diff --git a/hbase-shell/src/main/ruby/hbase/admin.rb b/hbase-shell/src/main/ruby/hbase/admin.rb
index ac201cd92ca..bd2406536c2 100644
--- a/hbase-shell/src/main/ruby/hbase/admin.rb
+++ b/hbase-shell/src/main/ruby/hbase/admin.rb
@@ -267,6 +267,12 @@ module Hbase
       org.apache.hadoop.hbase.zookeeper.ZKUtil::dump(@zk_wrapper)
     end
 
+    #----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    # Parse arguments and update HTableDescriptor accordingly
+    def parse_htd_args(htd, arg)
+      htd.setNormalizationEnabled(JBoolean.valueOf(arg.delete(NORMALIZATION_ENABLED))) if arg[NORMALIZATION_ENABLED]
+    end
+
     #----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     # Creates a table
     def create(table_name, *args)
@@ -360,6 +366,7 @@ module Hbase
           end
         end
         htd.setDurability(org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Durability.valueOf(arg.delete(DURABILITY))) if arg[DURABILITY]
+        parse_htd_args(htd, arg)
         set_user_metadata(htd, arg.delete(METADATA)) if arg[METADATA]
         set_descriptor_config(htd, arg.delete(CONFIGURATION)) if arg[CONFIGURATION]
 
@@ -613,8 +620,7 @@ module Hbase
         htd.setMaxFileSize(JLong.valueOf(arg.delete(MAX_FILESIZE))) if arg[MAX_FILESIZE]
         htd.setReadOnly(JBoolean.valueOf(arg.delete(READONLY))) if arg[READONLY]
         htd.setCompactionEnabled(JBoolean.valueOf(arg[COMPACTION_ENABLED])) if arg[COMPACTION_ENABLED]
-        htd.setNormalizationEnabled(
-          JBoolean.valueOf(arg[NORMALIZATION_ENABLED])) if arg[NORMALIZATION_ENABLED]
+        parse_htd_args(htd, arg)
         htd.setMemStoreFlushSize(JLong.valueOf(arg.delete(MEMSTORE_FLUSHSIZE))) if arg[MEMSTORE_FLUSHSIZE]
         # DEFERRED_LOG_FLUSH is deprecated and was replaced by DURABILITY.  To keep backward compatible, it still exists.
         # However, it has to be set before DURABILITY so that DURABILITY could overwrite if both args are set