diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index 22f7f4e362b..ab66fae08d9 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -755,6 +755,9 @@ Release 0.23.0 - Unreleased
     HDFS-2509. Add a test for DistributedFileSystem.getFileChecksum(..) on
     directories or non existing files.  (Uma Maheswara Rao G via szetszwo)
 
+    HDFS-2436. Change FSNamesystem.setTimes(..) for allowing setting times on
+    directories.  (Uma Maheswara Rao G via szetszwo)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
     HDFS-1458. Improve checkpoint performance by avoiding unnecessary image
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirectory.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirectory.java
index a5129aad38b..93684b627b2 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirectory.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirectory.java
@@ -1250,13 +1250,21 @@ public class FSDirectory implements Closeable {
    * Get {@link INode} associated with the file.
    */
   INodeFile getFileINode(String src) throws UnresolvedLinkException {
+    INode inode = getINode(src);
+    if (inode == null || inode.isDirectory())
+      return null;
+    assert !inode.isLink();
+    return (INodeFile) inode;
+  }
+  
+  /**
+   * Get {@link INode} associated with the file / directory.
+   */
+  INode getINode(String src) throws UnresolvedLinkException {
     readLock();
     try {
-      INode inode = rootDir.getNode(src, true);
-      if (inode == null || inode.isDirectory())
-        return null;
-      assert !inode.isLink();      
-      return (INodeFile)inode;
+      INode iNode = rootDir.getNode(src, true);
+      return iNode;
     } finally {
       readUnlock();
     }
@@ -1991,9 +1999,9 @@ public class FSDirectory implements Closeable {
   }
 
   /**
-   * Sets the access time on the file. Logs it in the transaction log.
+   * Sets the access time on the file/directory. Logs it in the transaction log.
    */
-  void setTimes(String src, INodeFile inode, long mtime, long atime, boolean force) {
+  void setTimes(String src, INode inode, long mtime, long atime, boolean force) {
     boolean status = false;
     writeLock();
     try {
@@ -2009,11 +2017,11 @@ public class FSDirectory implements Closeable {
   boolean unprotectedSetTimes(String src, long mtime, long atime, boolean force) 
       throws UnresolvedLinkException {
     assert hasWriteLock();
-    INodeFile inode = getFileINode(src);
+    INode inode = getINode(src);
     return unprotectedSetTimes(src, inode, mtime, atime, force);
   }
 
-  private boolean unprotectedSetTimes(String src, INodeFile inode, long mtime,
+  private boolean unprotectedSetTimes(String src, INode inode, long mtime,
                                       long atime, boolean force) {
     assert hasWriteLock();
     boolean status = false;
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSNamesystem.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSNamesystem.java
index 08121f37782..47befa76128 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSNamesystem.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSNamesystem.java
@@ -940,7 +940,7 @@ public class FSNamesystem implements Namesystem, FSClusterStats,
       if (isPermissionEnabled) {
         checkPathAccess(src, FsAction.WRITE);
       }
-      INodeFile inode = dir.getFileINode(src);
+      INode inode = dir.getINode(src);
       if (inode != null) {
         dir.setTimes(src, inode, mtime, atime, true);
         if (auditLog.isInfoEnabled() && isExternalInvocation()) {
@@ -950,7 +950,7 @@ public class FSNamesystem implements Namesystem, FSClusterStats,
                         "setTimes", src, null, stat);
         }
       } else {
-        throw new FileNotFoundException("File " + src + " does not exist.");
+        throw new FileNotFoundException("File/Directory " + src + " does not exist.");
       }
     } finally {
       writeUnlock();
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/INode.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/INode.java
index c9cea600257..83d9858586e 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/INode.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/INode.java
@@ -304,7 +304,6 @@ public abstract class INode implements Comparable<byte[]>, FSInodeInfo {
    * Always set the last modification time of inode.
    */
   void setModificationTimeForce(long modtime) {
-    assert !isDirectory();
     this.modificationTime = modtime;
   }
 
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestSetTimes.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestSetTimes.java
index b230391dd02..707a2b1fb7c 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestSetTimes.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestSetTimes.java
@@ -158,6 +158,24 @@ public class TestSetTimes extends TestCase {
       assertTrue(atime2 == stat.getAccessTime());
       assertTrue(mtime2 == mtime3);
 
+      long mtime4 = System.currentTimeMillis() - (3600L * 1000L);
+      long atime4 = System.currentTimeMillis();
+      fileSys.setTimes(dir1, mtime4, atime4);
+      // check new modification time on file
+      stat = fileSys.getFileStatus(dir1);
+      assertTrue("Not matching the modification times", mtime4 == stat
+          .getModificationTime());
+      assertTrue("Not matching the access times", atime4 == stat
+          .getAccessTime());
+
+      Path nonExistingDir = new Path(dir1, "/nonExistingDir/");
+      try {
+        fileSys.setTimes(nonExistingDir, mtime4, atime4);
+        fail("Expecting FileNotFoundException");
+      } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
+        assertTrue(e.getMessage().contains(
+            "File/Directory " + nonExistingDir.toString() + " does not exist."));
+      }
       // shutdown cluster and restart
       cluster.shutdown();
       try {Thread.sleep(2*MAX_IDLE_TIME);} catch (InterruptedException e) {}