diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkEnv.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkEnv.scala
index 3196c1ece15eb..1095d7285781f 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkEnv.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkEnv.scala
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ object SparkEnv extends Logging {
 
     val systemName = if (isDriver) driverSystemName else executorSystemName
     val rpcEnv = RpcEnv.create(systemName, bindAddress, advertiseAddress, port.getOrElse(-1), conf,
-      securityManager, clientMode = !isDriver)
+      securityManager, numUsableCores, !isDriver)
 
     // Figure out which port RpcEnv actually bound to in case the original port is 0 or occupied.
     if (isDriver) {
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rpc/RpcEnv.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rpc/RpcEnv.scala
index 530743c03640b..de2cc56bc6b16 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rpc/RpcEnv.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rpc/RpcEnv.scala
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ private[spark] object RpcEnv {
       conf: SparkConf,
       securityManager: SecurityManager,
       clientMode: Boolean = false): RpcEnv = {
-    create(name, host, host, port, conf, securityManager, clientMode)
+    create(name, host, host, port, conf, securityManager, 0, clientMode)
   }
 
   def create(
@@ -50,9 +50,10 @@ private[spark] object RpcEnv {
       port: Int,
       conf: SparkConf,
       securityManager: SecurityManager,
+      numUsableCores: Int,
       clientMode: Boolean): RpcEnv = {
     val config = RpcEnvConfig(conf, name, bindAddress, advertiseAddress, port, securityManager,
-      clientMode)
+      numUsableCores, clientMode)
     new NettyRpcEnvFactory().create(config)
   }
 }
@@ -201,4 +202,5 @@ private[spark] case class RpcEnvConfig(
     advertiseAddress: String,
     port: Int,
     securityManager: SecurityManager,
+    numUsableCores: Int,
     clientMode: Boolean)
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rpc/netty/Dispatcher.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rpc/netty/Dispatcher.scala
index a02cf30a5d831..adde3293185cd 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rpc/netty/Dispatcher.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rpc/netty/Dispatcher.scala
@@ -32,8 +32,11 @@ import org.apache.spark.util.ThreadUtils
 
 /**
  * A message dispatcher, responsible for routing RPC messages to the appropriate endpoint(s).
+ *
+ * @param numUsableCores Number of CPU cores allocated to the process, for sizing the thread pool.
+ *                       If 0, will consider the available CPUs on the host.
  */
-private[netty] class Dispatcher(nettyEnv: NettyRpcEnv) extends Logging {
+private[netty] class Dispatcher(nettyEnv: NettyRpcEnv, numUsableCores: Int) extends Logging {
 
   private class EndpointData(
       val name: String,
@@ -189,8 +192,10 @@ private[netty] class Dispatcher(nettyEnv: NettyRpcEnv) extends Logging {
 
   /** Thread pool used for dispatching messages. */
   private val threadpool: ThreadPoolExecutor = {
+    val availableCores =
+      if (numUsableCores > 0) numUsableCores else Runtime.getRuntime.availableProcessors()
     val numThreads = nettyEnv.conf.getInt("spark.rpc.netty.dispatcher.numThreads",
-      math.max(2, Runtime.getRuntime.availableProcessors()))
+      math.max(2, availableCores))
     val pool = ThreadUtils.newDaemonFixedThreadPool(numThreads, "dispatcher-event-loop")
     for (i <- 0 until numThreads) {
       pool.execute(new MessageLoop)
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rpc/netty/NettyRpcEnv.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rpc/netty/NettyRpcEnv.scala
index b316e5443f639..4d88a1be6042f 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rpc/netty/NettyRpcEnv.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rpc/netty/NettyRpcEnv.scala
@@ -44,14 +44,15 @@ private[netty] class NettyRpcEnv(
     val conf: SparkConf,
     javaSerializerInstance: JavaSerializerInstance,
     host: String,
-    securityManager: SecurityManager) extends RpcEnv(conf) with Logging {
+    securityManager: SecurityManager,
+    numUsableCores: Int) extends RpcEnv(conf) with Logging {
 
   private[netty] val transportConf = SparkTransportConf.fromSparkConf(
     conf.clone.set("spark.rpc.io.numConnectionsPerPeer", "1"),
     "rpc",
     conf.getInt("spark.rpc.io.threads", 0))
 
-  private val dispatcher: Dispatcher = new Dispatcher(this)
+  private val dispatcher: Dispatcher = new Dispatcher(this, numUsableCores)
 
   private val streamManager = new NettyStreamManager(this)
 
@@ -448,7 +449,7 @@ private[rpc] class NettyRpcEnvFactory extends RpcEnvFactory with Logging {
       new JavaSerializer(sparkConf).newInstance().asInstanceOf[JavaSerializerInstance]
     val nettyEnv =
       new NettyRpcEnv(sparkConf, javaSerializerInstance, config.advertiseAddress,
-        config.securityManager)
+        config.securityManager, config.numUsableCores)
     if (!config.clientMode) {
       val startNettyRpcEnv: Int => (NettyRpcEnv, Int) = { actualPort =>
         nettyEnv.startServer(config.bindAddress, actualPort)
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/rpc/netty/NettyRpcEnvSuite.scala b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/rpc/netty/NettyRpcEnvSuite.scala
index 2b1bce4d208f6..777163709bbf5 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/rpc/netty/NettyRpcEnvSuite.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/rpc/netty/NettyRpcEnvSuite.scala
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ class NettyRpcEnvSuite extends RpcEnvSuite with MockitoSugar {
       port: Int,
       clientMode: Boolean = false): RpcEnv = {
     val config = RpcEnvConfig(conf, "test", "localhost", "localhost", port,
-      new SecurityManager(conf), clientMode)
+      new SecurityManager(conf), 0, clientMode)
     new NettyRpcEnvFactory().create(config)
   }
 
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ class NettyRpcEnvSuite extends RpcEnvSuite with MockitoSugar {
   test("advertise address different from bind address") {
     val sparkConf = new SparkConf()
     val config = RpcEnvConfig(sparkConf, "test", "localhost", "example.com", 0,
-      new SecurityManager(sparkConf), false)
+      new SecurityManager(sparkConf), 0, false)
     val env = new NettyRpcEnvFactory().create(config)
     try {
       assert(env.address.hostPort.startsWith("example.com:"))
diff --git a/resource-managers/yarn/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/yarn/ApplicationMaster.scala b/resource-managers/yarn/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/yarn/ApplicationMaster.scala
index 4868180569778..00b53e29ed102 100644
--- a/resource-managers/yarn/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/yarn/ApplicationMaster.scala
+++ b/resource-managers/yarn/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/yarn/ApplicationMaster.scala
@@ -431,8 +431,10 @@ private[spark] class ApplicationMaster(
   }
 
   private def runExecutorLauncher(securityMgr: SecurityManager): Unit = {
-    rpcEnv = RpcEnv.create("sparkYarnAM", Utils.localHostName, -1, sparkConf, securityMgr,
-      clientMode = true)
+    val hostname = Utils.localHostName
+    val amCores = sparkConf.get(AM_CORES)
+    rpcEnv = RpcEnv.create("sparkYarnAM", hostname, hostname, -1, sparkConf, securityMgr,
+      amCores, true)
     val driverRef = waitForSparkDriver()
     addAmIpFilter()
     registerAM(sparkConf, rpcEnv, driverRef, sparkConf.getOption("spark.driver.appUIAddress"),