diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 3cb51368790..f33d02a834c 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -604,6 +604,9 @@ Release 0.21.1 - Unreleased
     HADOOP-7174. Null is displayed in the "fs -copyToLocal" command.
     (Uma Maheswara Rao G via szetszwo)
 
+    HADOOP-7187. Fix socket leak in GangliaContext.  (Uma Maheswara Rao G
+    via szetszwo)
+
 Release 0.21.0 - 2010-08-13
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/metrics/ganglia/GangliaContext.java b/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/metrics/ganglia/GangliaContext.java
index 1b22240f879..6460120012d 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/metrics/ganglia/GangliaContext.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/metrics/ganglia/GangliaContext.java
@@ -112,6 +112,17 @@ public class GangliaContext extends AbstractMetricsContext {
     }
   }
 
+    /**
+   * method to close the datagram socket
+   */
+  @Override
+  public void close() {
+    super.close();
+    if (datagramSocket != null) {
+      datagramSocket.close();
+    }
+  }
+  
   @InterfaceAudience.Private
   public void emitRecord(String contextName, String recordName,
     OutputRecord outRec) 
diff --git a/src/test/core/org/apache/hadoop/metrics/ganglia/TestGangliaContext.java b/src/test/core/org/apache/hadoop/metrics/ganglia/TestGangliaContext.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..deb8231154c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/core/org/apache/hadoop/metrics/ganglia/TestGangliaContext.java
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+/*
+ * TestGangliaContext.java
+ *
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+
+package org.apache.hadoop.metrics.ganglia;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.metrics.ContextFactory;
+import org.apache.hadoop.metrics.spi.AbstractMetricsContext;
+
+public class TestGangliaContext {
+  
+  @Test
+  public void testCloseShouldCloseTheSocketWhichIsCreatedByInit() throws Exception {
+    AbstractMetricsContext context=new GangliaContext();
+    context.init("gangliaContext", ContextFactory.getFactory());
+    GangliaContext gangliaContext =(GangliaContext) context;
+    assertFalse("Socket already closed",gangliaContext.datagramSocket.isClosed());
+    context.close();
+    assertTrue("Socket not closed",gangliaContext.datagramSocket.isClosed());
+  }
+}