diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/ZKUtil.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/ZKUtil.java
index 33697b53d25..3390773fd72 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/ZKUtil.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/ZKUtil.java
@@ -199,7 +199,13 @@ public class ZKUtil {
     if (System.getProperty("java.security.auth.login.config") != null)
       return;
 
+    // No keytab specified, no auth
     String keytabFilename = conf.get(keytabFileKey);
+    if (keytabFilename == null) {
+      LOG.warn("no keytab specified for: " + keytabFileKey);
+      return;
+    }
+
     String principalConfig = conf.get(userNameKey, System.getProperty("user.name"));
     String principalName = SecurityUtil.getServerPrincipal(principalConfig, hostname);
 
@@ -910,7 +916,8 @@ public class ZKUtil {
       return true;
 
     // Master & RSs uses hbase.zookeeper.client.*
-    return "kerberos".equalsIgnoreCase(conf.get("hbase.security.authentication"));
+    return("kerberos".equalsIgnoreCase(conf.get("hbase.security.authentication")) &&
+         conf.get("hbase.zookeeper.client.keytab.file") != null);
   }
 
   private static ArrayList<ACL> createACL(ZooKeeperWatcher zkw, String node) {
@@ -933,15 +940,6 @@ public class ZKUtil {
     }
   }
 
-  public static void waitForZKConnectionIfAuthenticating(ZooKeeperWatcher zkw)
-      throws InterruptedException {
-    if (isSecureZooKeeper(zkw.getConfiguration())) {
-       LOG.debug("Waiting for ZooKeeperWatcher to authenticate");
-       zkw.saslLatch.await();
-       LOG.debug("Done waiting.");
-    }
-  }
-
   //
   // Node creation
   //
@@ -968,7 +966,6 @@ public class ZKUtil {
       String znode, byte [] data)
   throws KeeperException {
     try {
-      waitForZKConnectionIfAuthenticating(zkw);
       zkw.getRecoverableZooKeeper().create(znode, data, createACL(zkw, znode),
           CreateMode.EPHEMERAL);
     } catch (KeeperException.NodeExistsException nee) {
@@ -1008,7 +1005,6 @@ public class ZKUtil {
       ZooKeeperWatcher zkw, String znode, byte [] data)
   throws KeeperException {
     try {
-      waitForZKConnectionIfAuthenticating(zkw);
       zkw.getRecoverableZooKeeper().create(znode, data, createACL(zkw, znode),
           CreateMode.PERSISTENT);
     } catch (KeeperException.NodeExistsException nee) {
@@ -1046,7 +1042,6 @@ public class ZKUtil {
       String znode, byte [] data)
   throws KeeperException, KeeperException.NodeExistsException {
     try {
-      waitForZKConnectionIfAuthenticating(zkw);
       zkw.getRecoverableZooKeeper().create(znode, data, createACL(zkw, znode),
           CreateMode.PERSISTENT);
       Stat stat = zkw.getRecoverableZooKeeper().exists(znode, zkw);
@@ -1080,13 +1075,8 @@ public class ZKUtil {
   public static void asyncCreate(ZooKeeperWatcher zkw,
       String znode, byte [] data, final AsyncCallback.StringCallback cb,
       final Object ctx) {
-    try {
-      waitForZKConnectionIfAuthenticating(zkw);
-      zkw.getRecoverableZooKeeper().getZooKeeper().create(znode, data,
-          createACL(zkw, znode), CreateMode.PERSISTENT, cb, ctx);
-    } catch (InterruptedException e) {
-      zkw.interruptedException(e);
-    }
+    zkw.getRecoverableZooKeeper().getZooKeeper().create(znode, data,
+        createACL(zkw, znode), CreateMode.PERSISTENT, cb, ctx);
   }
 
   /**
@@ -1111,7 +1101,6 @@ public class ZKUtil {
     String znode = create.getPath();
     try {
       RecoverableZooKeeper zk = zkw.getRecoverableZooKeeper();
-      waitForZKConnectionIfAuthenticating(zkw);
       if (zk.exists(znode, false) == null) {
         zk.create(znode, create.getData(), create.getAcl(), CreateMode.fromFlag(create.getFlags()));
       }
@@ -1148,7 +1137,6 @@ public class ZKUtil {
       if(znode == null) {
         return;
       }
-      waitForZKConnectionIfAuthenticating(zkw);
       zkw.getRecoverableZooKeeper().create(znode, new byte[0], createACL(zkw, znode),
           CreateMode.PERSISTENT);
     } catch(KeeperException.NodeExistsException nee) {
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/ZooKeeperNodeTracker.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/ZooKeeperNodeTracker.java
index 723fd7713d7..907fe764e98 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/ZooKeeperNodeTracker.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/ZooKeeperNodeTracker.java
@@ -74,12 +74,6 @@ public abstract class ZooKeeperNodeTracker extends ZooKeeperListener {
    * or {@link #getData(boolean)} to get the data of the node if it is available.
    */
   public synchronized void start() {
-    try {
-      ZKUtil.waitForZKConnectionIfAuthenticating(watcher);
-    } catch (InterruptedException e) {
-      throw new IllegalStateException("ZookeeperNodeTracker on " + this.node 
-          + " interuppted while waiting for SASL Authentication", e);
-    }
     this.watcher.registerListener(this);
     try {
       if(ZKUtil.watchAndCheckExists(watcher, node)) {
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/ZooKeeperWatcher.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/ZooKeeperWatcher.java
index af992791762..3b56e744258 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/ZooKeeperWatcher.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/ZooKeeperWatcher.java
@@ -342,34 +342,12 @@ public class ZooKeeperWatcher implements Watcher, Abortable, Closeable {
         LOG.debug(this.identifier + " connected");
         break;
 
-      case SaslAuthenticated:
-        if (ZKUtil.isSecureZooKeeper(this.conf)) {
-          // We are authenticated, clients can proceed.
-          saslLatch.countDown();
-        }
-        break;
-
-      case AuthFailed:
-        if (ZKUtil.isSecureZooKeeper(this.conf)) {
-          // We could not be authenticated, but clients should proceed anyway.
-          // Only access to znodes that require SASL authentication will be
-          // denied. The client may never need to access them.
-          saslLatch.countDown();
-        }
-        break;
-
       // Abort the server if Disconnected or Expired
       case Disconnected:
         LOG.debug(prefix("Received Disconnected from ZooKeeper, ignoring"));
         break;
 
       case Expired:
-        if (ZKUtil.isSecureZooKeeper(this.conf)) {
-          // We consider Expired equivalent to AuthFailed for this
-          // connection. Authentication is never going to complete. The
-          // client should proceed to do cleanup.
-          saslLatch.countDown();
-        }
         String msg = prefix(this.identifier + " received expired from " +
           "ZooKeeper, aborting");
         // TODO: One thought is to add call to ZooKeeperListener so say,
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/TestZooKeeperACL.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/TestZooKeeperACL.java
index 80f9087bd67..fd94f72c35f 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/TestZooKeeperACL.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/TestZooKeeperACL.java
@@ -86,7 +86,6 @@ public class TestZooKeeperACL {
     zkw = new ZooKeeperWatcher(
       new Configuration(TEST_UTIL.getConfiguration()),
         TestZooKeeper.class.getName(), null);
-    ZKUtil.waitForZKConnectionIfAuthenticating(zkw);
   }
 
   /**