diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.HDFS-1623.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.HDFS-1623.txt
index 93ae86a37de..baa7cec6e75 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.HDFS-1623.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.HDFS-1623.txt
@@ -226,3 +226,5 @@ HDFS-2929. Stress test and fixes for block synchronization (todd)
 HDFS-2972. Small optimization building incremental block report (todd)
 
 HDFS-2973. Re-enable NO_ACK optimization for block deletion. (todd)
+
+HDFS-2922. HA: close out operation categories (eli)
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 d6aa5e5a705..5e7de78d77b 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
@@ -407,6 +407,9 @@ public class BackupNode extends NameNode {
     @Override // NameNode
     public void checkOperation(OperationCategory op)
         throws StandbyException {
+      if (op == OperationCategory.UNCHECKED) {
+        return;
+      }
       if (OperationCategory.JOURNAL != op &&
           !(OperationCategory.READ == op && allowStaleStandbyReads)) {
         String msg = "Operation category " + op
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNode.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNode.java
index caedb5bae35..a243971453c 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNode.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNode.java
@@ -114,6 +114,8 @@ public class NameNode {
    * Categories of operations supported by the namenode.
    */
   public static enum OperationCategory {
+    /** Operations that are state agnostic */
+    UNCHECKED,
     /** Read operation that does not change the namespace state */
     READ,
     /** Write operation that changes the namespace state */
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 98d09101e8b..b6444ce65f9 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
@@ -353,9 +353,7 @@ class NameNodeRpcServer implements NamenodeProtocols {
   public void errorReport(NamenodeRegistration registration,
                           int errorCode, 
                           String msg) throws IOException {
-    // nn.checkOperation(OperationCategory.WRITE);
-    // TODO: I dont think this should be checked - it's just for logging
-    // and dropping backups
+    namesystem.checkOperation(OperationCategory.UNCHECKED);
     verifyRequest(registration);
     LOG.info("Error report from " + registration + ": " + msg);
     if(errorCode == FATAL)
@@ -707,8 +705,8 @@ class NameNodeRpcServer implements NamenodeProtocols {
 
   @Override // ClientProtocol
   public DatanodeInfo[] getDatanodeReport(DatanodeReportType type)
-      throws IOException {
-    // TODO(HA): decide on OperationCategory for this
+  throws IOException {
+    namesystem.checkOperation(OperationCategory.UNCHECKED);
     DatanodeInfo results[] = namesystem.datanodeReport(type);
     if (results == null ) {
       throw new IOException("Cannot find datanode report");
@@ -718,32 +716,32 @@ class NameNodeRpcServer implements NamenodeProtocols {
     
   @Override // ClientProtocol
   public boolean setSafeMode(SafeModeAction action) throws IOException {
-    // TODO:HA decide on OperationCategory for this
+    namesystem.checkOperation(OperationCategory.UNCHECKED);
     return namesystem.setSafeMode(action);
   }
+
   @Override // ClientProtocol
-  public boolean restoreFailedStorage(String arg) 
-      throws AccessControlException {
-    // TODO:HA decide on OperationCategory for this
+  public boolean restoreFailedStorage(String arg) throws IOException { 
+    namesystem.checkOperation(OperationCategory.UNCHECKED);
     return namesystem.restoreFailedStorage(arg);
   }
 
   @Override // ClientProtocol
   public void saveNamespace() throws IOException {
-    // TODO:HA decide on OperationCategory for this
+    namesystem.checkOperation(OperationCategory.UNCHECKED);
     namesystem.saveNamespace();
   }
 
   @Override // ClientProtocol
   public void refreshNodes() throws IOException {
-    // TODO:HA decide on OperationCategory for this
+    namesystem.checkOperation(OperationCategory.UNCHECKED);
     namesystem.getBlockManager().getDatanodeManager().refreshNodes(
         new HdfsConfiguration());
   }
 
   @Override // NamenodeProtocol
-  public long getTransactionID() {
-    // TODO:HA decide on OperationCategory for this
+  public long getTransactionID() throws IOException {
+    namesystem.checkOperation(OperationCategory.CHECKPOINT);
     return namesystem.getEditLog().getSyncTxId();
   }
 
@@ -755,28 +753,29 @@ class NameNodeRpcServer implements NamenodeProtocols {
   @Override // NamenodeProtocol
   public RemoteEditLogManifest getEditLogManifest(long sinceTxId)
   throws IOException {
-    // TODO:HA decide on OperationCategory for this
+    namesystem.checkOperation(OperationCategory.READ);
     return namesystem.getEditLog().getEditLogManifest(sinceTxId);
   }
     
   @Override // ClientProtocol
   public void finalizeUpgrade() throws IOException {
-    // TODO:HA decide on OperationCategory for this
+    namesystem.checkOperation(OperationCategory.WRITE);
     namesystem.finalizeUpgrade();
   }
 
   @Override // ClientProtocol
   public UpgradeStatusReport distributedUpgradeProgress(UpgradeAction action)
       throws IOException {
-    // TODO:HA decide on OperationCategory for this
+    namesystem.checkOperation(OperationCategory.READ);
     return namesystem.distributedUpgradeProgress(action);
   }
 
   @Override // ClientProtocol
   public void metaSave(String filename) throws IOException {
-    // TODO:HA decide on OperationCategory for this
+    namesystem.checkOperation(OperationCategory.UNCHECKED);
     namesystem.metaSave(filename);
   }
+
   @Override // ClientProtocol
   public CorruptFileBlocks listCorruptFileBlocks(String path, String cookie)
       throws IOException {
@@ -795,12 +794,12 @@ class NameNodeRpcServer implements NamenodeProtocols {
   /**
    * Tell all datanodes to use a new, non-persistent bandwidth value for
    * dfs.datanode.balance.bandwidthPerSec.
-   * @param bandwidth Blanacer bandwidth in bytes per second for all datanodes.
+   * @param bandwidth Balancer bandwidth in bytes per second for all datanodes.
    * @throws IOException
    */
   @Override // ClientProtocol
   public void setBalancerBandwidth(long bandwidth) throws IOException {
-    // TODO:HA decide on OperationCategory for this
+    namesystem.checkOperation(OperationCategory.UNCHECKED);
     namesystem.getBlockManager().getDatanodeManager().setBalancerBandwidth(bandwidth);
   }
   
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/ha/StandbyState.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/ha/StandbyState.java
index 80f42e60fea..60e83713b86 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/ha/StandbyState.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/ha/StandbyState.java
@@ -78,7 +78,8 @@ public class StandbyState extends HAState {
   @Override
   public void checkOperation(HAContext context, OperationCategory op)
       throws StandbyException {
-    if (op == OperationCategory.READ && context.allowStaleReads()) {
+    if (op == OperationCategory.UNCHECKED ||
+        (op == OperationCategory.READ && context.allowStaleReads())) {
       return;
     }
     String msg = "Operation category " + op + " is not supported in state "