diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/ha/RequestHedgingProxyProvider.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/ha/RequestHedgingProxyProvider.java
index 010e9e5020c..7b9cd64dc5d 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/ha/RequestHedgingProxyProvider.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/ha/RequestHedgingProxyProvider.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
  */
 package org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.ha;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.lang.reflect.InvocationHandler;
 import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
 import java.lang.reflect.Method;
@@ -87,6 +88,11 @@ public class RequestHedgingProxyProvider<T> extends
         // Optimization : if only 2 proxies are configured and one had failed
         // over, then we dont need to create a threadpool etc.
         targetProxies.remove(toIgnore);
+        if (targetProxies.size() == 0) {
+          LOG.trace("No valid proxies left");
+          throw new RemoteException(IOException.class.getName(),
+              "No valid proxies left. All NameNode proxies have failed over.");
+        }
         if (targetProxies.size() == 1) {
           ProxyInfo<T> proxyInfo = targetProxies.values().iterator().next();
           try {
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-client/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/ha/TestRequestHedgingProxyProvider.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-client/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/ha/TestRequestHedgingProxyProvider.java
index 65fbbf8948e..8d6b02dc158 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-client/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/ha/TestRequestHedgingProxyProvider.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-client/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/ha/TestRequestHedgingProxyProvider.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
 
+import org.apache.commons.lang.RandomStringUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.client.HdfsClientConfigKeys;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.protocol.ClientProtocol;
@@ -289,6 +290,50 @@ public class TestRequestHedgingProxyProvider {
     }
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testSingleProxyFailover() throws Exception {
+    String singleNS = "mycluster-" + Time.monotonicNow();
+    URI singleNNUri = new URI("hdfs://" + singleNS);
+    Configuration singleConf = new Configuration();
+    singleConf.set(HdfsClientConfigKeys.DFS_NAMESERVICES, singleNS);
+    singleConf.set(HdfsClientConfigKeys.
+        DFS_HA_NAMENODES_KEY_PREFIX + "." + singleNS, "nn1");
+
+    singleConf.set(HdfsClientConfigKeys.
+            DFS_NAMENODE_RPC_ADDRESS_KEY + "." + singleNS + ".nn1",
+        RandomStringUtils.randomAlphabetic(8) + ".foo.bar:9820");
+    ClientProtocol active = Mockito.mock(ClientProtocol.class);
+    Mockito
+        .when(active.getBlockLocations(Matchers.anyString(),
+            Matchers.anyLong(), Matchers.anyLong()))
+        .thenThrow(new RemoteException("java.io.FileNotFoundException",
+            "File does not exist!"));
+
+    RequestHedgingProxyProvider<ClientProtocol> provider =
+        new RequestHedgingProxyProvider<>(singleConf, singleNNUri,
+            ClientProtocol.class, createFactory(active));
+    try {
+      provider.getProxy().proxy.getBlockLocations("/tmp/test.file", 0L, 20L);
+      Assert.fail("Should fail since the active namenode throws"
+          + " FileNotFoundException!");
+    } catch (RemoteException ex) {
+      Exception rEx = ex.unwrapRemoteException();
+      Assert.assertTrue(rEx instanceof FileNotFoundException);
+    }
+    //Perform failover now, there will be no active proxies now
+    provider.performFailover(active);
+    try {
+      provider.getProxy().proxy.getBlockLocations("/tmp/test.file", 0L, 20L);
+      Assert.fail("Should fail since the active namenode throws"
+          + " FileNotFoundException!");
+    } catch (RemoteException ex) {
+      Exception rEx = ex.unwrapRemoteException();
+      Assert.assertTrue(rEx instanceof IOException);
+      Assert.assertTrue(rEx.getMessage().equals("No valid proxies left."
+          + " All NameNode proxies have failed over."));
+    }
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void testPerformFailoverWith3Proxies() throws Exception {
     conf.set(HdfsClientConfigKeys.DFS_HA_NAMENODES_KEY_PREFIX + "." + ns,