diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 0f0524cb402..6a0aff6bebb 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -415,6 +415,8 @@ Release 0.20.0 - Unreleased
    HBASE-1584  Put add methods should return this for ease of use (Be
                consistant with Get) (Clint Morgan via Stack)
    HBASE-1581  Run major compaction on .META. when table is dropped or truncated
+   HBASE-1587  Update ganglia config and doc to account for ganglia 3.1 and
+               hadoop-4675
 
   OPTIMIZATIONS
    HBASE-1412  Change values for delete column and column family in KeyValue
diff --git a/conf/hadoop-metrics.properties b/conf/hadoop-metrics.properties
index aeadbea2237..5fcaaa6e627 100644
--- a/conf/hadoop-metrics.properties
+++ b/conf/hadoop-metrics.properties
@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
 # See http://wiki.apache.org/hadoop/GangliaMetrics
+# Make sure you know whether you are using ganglia 3.0 or 3.1.
+# If 3.1, you will have to patch your hadoop instance with HADOOP-4675
 # And, yes, this file is named hadoop-metrics.properties rather than
 # hbase-metrics.properties because we're leveraging the hadoop metrics
 # package and hadoop-metrics.properties is an hardcoded-name, at least
 # for the moment.
+#
+# See also http://hadoop.apache.org/hbase/docs/current/metrics.html
 
 # Configuration of the "hbase" context for null
 hbase.class=org.apache.hadoop.metrics.spi.NullContext
@@ -13,7 +17,9 @@ hbase.class=org.apache.hadoop.metrics.spi.NullContext
 # hbase.fileName=/tmp/metrics_hbase.log
 
 # Configuration of the "hbase" context for ganglia
+# Pick one: Ganglia 3.0 (former) or Ganglia 3.1 (latter)
 # hbase.class=org.apache.hadoop.metrics.ganglia.GangliaContext
+# hbase.class=org.apache.hadoop.metrics.ganglia.GangliaContext31
 # hbase.period=10
 # hbase.servers=GMETADHOST_IP:8649
 
@@ -26,7 +32,9 @@ jvm.class=org.apache.hadoop.metrics.spi.NullContext
 # jvm.fileName=/tmp/metrics_jvm.log
 
 # Configuration of the "jvm" context for ganglia
+# Pick one: Ganglia 3.0 (former) or Ganglia 3.1 (latter)
 # jvm.class=org.apache.hadoop.metrics.ganglia.GangliaContext
+# jvm.class=org.apache.hadoop.metrics.ganglia.GangliaContext31
 # jvm.period=10
 # jvm.servers=GMETADHOST_IP:8649
 
@@ -39,6 +47,8 @@ rpc.class=org.apache.hadoop.metrics.spi.NullContext
 # rpc.fileName=/tmp/metrics_rpc.log
 
 # Configuration of the "rpc" context for ganglia
+# Pick one: Ganglia 3.0 (former) or Ganglia 3.1 (latter)
 # rpc.class=org.apache.hadoop.metrics.ganglia.GangliaContext
+# rpc.class=org.apache.hadoop.metrics.ganglia.GangliaContext31
 # rpc.period=10
 # rpc.servers=GMETADHOST_IP:8649