diff --git a/include/rocksdb/env.h b/include/rocksdb/env.h
index e17ae3eae3..e5f892a754 100644
--- a/include/rocksdb/env.h
+++ b/include/rocksdb/env.h
@@ -947,6 +947,10 @@ class WritableFileWrapper : public WritableFile {
 // *base_env must remain live while the result is in use.
 Env* NewMemEnv(Env* base_env);
 
+// Returns a new environment that is used for HDFS environment.
+// This is a factory method for HdfsEnv declared in hdfs/env_hdfs.h
+Status NewHdfsEnv(Env** hdfs_env, const std::string& fsname);
+
 }  // namespace rocksdb
 
 #endif  // STORAGE_ROCKSDB_INCLUDE_ENV_H_
diff --git a/util/env_hdfs.cc b/util/env_hdfs.cc
index e7844e8dcf..7e12c747a8 100644
--- a/util/env_hdfs.cc
+++ b/util/env_hdfs.cc
@@ -594,6 +594,11 @@ Status HdfsEnv::NewLogger(const std::string& fname,
   return Status::OK();
 }
 
+// The factory method for creating an HDFS Env
+Status NewHdfsEnv(Env** hdfs_env, const std::string& fsname) {
+  *hdfs_env = new HdfsEnv(fsname);
+  return Status::OK();
+}
 }  // namespace rocksdb
 
 #endif // ROCKSDB_HDFS_FILE_C
@@ -607,6 +612,10 @@ namespace rocksdb {
                                    const EnvOptions& options) {
    return Status::NotSupported("Not compiled with hdfs support");
  }
+
+ Status NewHdfsEnv(Env** hdfs_env, const std::string& fsname) {
+   return Status::NotSupported("Not compiled with hdfs support");
+ }
 }
 
 #endif