diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/HLogFactory.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/HLogFactory.java
index eaee4346033..f96f7e0532a 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/HLogFactory.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/HLogFactory.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 package org.apache.hadoop.hbase.regionserver.wal;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InterruptedIOException;
 import java.util.List;
 
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
@@ -31,6 +32,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HConstants;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.regionserver.wal.HLog.Reader;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.regionserver.wal.HLog.Writer;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.EnvironmentEdgeManager;
 
 public class HLogFactory {
     private static final Log LOG = LogFactory.getLog(HLogFactory.class);
@@ -67,7 +69,7 @@ public class HLogFactory {
     static void resetLogReaderClass() {
       logReaderClass = null;
     }
-    
+
     /**
      * Create a reader for the WAL. If you are reading from a file that's being written to
      * and need to reopen it multiple times, use {@link HLog.Reader#reset()} instead of this method
@@ -76,28 +78,55 @@ public class HLogFactory {
      * @throws IOException
      */
     public static HLog.Reader createReader(final FileSystem fs,
-        final Path path, Configuration conf)
-    throws IOException {
-      try {
-
-        if (logReaderClass == null) {
-
-          logReaderClass = conf.getClass("hbase.regionserver.hlog.reader.impl",
-              SequenceFileLogReader.class, Reader.class);
-        }
-
-
-        HLog.Reader reader = logReaderClass.newInstance();
-        reader.init(fs, path, conf);
-        return reader;
-      } catch (IOException e) {
-        throw e;
+        final Path path, Configuration conf) throws IOException {
+      if (logReaderClass == null) {
+        logReaderClass = conf.getClass("hbase.regionserver.hlog.reader.impl",
+          SequenceFileLogReader.class, Reader.class);
       }
-      catch (Exception e) {
+
+      try {
+        // A hlog file could be under recovery, so it may take several
+        // tries to get it open. Instead of claiming it is corrupted, retry
+        // to open it up to 5 minutes by default.
+        long startWaiting = EnvironmentEdgeManager.currentTimeMillis();
+        long openTimeout = conf.getInt("hbase.hlog.open.timeout", 300000) + startWaiting;
+        int nbAttempt = 0;
+        while (true) {
+          try {
+            HLog.Reader reader = logReaderClass.newInstance();
+            reader.init(fs, path, conf);
+            return reader;
+          } catch (IOException e) {
+            String msg = e.getMessage();
+            if (msg != null && msg.contains("Cannot obtain block length")) {
+              if (++nbAttempt == 1) {
+                LOG.warn("Lease should have recovered. This is not expected. Will retry", e);
+              }
+              if (nbAttempt > 2 && openTimeout < EnvironmentEdgeManager.currentTimeMillis()) {
+                LOG.error("Can't open after " + nbAttempt + " attempts and "
+                  + (EnvironmentEdgeManager.currentTimeMillis() - startWaiting)
+                  + "ms " + " for " + path);
+              } else {
+                try {
+                  Thread.sleep(nbAttempt < 3 ? 500 : 1000);
+                  continue; // retry
+                } catch (InterruptedException ie) {
+                  InterruptedIOException iioe = new InterruptedIOException();
+                  iioe.initCause(ie);
+                  throw iioe;
+                }
+              }
+            }
+            throw e;
+          }
+        }
+      } catch (IOException ie) {
+        throw ie;
+      } catch (Exception e) {
         throw new IOException("Cannot get log reader", e);
       }
     }
-    
+
     /*
      * WAL writer
      */
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/HLogSplitter.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/HLogSplitter.java
index ff41f2fb81b..f0ba96ed3e1 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/HLogSplitter.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/HLogSplitter.java
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
 import java.text.ParseException;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collections;
-import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.LinkedList;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/TestHLogSplit.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/TestHLogSplit.java
index 320a6f83dea..21b3023e254 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/TestHLogSplit.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/TestHLogSplit.java
@@ -880,6 +880,44 @@ public class TestHLogSplit {
     }
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testRetryOpenDuringRecovery() throws Exception {
+    generateHLogs(-1);
+
+    fs.initialize(fs.getUri(), conf);
+
+    FileSystem spiedFs = Mockito.spy(fs);
+    // The "Cannot obtain block length" part is very important,
+    // that's how it comes out of HDFS. If HDFS changes the exception
+    // message, this test needs to be adjusted accordingly.
+    //
+    // When DFSClient tries to open a file, HDFS needs to locate
+    // the last block of the file and get its length. However, if the
+    // last block is under recovery, HDFS may have problem to obtain
+    // the block length, in which case, retry may help.
+    Mockito.doAnswer(new Answer<FSDataInputStream>() {
+      private int count = 0;
+
+      public FSDataInputStream answer(InvocationOnMock invocation) throws Throwable {
+            if (count++ < 3) {
+                throw new IOException("Cannot obtain block length");
+            }
+            return (FSDataInputStream)invocation.callRealMethod();
+        }
+    }).when(spiedFs).open(Mockito.<Path>any(), Mockito.anyInt());
+
+    HLogSplitter logSplitter = new HLogSplitter(
+        conf, HBASEDIR, HLOGDIR, OLDLOGDIR, spiedFs, null);
+
+    try {
+      logSplitter.splitLog();
+      assertEquals(NUM_WRITERS, fs.listStatus(OLDLOGDIR).length);
+      assertFalse(fs.exists(HLOGDIR));
+    } catch (IOException e) {
+      fail("There shouldn't be any exception but: " + e.toString());
+    }
+  }
+
   /**
    * Test log split process with fake data and lots of edits to trigger threading
    * issues.
@@ -1330,6 +1368,7 @@ public class TestHLogSplit {
   private Path getLogForRegion(Path rootdir, byte[] table, String region)
   throws IOException {
     Path tdir = HTableDescriptor.getTableDir(rootdir, table);
+    @SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
     Path editsdir = HLogUtil.getRegionDirRecoveredEditsDir(HRegion.getRegionDir(tdir,
       Bytes.toString(region.getBytes())));
     FileStatus [] files = this.fs.listStatus(editsdir);