diff --git a/common/network-common/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/network/TransportContext.java b/common/network-common/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/network/TransportContext.java
index a0de9df1986f5..6948e595b546e 100644
--- a/common/network-common/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/network/TransportContext.java
+++ b/common/network-common/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/network/TransportContext.java
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@
 import org.apache.spark.network.server.TransportServerBootstrap;
 import org.apache.spark.network.util.IOMode;
 import org.apache.spark.network.util.NettyUtils;
+import org.apache.spark.network.util.NettyLogger;
 import org.apache.spark.network.util.TransportConf;
 import org.apache.spark.network.util.TransportFrameDecoder;
 
@@ -64,6 +65,7 @@
 public class TransportContext implements Closeable {
   private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(TransportContext.class);
 
+  private static final NettyLogger nettyLogger = new NettyLogger();
   private final TransportConf conf;
   private final RpcHandler rpcHandler;
   private final boolean closeIdleConnections;
@@ -187,7 +189,11 @@ public TransportChannelHandler initializePipeline(
       RpcHandler channelRpcHandler) {
     try {
       TransportChannelHandler channelHandler = createChannelHandler(channel, channelRpcHandler);
-      ChannelPipeline pipeline = channel.pipeline()
+      ChannelPipeline pipeline = channel.pipeline();
+      if (nettyLogger.getLoggingHandler() != null) {
+        pipeline.addLast("loggingHandler", nettyLogger.getLoggingHandler());
+      }
+      pipeline
         .addLast("encoder", ENCODER)
         .addLast(TransportFrameDecoder.HANDLER_NAME, NettyUtils.createFrameDecoder())
         .addLast("decoder", DECODER)
diff --git a/common/network-common/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/network/protocol/MessageWithHeader.java b/common/network-common/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/network/protocol/MessageWithHeader.java
index b81c25afc737f..19eeddb842c09 100644
--- a/common/network-common/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/network/protocol/MessageWithHeader.java
+++ b/common/network-common/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/network/protocol/MessageWithHeader.java
@@ -194,4 +194,10 @@ public boolean release(int decrement) {
     }
     return super.release(decrement);
   }
+
+  @Override
+  public String toString() {
+    return "MessageWithHeader [headerLength: " + headerLength + ", bodyLength: " + bodyLength + "]";
+  }
+
 }
diff --git a/common/network-common/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/network/util/NettyLogger.java b/common/network-common/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/network/util/NettyLogger.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..914c9704c79af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/network-common/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/network/util/NettyLogger.java
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.spark.network.util;
+
+import io.netty.buffer.ByteBuf;
+import io.netty.buffer.ByteBufHolder;
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelHandlerContext;
+import io.netty.handler.logging.LoggingHandler;
+import io.netty.handler.logging.LogLevel;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
+public class NettyLogger {
+  private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(NettyLogger.class);
+
+  /** A Netty LoggingHandler which does not dump the message contents. */
+  private static class NoContentLoggingHandler extends LoggingHandler {
+
+    NoContentLoggingHandler(Class<?> clazz, LogLevel level) {
+      super(clazz, level);
+    }
+
+    protected String format(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, String eventName, Object arg) {
+      if (arg instanceof ByteBuf) {
+        return format(ctx, eventName) + " " + ((ByteBuf) arg).readableBytes() + "B";
+      } else if (arg instanceof ByteBufHolder) {
+        return format(ctx, eventName) + " " +
+          ((ByteBufHolder) arg).content().readableBytes() + "B";
+      } else {
+        return super.format(ctx, eventName, arg);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  private final LoggingHandler loggingHandler;
+
+  public NettyLogger() {
+    if (logger.isTraceEnabled()) {
+      loggingHandler = new LoggingHandler(NettyLogger.class, LogLevel.TRACE);
+    } else if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
+      loggingHandler = new NoContentLoggingHandler(NettyLogger.class, LogLevel.DEBUG);
+    } else {
+      loggingHandler = null;
+    }
+  }
+
+  public LoggingHandler getLoggingHandler() {
+    return loggingHandler;
+  }
+}