ipc.ping.interval";
-  final static int DEFAULT_PING_INTERVAL = 60000; // 1 min
   final static int PING_CALL_ID = -1;
   
   /**
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ public class Client {
    * @param pingInterval the ping interval
    */
   final public static void setPingInterval(Configuration conf, int pingInterval) {
-    conf.setInt(PING_INTERVAL_NAME, pingInterval);
+    conf.setInt(CommonConfigurationKeys.IPC_PING_INTERVAL_KEY, pingInterval);
   }
 
   /**
@@ -109,7 +109,8 @@ public class Client {
    * @return the ping interval
    */
   final static int getPingInterval(Configuration conf) {
-    return conf.getInt(PING_INTERVAL_NAME, DEFAULT_PING_INTERVAL);
+    return conf.getInt(CommonConfigurationKeys.IPC_PING_INTERVAL_KEY,
+        CommonConfigurationKeys.IPC_PING_INTERVAL_DEFAULT);
   }
 
   /**
@@ -122,7 +123,7 @@ public class Client {
    * @return the timeout period in milliseconds. -1 if no timeout value is set
    */
   final public static int getTimeout(Configuration conf) {
-    if (!conf.getBoolean("ipc.client.ping", true)) {
+    if (!conf.getBoolean(CommonConfigurationKeys.IPC_CLIENT_PING_KEY, true)) {
       return getPingInterval(conf);
     }
     return -1;
@@ -1338,12 +1339,16 @@ public class Client {
         Class<?> protocol, UserGroupInformation ticket, int rpcTimeout,
         Configuration conf) throws IOException {
       String remotePrincipal = getRemotePrincipal(conf, addr, protocol);
-      boolean doPing = conf.getBoolean("ipc.client.ping", true);
+      boolean doPing =
+        conf.getBoolean(CommonConfigurationKeys.IPC_CLIENT_PING_KEY, true);
       return new ConnectionId(addr, protocol, ticket,
           rpcTimeout, remotePrincipal,
-          conf.getInt("ipc.client.connection.maxidletime", 10000), // 10s
-          conf.getInt("ipc.client.connect.max.retries", 10),
-          conf.getBoolean("ipc.client.tcpnodelay", false),
+          conf.getInt(CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.IPC_CLIENT_CONNECTION_MAXIDLETIME_KEY,
+              CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.IPC_CLIENT_CONNECTION_MAXIDLETIME_DEFAULT),
+          conf.getInt(CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.IPC_CLIENT_CONNECT_MAX_RETRIES_KEY,
+              CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.IPC_CLIENT_CONNECT_MAX_RETRIES_DEFAULT),
+          conf.getBoolean(CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.IPC_CLIENT_TCPNODELAY_KEY,
+              CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.IPC_CLIENT_TCPNODELAY_DEFAULT),
           doPing, 
           (doPing ? Client.getPingInterval(conf) : 0));
     }
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/Server.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/Server.java
index e40f688df47..9929b971feb 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/Server.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/Server.java
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.CommonConfigurationKeys;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.CommonConfigurationKeysPublic;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.BytesWritable;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.IntWritable;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.Writable;
@@ -378,7 +379,9 @@ public abstract class Server {
                                          //-tion (for idle connections) ran
     private long cleanupInterval = 10000; //the minimum interval between 
                                           //two cleanup runs
-    private int backlogLength = conf.getInt("ipc.server.listen.queue.size", 128);
+    private int backlogLength = conf.getInt(
+        CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.IPC_SERVER_LISTEN_QUEUE_SIZE_KEY,
+        CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.IPC_SERVER_LISTEN_QUEUE_SIZE_DEFAULT);
     
     public Listener() throws IOException {
       address = new InetSocketAddress(bindAddress, port);
@@ -1708,12 +1711,18 @@ public abstract class Server {
     } else {
       this.readThreads = conf.getInt(
           CommonConfigurationKeys.IPC_SERVER_RPC_READ_THREADS_KEY,
-          CommonConfigurationKeys.IPC_SERVER_RPC_READ_THREADS_DEFAULT);      
+          CommonConfigurationKeys.IPC_SERVER_RPC_READ_THREADS_DEFAULT);
     }
     this.callQueue  = new LinkedBlockingQueue<Call>(maxQueueSize); 
-    this.maxIdleTime = 2*conf.getInt("ipc.client.connection.maxidletime", 1000);
-    this.maxConnectionsToNuke = conf.getInt("ipc.client.kill.max", 10);
-    this.thresholdIdleConnections = conf.getInt("ipc.client.idlethreshold", 4000);
+    this.maxIdleTime = 2 * conf.getInt(
+        CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.IPC_CLIENT_CONNECTION_MAXIDLETIME_KEY,
+        CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.IPC_CLIENT_CONNECTION_MAXIDLETIME_DEFAULT);
+    this.maxConnectionsToNuke = conf.getInt(
+        CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.IPC_CLIENT_KILL_MAX_KEY,
+        CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.IPC_CLIENT_KILL_MAX_DEFAULT);
+    this.thresholdIdleConnections = conf.getInt(
+        CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.IPC_CLIENT_IDLETHRESHOLD_KEY,
+        CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.IPC_CLIENT_IDLETHRESHOLD_DEFAULT);
     this.secretManager = (SecretManager<TokenIdentifier>) secretManager;
     this.authorize = 
       conf.getBoolean(CommonConfigurationKeys.HADOOP_SECURITY_AUTHORIZATION, 
@@ -1725,7 +1734,9 @@ public abstract class Server {
     this.port = listener.getAddress().getPort();    
     this.rpcMetrics = RpcMetrics.create(this);
     this.rpcDetailedMetrics = RpcDetailedMetrics.create(this.port);
-    this.tcpNoDelay = conf.getBoolean("ipc.server.tcpnodelay", false);
+    this.tcpNoDelay = conf.getBoolean(
+        CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.IPC_SERVER_TCPNODELAY_KEY,
+        CommonConfigurationKeysPublic.IPC_SERVER_TCPNODELAY_DEFAULT);
 
     // Create the responder here
     responder = new Responder();
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/TestSaslRPC.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/TestSaslRPC.java
index 0b186a1eb15..5748304c068 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/TestSaslRPC.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/TestSaslRPC.java
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.impl.Log4JLogger;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.CommonConfigurationKeys;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.Text;
 import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.Client.ConnectionId;
 import org.apache.hadoop.net.NetUtils;
@@ -311,14 +312,17 @@ public class TestSaslRPC {
   public void testPingInterval() throws Exception {
     Configuration newConf = new Configuration(conf);
     newConf.set(SERVER_PRINCIPAL_KEY, SERVER_PRINCIPAL_1);
-    conf.setInt(Client.PING_INTERVAL_NAME, Client.DEFAULT_PING_INTERVAL);
+    conf.setInt(CommonConfigurationKeys.IPC_PING_INTERVAL_KEY,
+        CommonConfigurationKeys.IPC_PING_INTERVAL_DEFAULT);
+
     // set doPing to true
-    newConf.setBoolean("ipc.client.ping", true);
+    newConf.setBoolean(CommonConfigurationKeys.IPC_CLIENT_PING_KEY, true);
     ConnectionId remoteId = ConnectionId.getConnectionId(
         new InetSocketAddress(0), TestSaslProtocol.class, null, 0, newConf);
-    assertEquals(Client.DEFAULT_PING_INTERVAL, remoteId.getPingInterval());
+    assertEquals(CommonConfigurationKeys.IPC_PING_INTERVAL_DEFAULT,
+        remoteId.getPingInterval());
     // set doPing to false
-    newConf.setBoolean("ipc.client.ping", false);
+    newConf.setBoolean(CommonConfigurationKeys.IPC_CLIENT_PING_KEY, false);
     remoteId = ConnectionId.getConnectionId(
         new InetSocketAddress(0), TestSaslProtocol.class, null, 0, newConf);
     assertEquals(0, remoteId.getPingInterval());