diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index 60f94456e9a..d9ea5210060 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -428,6 +428,9 @@ Release 2.2.1 - UNRELEASED
     HADOOP-10046. Print a log message when SSL is enabled.
     (David S. Wang via wang)
 
+    HADOOP-10079. log a warning message if group resolution takes too long.
+    (cmccabe)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
   BUG FIXES
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 5bedadd7973..5a75cbdf15b 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
@@ -240,6 +240,14 @@ public class CommonConfigurationKeysPublic {
   public static final String  HADOOP_SECURITY_GROUPS_CACHE_SECS =
     "hadoop.security.groups.cache.secs";
   /** See <a href="{@docRoot}/../core-default.html">core-default.xml</a> */
+  public static final long HADOOP_SECURITY_GROUPS_CACHE_SECS_DEFAULT =
+    300;
+  /** See <a href="{@docRoot}/../core-default.html">core-default.xml</a> */
+  public static final String HADOOP_SECURITY_GROUPS_CACHE_WARN_AFTER_MS =
+    "hadoop.security.groups.cache.warn.after.ms";
+  public static final long HADOOP_SECURITY_GROUPS_CACHE_WARN_AFTER_MS_DEFAULT =
+    5000;
+  /** See <a href="{@docRoot}/../core-default.html">core-default.xml</a> */
   public static final String  HADOOP_SECURITY_AUTHENTICATION =
     "hadoop.security.authentication";
   /** See <a href="{@docRoot}/../core-default.html">core-default.xml</a> */
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/Groups.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/Groups.java
index 51cdce6cce2..d9d8781245d 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/Groups.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/Groups.java
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ public class Groups {
   private final Map<String, CachedGroups> userToGroupsMap = 
     new ConcurrentHashMap<String, CachedGroups>();
   private final long cacheTimeout;
+  private final long warningDeltaMs;
 
   public Groups(Configuration conf) {
     impl = 
@@ -60,11 +61,16 @@ public Groups(Configuration conf) {
           conf);
     
     cacheTimeout = 
-      conf.getLong(CommonConfigurationKeys.HADOOP_SECURITY_GROUPS_CACHE_SECS, 5*60) * 1000;
+      conf.getLong(CommonConfigurationKeys.HADOOP_SECURITY_GROUPS_CACHE_SECS, 
+          CommonConfigurationKeys.HADOOP_SECURITY_GROUPS_CACHE_SECS_DEFAULT) * 1000;
+    warningDeltaMs =
+      conf.getLong(CommonConfigurationKeys.HADOOP_SECURITY_GROUPS_CACHE_WARN_AFTER_MS,
+        CommonConfigurationKeys.HADOOP_SECURITY_GROUPS_CACHE_WARN_AFTER_MS_DEFAULT);
     
     if(LOG.isDebugEnabled())
       LOG.debug("Group mapping impl=" + impl.getClass().getName() + 
-          "; cacheTimeout=" + cacheTimeout);
+          "; cacheTimeout=" + cacheTimeout + "; warningDeltaMs=" +
+          warningDeltaMs);
   }
   
   /**
@@ -76,17 +82,24 @@ public Groups(Configuration conf) {
   public List<String> getGroups(String user) throws IOException {
     // Return cached value if available
     CachedGroups groups = userToGroupsMap.get(user);
-    long now = Time.now();
+    long startMs = Time.monotonicNow();
     // if cache has a value and it hasn't expired
-    if (groups != null && (groups.getTimestamp() + cacheTimeout > now)) {
+    if (groups != null && (groups.getTimestamp() + cacheTimeout > startMs)) {
       if(LOG.isDebugEnabled()) {
         LOG.debug("Returning cached groups for '" + user + "'");
       }
       return groups.getGroups();
     }
-    
+
     // Create and cache user's groups
-    groups = new CachedGroups(impl.getGroups(user));
+    List<String> groupList = impl.getGroups(user);
+    long endMs = Time.monotonicNow();
+    long deltaMs = endMs - startMs ;
+    if (deltaMs > warningDeltaMs) {
+      LOG.warn("Potential performance problem: getGroups(user=" + user +") " +
+          "took " + deltaMs + " milliseconds.");
+    }
+    groups = new CachedGroups(groupList, endMs);
     if (groups.getGroups().isEmpty()) {
       throw new IOException("No groups found for user " + user);
     }
@@ -133,9 +146,9 @@ private static class CachedGroups {
     /**
      * Create and initialize group cache
      */
-    CachedGroups(List<String> groups) {
+    CachedGroups(List<String> groups, long timestamp) {
       this.groups = groups;
-      this.timestamp = Time.now();
+      this.timestamp = timestamp;
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/resources/core-default.xml b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/resources/core-default.xml
index ab453ae1aaf..746d209715a 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/resources/core-default.xml
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/resources/core-default.xml
@@ -105,6 +105,15 @@
   </description>
 </property>
 
+<property>
+  <name>hadoop.security.groups.cache.warn.after.ms</name>
+  <value>5000</value>
+  <description>
+    If looking up a single user to group takes longer than this amount of
+    milliseconds, we will log a warning message.
+  </description>
+</property>
+
 <property>
   <name>hadoop.security.group.mapping.ldap.url</name>
   <value></value>