diff --git a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/execution/InsertIntoHiveTable.scala b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/execution/InsertIntoHiveTable.scala
index a6f1a683f3fe2..8f327d1887a23 100644
--- a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/execution/InsertIntoHiveTable.scala
+++ b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/execution/InsertIntoHiveTable.scala
@@ -24,7 +24,9 @@ import java.util.{HashMap => JHashMap}
 import org.apache.hadoop.hive.common.`type`.{HiveDecimal, HiveVarchar}
 import org.apache.hadoop.hive.metastore.MetaStoreUtils
 import org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.Context
+import org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.ErrorMsg
 import org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.metadata.Hive
+import org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.parse.SemanticException
 import org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.plan.{FileSinkDesc, TableDesc}
 import org.apache.hadoop.hive.serde2.Serializer
 import org.apache.hadoop.hive.serde2.objectinspector._
@@ -40,6 +42,7 @@ import org.apache.spark.rdd.RDD
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions.Row
 import org.apache.spark.sql.execution.{SparkPlan, UnaryNode}
 import org.apache.spark.sql.hive.{HiveContext, MetastoreRelation, SparkHiveHadoopWriter}
+import org.apache.hadoop.hive.conf.HiveConf
 
 /**
  * :: DeveloperApi ::
@@ -159,7 +162,7 @@ case class InsertIntoHiveTable(
     writer.commitJob()
   }
 
-  def getDynamicPartDir(tableInfo: TableDesc, row: Row, dynamicPartNum2: Int) :String = {
+  def getDynamicPartDir(tableInfo: TableDesc, row: Row, dynamicPartNum2: Int, jobConf: JobConf) :String = {
     dynamicPartNum2 match {
       case 0 =>""
       case i => {
@@ -169,11 +172,11 @@ case class InsertIntoHiveTable(
         var buf = new StringBuffer()
         if (partCols.length == dynamicPartNum2) {
           for (j <- 0 until partCols.length) {
-            buf.append("/").append(partCols(j)).append("=").append(row(j + row.length - colsNum))
+            buf.append("/").append(partCols(j)).append("=").append(handleNull(row(colsNum + j ), jobConf))
           }
         } else {
           for (j <- 0 until dynamicPartNum2) {
-            buf.append("/").append(partCols(j + partCols.length - dynamicPartNum2)).append("=").append(row(j + colsNum))
+            buf.append("/").append(partCols(j + partCols.length - dynamicPartNum2)).append("=").append(handleNull(row(colsNum + j), jobConf))
           }
         }
         buf.toString
@@ -181,6 +184,14 @@ case class InsertIntoHiveTable(
     }
   }
 
+  def handleNull(obj :Any, jobConf: JobConf) :String = {
+    if (obj == null ||obj.toString.length == 0) {
+      jobConf.get("hive.exec.default.partition.name ", "__HIVE_DEFAULT_PARTITION__")
+    } else {
+      obj.toString
+    }
+  }
+
   override def execute() = result
 
   /**
@@ -201,11 +212,38 @@ case class InsertIntoHiveTable(
     val tmpLocation = hiveContext.getExternalTmpFileURI(tableLocation)
     val fileSinkConf = new FileSinkDesc(tmpLocation.toString, tableDesc, false)
     var dynamicPartNum = 0
+    var numStaPart = 0
     var dynamicPartPath = "";
     val partitionSpec = partition.map {
-      case (key, Some(value)) => key -> value
-      case (key, None) => { dynamicPartNum += 1; key -> ""  }// Should not reach here right now.
+      case (key, Some(value)) => { numStaPart += 1; key -> value }
+      case (key, None) => { dynamicPartNum += 1; key -> ""  }
     }
+    // ORC stores compression information in table properties. While, there are other formats
+    // (e.g. RCFile) that rely on hadoop configurations to store compression information.
+    val jobConf = new JobConf(sc.hiveconf)
+    val jobConfSer = new SerializableWritable(jobConf)
+    // check if the partition spec is valid
+    if (dynamicPartNum > 0) {
+      if (!sc.hiveconf.getBoolVar(HiveConf.ConfVars.DYNAMICPARTITIONING)) {
+        throw new SemanticException(
+          ErrorMsg.DYNAMIC_PARTITION_DISABLED.getMsg())
+      }
+      if (numStaPart == 0 && sc.hiveconf.getVar(HiveConf.ConfVars.DYNAMICPARTITIONINGMODE).equalsIgnoreCase("strict")) {
+        throw new SemanticException(ErrorMsg.DYNAMIC_PARTITION_STRICT_MODE.getMsg());
+      }
+      // check if static partition appear after dynamic partitions
+      for ((k,v) <- partitionSpec) {
+        if (partitionSpec(k) == "") {
+          if (numStaPart > 0) { // found a DP, but there exists ST as subpartition
+            throw new SemanticException(
+              ErrorMsg.PARTITION_DYN_STA_ORDER.getMsg());
+          }
+        } else {
+          numStaPart -= 1
+        }
+      }
+    }
+
     val rdd = childRdd.mapPartitions { iter =>
       val serializer = newSerializer(fileSinkConf.getTableInfo)
       val standardOI = ObjectInspectorUtils
@@ -221,7 +259,7 @@ case class InsertIntoHiveTable(
         var i = 0
         while (i < fieldOIs.length) {
           if (fieldOIs.length < row.length && row.length - fieldOIs.length == dynamicPartNum) {
-              dynamicPartPath = getDynamicPartDir(fileSinkConf.getTableInfo, row, dynamicPartNum)
+              dynamicPartPath = getDynamicPartDir(fileSinkConf.getTableInfo, row, dynamicPartNum, jobConfSer.value)
           }
           // Casts Strings to HiveVarchars when necessary.
           outputData(i) = wrap(row(i), fieldOIs(i))
@@ -232,10 +270,6 @@ case class InsertIntoHiveTable(
       }
     }
 
-    // ORC stores compression information in table properties. While, there are other formats
-    // (e.g. RCFile) that rely on hadoop configurations to store compression information.
-    val jobConf = new JobConf(sc.hiveconf)
-    val jobConfSer = new SerializableWritable(jobConf)
     if (dynamicPartNum>0) {
       if (outputClass == null) {
         throw new SparkException("Output value class not set")
@@ -300,8 +334,6 @@ case class InsertIntoHiveTable(
         v.commitJob()
       }
       writerMap.clear()
-      //writer.commitJob()
-
     } else {
       saveAsHiveFile(
         rdd,