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/fair/FairScheduler.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/scheduler/fair/FairScheduler.java
index 8daf0f333c2..d33c214ca43 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/scheduler/fair/FairScheduler.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/scheduler/fair/FairScheduler.java
@@ -774,6 +774,12 @@ FSLeafQueue assignToQueue(RMApp rmApp, String queueName, String user) {
           appRejectMsg = queueName + " is not a leaf queue";
         }
       }
+    } catch (IllegalStateException se) {
+      appRejectMsg = "Unable to match app " + rmApp.getApplicationId() +
+          " to a queue placement policy, and no valid terminal queue " +
+          " placement rule is configured. Please contact an administrator " +
+          " to confirm that the fair scheduler configuration contains a " +
+          " valid terminal queue placement rule.";
     } catch (InvalidQueueNameException qne) {
       appRejectMsg = qne.getMessage();
     } catch (IOException ioe) {
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/fair/TestFairScheduler.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/scheduler/fair/TestFairScheduler.java
index 98af8b9662b..7535f69e4f3 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/scheduler/fair/TestFairScheduler.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/scheduler/fair/TestFairScheduler.java
@@ -1604,6 +1604,34 @@ public void testAssignToQueue() throws Exception {
     assertEquals("root.notdefault", rmApp2.getQueue());
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testAssignToBadDefaultQueue() throws Exception {
+    conf.set(FairSchedulerConfiguration.ALLOCATION_FILE, ALLOC_FILE);
+
+    PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(new FileWriter(ALLOC_FILE));
+    out.println("<?xml version=\"1.0\"?>");
+    out.println("<allocations>");
+    out.println("<queuePlacementPolicy>");
+    out.println("<rule name=\"specified\" create=\"false\" />");
+    out.println("<rule name=\"default\" create=\"false\" />");
+    out.println("</queuePlacementPolicy>");
+    out.println("</allocations>");
+    out.close();
+    scheduler.init(conf);
+    scheduler.start();
+    scheduler.reinitialize(conf, resourceManager.getRMContext());
+
+    RMApp rmApp1 = new MockRMApp(0, 0, RMAppState.NEW);
+
+    try {
+      FSLeafQueue queue1 = scheduler.assignToQueue(rmApp1, "default",
+          "asterix");
+    } catch (IllegalStateException ise) {
+      fail("Bad queue placement policy terminal rule should not throw " +
+          "exception ");
+    }
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void testAssignToNonLeafQueueReturnsNull() throws Exception {
     conf.set(FairSchedulerConfiguration.USER_AS_DEFAULT_QUEUE, "true");
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/fair/TestQueuePlacementPolicy.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/scheduler/fair/TestQueuePlacementPolicy.java
index 0dbc99be7be..3fe9ce31021 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/scheduler/fair/TestQueuePlacementPolicy.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/scheduler/fair/TestQueuePlacementPolicy.java
@@ -131,9 +131,14 @@ public void testTerminals() throws Exception {
     StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
     sb.append("<queuePlacementPolicy>");
     sb.append("  <rule name='secondaryGroupExistingQueue' create='true'/>");
-    sb.append("  <rule name='default' create='false'/>");
+    sb.append("  <rule name='default' queue='otherdefault' create='false'/>");
     sb.append("</queuePlacementPolicy>");
-    parse(sb.toString());
+    QueuePlacementPolicy policy = parse(sb.toString());
+    try {
+      policy.assignAppToQueue("root.otherdefault", "user1");
+      fail("Expect exception from having default rule with create=\'false\'");
+    } catch (IllegalStateException se) {
+    }
   }
   
   @Test