diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index 22d0b737d2c..bc22d0a1120 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -270,6 +270,10 @@ Release 0.23.2 - UNRELEASED
     dfs.client.block.write.replace-datanode-on-failure.enable to be mistakenly
     disabled. (atm)
 
+    HDFS-2981. In hdfs-default.xml, the default value of
+    dfs.client.block.write.replace-datanode-on-failure.enable should be true.
+    (szetszwo)
+
 Release 0.23.1 - 2012-02-17 
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/resources/hdfs-default.xml b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/resources/hdfs-default.xml
index d70bc1ee030..1ce090be947 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/resources/hdfs-default.xml
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/resources/hdfs-default.xml
@@ -347,7 +347,7 @@ creations/deletions), or "all".</description>
 
 <property>
   <name>dfs.client.block.write.replace-datanode-on-failure.enable</name>
-  <value>false</value>
+  <value>true</value>
   <description>
     If there is a datanode/network failure in the write pipeline,
     DFSClient will try to remove the failed datanode from the pipeline