diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index e842fe6c32b..3d13918f6ad 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -161,6 +161,8 @@ Release 2.7.0 - UNRELEASED
 
     HADOOP-11329. Add JAVA_LIBRARY_PATH to KMS startup options. (Arun Suresh via wang)
 
+    HADOOP-11363 Hadoop maven surefire-plugin uses must set heap size. (stevel)
+
 Release 2.6.0 - 2014-11-18
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-project/pom.xml b/hadoop-project/pom.xml
index 76b86459c21..d50b72c01e8 100644
--- a/hadoop-project/pom.xml
+++ b/hadoop-project/pom.xml
@@ -84,6 +84,12 @@
     -->
     <enforced.java.version>[${javac.version},)</enforced.java.version>
     <enforced.maven.version>[3.0.2,)</enforced.maven.version>
+
+    <!-- Plugin versions and config -->
+    <maven-surefire-plugin.argLine>-Xmx4096m -XX:MaxPermSize=768m -XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError</maven-surefire-plugin.argLine>
+    <maven-surefire-plugin.version>2.17</maven-surefire-plugin.version>
+    <maven-surefire-report-plugin.version>${maven-surefire-plugin.version}</maven-surefire-report-plugin.version>
+    <maven-failsafe-plugin.version>${maven-surefire-plugin.version}</maven-failsafe-plugin.version>
   </properties>
 
   <dependencyManagement>
@@ -948,7 +954,7 @@
         <plugin>
           <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
           <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
-          <version>2.16</version>
+          <version>${maven-surefire-plugin.version}</version>
         </plugin>
         <plugin>
           <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
@@ -1097,7 +1103,7 @@
         <configuration>
           <reuseForks>false</reuseForks>
           <forkedProcessTimeoutInSeconds>900</forkedProcessTimeoutInSeconds>
-          <argLine>-Xmx1024m -XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError</argLine>
+          <argLine>${maven-surefire-plugin.argLine}</argLine>
           <environmentVariables>
             <!-- HADOOP_HOME required for tests on Windows to find winutils -->
             <HADOOP_HOME>${hadoop.common.build.dir}</HADOOP_HOME>