diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index 5ad261b2bd4..5ed33ece991 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -34,6 +34,9 @@ Release 2.0.3-alpha - Unreleased
     HDFS-3813. Log error message if security and WebHDFS are enabled but
     principal/keytab are not configured. (Stephen Chu via atm)
 
+    HDFS-3483. Better error message when hdfs fsck is run against a ViewFS
+    config. (Stephen Fritz via atm)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
   BUG FIXES 
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/DFSAdmin.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/DFSAdmin.java
index 86e7d77e63a..dd5a0e313d0 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/DFSAdmin.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/DFSAdmin.java
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ public class DFSAdmin extends FsShell {
       super(fs.getConf());
       if (!(fs instanceof DistributedFileSystem)) {
         throw new IllegalArgumentException("FileSystem " + fs.getUri() + 
-            " is not a distributed file system");
+            " is not an HDFS file system");
       }
       this.dfs = (DistributedFileSystem)fs;
     }
@@ -286,7 +286,7 @@ public class DFSAdmin extends FsShell {
     FileSystem fs = getFS();
     if (!(fs instanceof DistributedFileSystem)) {
       throw new IllegalArgumentException("FileSystem " + fs.getUri() + 
-      " is not a distributed file system");
+      " is not an HDFS file system");
     }
     return (DistributedFileSystem)fs;
   }