diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 5087fc64df5..3e03e3cc2a2 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -100,8 +100,6 @@ Release 0.91.0 - Unreleased
    HBASE-3849  Fix master ui; hbase-1502 broke requests/second
    HBASE-3853  Fix TestInfoServers to pass after HBASE-3835 (todd)
    HBASE-3862  Race conditions in aggregate calculation (John Heitmann)
-   HBASE-3861  MiniZooKeeperCluster should refer to maxClientCnxns (Eugene
-               Koontz via Andrew Purtell)
    HBASE-3865  Failing TestWALReplay
 
   IMPROVEMENTS
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/MiniZooKeeperCluster.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/MiniZooKeeperCluster.java
index 36007b2fa6f..05abeb79f9f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/MiniZooKeeperCluster.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/MiniZooKeeperCluster.java
@@ -33,9 +33,7 @@ import java.util.List;
 
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
-import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileUtil;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseConfiguration;
 import org.apache.zookeeper.server.NIOServerCnxn;
 import org.apache.zookeeper.server.ZooKeeperServer;
 import org.apache.zookeeper.server.persistence.FileTxnLog;
@@ -63,17 +61,9 @@ public class MiniZooKeeperCluster {
   private int activeZKServerIndex;
   private int tickTime = 0;
 
-  private Configuration configuration;
-
   /** Create mini ZooKeeper cluster. */
   public MiniZooKeeperCluster() {
-    this(HBaseConfiguration.create());
-  }
-
-  /** Create mini ZooKeeper cluster. */
-  public MiniZooKeeperCluster(Configuration configuration) {
     this.started = false;
-    this.configuration = configuration;
     activeZKServerIndex = -1;
     zooKeeperServers = new ArrayList<ZooKeeperServer>();
     clientPortList = new ArrayList<Integer>();
@@ -141,13 +131,12 @@ public class MiniZooKeeperCluster {
       } else {
         tickTimeToUse = TICK_TIME;
       }
-      int numberOfConnections = this.configuration.getInt("hbase.zookeeper.property.maxClientCnxns",5000);
       ZooKeeperServer server = new ZooKeeperServer(dir, dir, tickTimeToUse);    
       NIOServerCnxn.Factory standaloneServerFactory;
       while (true) {
         try {
           standaloneServerFactory =
-            new NIOServerCnxn.Factory(new InetSocketAddress(clientPort), numberOfConnections);
+            new NIOServerCnxn.Factory(new InetSocketAddress(clientPort));
         } catch (BindException e) {
           LOG.info("Failed binding ZK Server to client port: " + clientPort);
           //this port is already in use. try to use another
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseTestingUtility.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseTestingUtility.java
index cea407b78df..babd7883879 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseTestingUtility.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseTestingUtility.java
@@ -280,7 +280,7 @@ public class HBaseTestingUtility {
     if (this.zkCluster != null) {
       throw new IOException("Cluster already running at " + dir);
     }
-    this.zkCluster = new MiniZooKeeperCluster(this.getConfiguration());
+    this.zkCluster = new MiniZooKeeperCluster();
     int clientPort = this.zkCluster.startup(dir,zooKeeperServerNum);
     this.conf.set("hbase.zookeeper.property.clientPort",
       Integer.toString(clientPort));
diff --git a/src/test/resources/hbase-site.xml b/src/test/resources/hbase-site.xml
index 35cfd2c0375..2a9ab29f359 100644
--- a/src/test/resources/hbase-site.xml
+++ b/src/test/resources/hbase-site.xml
@@ -146,14 +146,4 @@
     version is X.X.X-SNAPSHOT"
     </description>
   </property>
-  <property>
-    <name>hbase.zookeeper.property.maxClientCnxns</name>
-    <value>5000</value>
-    <description>Property from ZooKeeper's config zoo.cfg.
-    Limit on number of concurrent connections (at the socket level) that a
-    single client, identified by IP address, may make to a single member of
-    the ZooKeeper ensemble. Set high to avoid zk connection issues running
-    standalone and pseudo-distributed.
-    </description>
-  </property>
 </configuration>