diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
index 9af50faec9f..8f3c9603e03 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -307,6 +307,9 @@ Release 2.8.0 - UNRELEASED
     MAPREDUCE-6192. Create unit test to automatically compare
     MR related classes and mapred-default.xml (rchiang via rkanter)
 
+    MAPREDUCE-6279. AM should explicity exit JVM after all services have
+    stopped (Eric Payne via jlowe)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
   BUG FIXES
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/app/MRAppMaster.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/app/MRAppMaster.java
index c41f679c0d9..a5c9a251ce9 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/app/MRAppMaster.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/app/MRAppMaster.java
@@ -220,6 +220,7 @@ public class MRAppMaster extends CompositeService {
   private final ScheduledExecutorService logSyncer;
 
   private long recoveredJobStartTime = 0;
+  private static boolean mainStarted = false;
 
   @VisibleForTesting
   protected AtomicBoolean successfullyUnregistered =
@@ -605,11 +606,37 @@ public class MRAppMaster extends CompositeService {
       clientService.stop();
     } catch (Throwable t) {
       LOG.warn("Graceful stop failed. Exiting.. ", t);
-      ExitUtil.terminate(1, t);
+      exitMRAppMaster(1, t);
     }
-
+    exitMRAppMaster(0, null);
   }
- 
+
+  /** MRAppMaster exit method which has been instrumented for both runtime and
+   *  unit testing.
+   * If the main thread has not been started, this method was called from a
+   * test. In that case, configure the ExitUtil object to not exit the JVM.
+   *
+   * @param status integer indicating exit status
+   * @param t throwable exception that could be null
+   */
+  private void exitMRAppMaster(int status, Throwable t) {
+    if (!mainStarted) {
+      ExitUtil.disableSystemExit();
+    }
+    try {
+      if (t != null) {
+        ExitUtil.terminate(status, t);
+      } else {
+        ExitUtil.terminate(status);
+      }
+    } catch (ExitUtil.ExitException ee) {
+      // ExitUtil.ExitException is only thrown from the ExitUtil test code when
+      // SystemExit has been disabled. It is always thrown in in the test code,
+      // even when no error occurs. Ignore the exception so that tests don't
+      // need to handle it.
+    }
+  }
+
   private class JobFinishEventHandler implements EventHandler<JobFinishEvent> {
     @Override
     public void handle(JobFinishEvent event) {
@@ -1407,6 +1434,7 @@ public class MRAppMaster extends CompositeService {
 
   public static void main(String[] args) {
     try {
+      mainStarted = true;
       Thread.setDefaultUncaughtExceptionHandler(new YarnUncaughtExceptionHandler());
       String containerIdStr =
           System.getenv(Environment.CONTAINER_ID.name());
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/app/TestMRAppMaster.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/app/TestMRAppMaster.java
index 70437c1ba36..63b201d5a07 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/app/TestMRAppMaster.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/app/TestMRAppMaster.java
@@ -20,9 +20,15 @@ package org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.v2.app;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
+import static org.mockito.Matchers.anyBoolean;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.doNothing;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.doReturn;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.doThrow;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.spy;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
+
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -32,7 +38,6 @@ import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
 
 import org.junit.Assert;
-
 import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
@@ -63,6 +68,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.security.Credentials;
 import org.apache.hadoop.security.UserGroupInformation;
 import org.apache.hadoop.security.token.Token;
 import org.apache.hadoop.security.token.TokenIdentifier;
+import org.apache.hadoop.util.ExitUtil;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.ApplicationAttemptId;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.ApplicationId;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.ContainerId;
@@ -437,6 +443,47 @@ public class TestMRAppMaster {
 
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testMRAppMasterShutDownJob() throws Exception,
+      InterruptedException {
+    String applicationAttemptIdStr = "appattempt_1317529182569_0004_000002";
+    String containerIdStr = "container_1317529182569_0004_000002_1";
+    String userName = "TestAppMasterUser";
+    ApplicationAttemptId applicationAttemptId = ConverterUtils
+        .toApplicationAttemptId(applicationAttemptIdStr);
+    ContainerId containerId = ConverterUtils.toContainerId(containerIdStr);
+    JobConf conf = new JobConf();
+    conf.set(MRJobConfig.MR_AM_STAGING_DIR, stagingDir);
+
+    File stagingDir =
+        new File(MRApps.getStagingAreaDir(conf, userName).toString());
+    stagingDir.mkdirs();
+    MRAppMasterTest appMaster =
+        spy(new MRAppMasterTest(applicationAttemptId, containerId, "host", -1, -1,
+            System.currentTimeMillis(), false, true));
+    MRAppMaster.initAndStartAppMaster(appMaster, conf, userName);
+    doReturn(conf).when(appMaster).getConfig();
+    appMaster.isLastAMRetry = true;
+    doNothing().when(appMaster).serviceStop();
+    // Test normal shutdown.
+    appMaster.shutDownJob();
+    Assert.assertTrue("Expected shutDownJob to terminate.",
+                      ExitUtil.terminateCalled());
+    Assert.assertEquals("Expected shutDownJob to exit with status code of 0.",
+        0, ExitUtil.getFirstExitException().status);
+
+    // Test shutdown with exception.
+    ExitUtil.resetFirstExitException();
+    String msg = "Injected Exception";
+    doThrow(new RuntimeException(msg))
+            .when(appMaster).notifyIsLastAMRetry(anyBoolean());
+    appMaster.shutDownJob();
+    assertTrue("Expected message from ExitUtil.ExitException to be " + msg,
+        ExitUtil.getFirstExitException().getMessage().contains(msg));
+    Assert.assertEquals("Expected shutDownJob to exit with status code of 1.",
+        1, ExitUtil.getFirstExitException().status);
+  }
+
   private void verifyFailedStatus(MRAppMasterTest appMaster,
       String expectedJobState) {
     ArgumentCaptor<JobHistoryEvent> captor = ArgumentCaptor