diff --git a/hive/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/HiveCatalog.java b/hive/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/HiveCatalog.java
index d00a1519c2..d894ae0b4c 100644
--- a/hive/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/HiveCatalog.java
+++ b/hive/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/HiveCatalog.java
@@ -56,6 +56,14 @@ public HiveCatalog(Configuration conf) {
     this.closed = false;
   }
 
+  protected HiveClientPool clientPool() {
+    return clients;
+  }
+
+  protected Configuration conf() {
+    return conf;
+  }
+
   @Override
   public List<TableIdentifier> listTables(Namespace namespace) {
     Preconditions.checkArgument(namespace.levels().length == 1,
diff --git a/hive/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/HiveCatalogs.java b/hive/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/HiveCatalogs.java
index a4ba98e1f9..d282c99012 100644
--- a/hive/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/HiveCatalogs.java
+++ b/hive/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/HiveCatalogs.java
@@ -33,10 +33,11 @@ public final class HiveCatalogs {
       .removalListener((RemovalListener<String, HiveCatalog>) (uri, catalog, cause) -> catalog.close())
       .build();
 
-  private static final Cache<String, CustomHiveCatalog> CUSTOM_CATALOG_CACHE = Caffeine.newBuilder()
-      .expireAfterAccess(10, TimeUnit.MINUTES)
-      .removalListener((RemovalListener<String, HiveCatalog>) (uri, catalog, cause) -> catalog.close())
-      .build();
+  private static final Cache<String, HiveMetadataPreservingCatalog> HIVE_METADATA_PRESERVING_CATALOG_CACHE =
+      Caffeine.newBuilder()
+          .expireAfterAccess(10, TimeUnit.MINUTES)
+          .removalListener((RemovalListener<String, HiveCatalog>) (uri, catalog, cause) -> catalog.close())
+          .build();
 
   private HiveCatalogs() {}
 
@@ -46,9 +47,17 @@ public static HiveCatalog loadCatalog(Configuration conf) {
     return CATALOG_CACHE.get(metastoreUri, uri -> new HiveCatalog(conf));
   }
 
+  /**
+   * @deprecated Use {@link #loadHiveMetadataPreservingCatalog(Configuration)} instead
+   */
+  @Deprecated
   public static HiveCatalog loadCustomCatalog(Configuration conf) {
+    return loadHiveMetadataPreservingCatalog(conf);
+  }
+
+  public static HiveCatalog loadHiveMetadataPreservingCatalog(Configuration conf) {
     // metastore URI can be null in local mode
     String metastoreUri = conf.get(HiveConf.ConfVars.METASTOREURIS.varname, "");
-    return CUSTOM_CATALOG_CACHE.get(metastoreUri, uri -> new CustomHiveCatalog(conf));
+    return HIVE_METADATA_PRESERVING_CATALOG_CACHE.get(metastoreUri, uri -> new HiveMetadataPreservingCatalog(conf));
   }
 }
diff --git a/hive/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/CustomHiveCatalog.java b/hive/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/HiveMetadataPreservingCatalog.java
similarity index 70%
rename from hive/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/CustomHiveCatalog.java
rename to hive/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/HiveMetadataPreservingCatalog.java
index b16d577cb4..d15b3bd271 100644
--- a/hive/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/CustomHiveCatalog.java
+++ b/hive/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/HiveMetadataPreservingCatalog.java
@@ -25,25 +25,21 @@
 
 
 /**
- * A {@link HiveCatalog} which uses {@link CustomHiveTableOperations} underneath.
+ * A {@link HiveCatalog} which uses {@link HiveMetadataPreservingTableOperations} underneath.
  *
- * This catalog is especially useful if the Iceberg operations are being performed in response to Hive operations
+ * This catalog should be only be used by metadata publishers wanting to publish/update Iceberg metadata to an existing
+ * Hive table while preserving the current Hive metadata
  */
-public class CustomHiveCatalog extends HiveCatalog {
+public class HiveMetadataPreservingCatalog extends HiveCatalog {
 
-  private final HiveClientPool clients;
-  private final Configuration conf;
-
-  public CustomHiveCatalog(Configuration conf) {
+  public HiveMetadataPreservingCatalog(Configuration conf) {
     super(conf);
-    this.clients = new HiveClientPool(2, conf);
-    this.conf = conf;
   }
 
   @Override
   public TableOperations newTableOps(TableIdentifier tableIdentifier) {
     String dbName = tableIdentifier.namespace().level(0);
     String tableName = tableIdentifier.name();
-    return new CustomHiveTableOperations(conf, clients, dbName, tableName);
+    return new HiveMetadataPreservingTableOperations(conf(), clientPool(), dbName, tableName);
   }
 }
diff --git a/hive/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/CustomHiveTableOperations.java b/hive/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/HiveMetadataPreservingTableOperations.java
similarity index 59%
rename from hive/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/CustomHiveTableOperations.java
rename to hive/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/HiveMetadataPreservingTableOperations.java
index 9904ba938b..d6d9f79ead 100644
--- a/hive/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/CustomHiveTableOperations.java
+++ b/hive/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/HiveMetadataPreservingTableOperations.java
@@ -19,32 +19,20 @@
 
 package org.apache.iceberg.hive;
 
-import com.google.common.collect.Lists;
-import java.net.InetAddress;
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
 import java.net.UnknownHostException;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashMap;
-import java.util.List;
-import java.util.Locale;
-import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Objects;
 import java.util.Optional;
-import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hive.common.StatsSetupConst;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hive.metastore.TableType;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hive.metastore.api.FieldSchema;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hive.metastore.api.LockComponent;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hive.metastore.api.LockLevel;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hive.metastore.api.LockRequest;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hive.metastore.api.LockResponse;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hive.metastore.api.LockState;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hive.metastore.api.LockType;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hive.metastore.api.EnvironmentContext;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hive.metastore.api.NoSuchObjectException;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hive.metastore.api.SerDeInfo;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hive.metastore.api.StorageDescriptor;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hive.metastore.api.Table;
-import org.apache.iceberg.Schema;
 import org.apache.iceberg.TableMetadata;
+import org.apache.iceberg.exceptions.AlreadyExistsException;
 import org.apache.iceberg.exceptions.CommitFailedException;
 import org.apache.iceberg.exceptions.NoSuchTableException;
 import org.apache.thrift.TException;
@@ -61,12 +49,12 @@
  * This behaviour is useful if the Iceberg metadata is being generated/updated in response to Hive metadata being
  * updated.
  */
-public class CustomHiveTableOperations extends HiveTableOperations {
+public class HiveMetadataPreservingTableOperations extends HiveTableOperations {
   private final HiveClientPool metaClients;
   private final String database;
   private final String tableName;
 
-  protected CustomHiveTableOperations(Configuration conf, HiveClientPool metaClients, String database,
+  protected HiveMetadataPreservingTableOperations(Configuration conf, HiveClientPool metaClients, String database,
       String table) {
     super(conf, metaClients, database, table);
     this.metaClients = metaClients;
@@ -82,8 +70,13 @@ protected void doRefresh() {
       String tableType = table.getParameters().get(TABLE_TYPE_PROP);
 
       if (tableType == null || !tableType.equalsIgnoreCase(ICEBERG_TABLE_TYPE_VALUE)) {
-        // if table type is not Iceberg, do not throw an error. Instead just continue, current metadata will still be
-        // null so further operations should work correctly
+        // [LINKEDIN] If table type is not Iceberg, that means there is no Iceberg metadata for the table yet.
+        // So do not throw an error, instead just continue, currentMetadata will continue to remain null
+        // which is what doRefresh would do if the table did not exist and further operations should work correctly
+
+        // throw new IllegalArgumentException(String.format("Type of %s.%s is %s, not %s",
+        //     database, tableName,
+        //    tableType /* actual type */, ICEBERG_TABLE_TYPE_VALUE /* expected type */));
       } else {
         metadataLocation = table.getParameters().get(METADATA_LOCATION_PROP);
         if (metadataLocation == null) {
@@ -123,6 +116,9 @@ protected void doCommit(TableMetadata base, TableMetadata metadata) {
       lockId = Optional.of(acquireLock());
       // TODO add lock heart beating for cases where default lock timeout is too low.
       Table tbl;
+      // [LINKEDIN] Instead of checking if base != null to check for table existence, we query metastore for existence
+      // base can be null if not Iceberg metadata exists, but Hive table exists, so we want to get the current table
+      // definition and not create a new definition
       boolean tableExists = metaClients.run(client -> client.tableExists(database, tableName));
       if (tableExists) {
         tbl = metaClients.run(client -> client.getTable(database, tableName));
@@ -143,18 +139,24 @@ protected void doCommit(TableMetadata base, TableMetadata metadata) {
         tbl.getParameters().put("EXTERNAL", "TRUE"); // using the external table type also requires this
       }
 
+      // [LINKEDIN] Do not touch the Hive schema of the table, just modify Iceberg specific properties
+      // tbl.setSd(storageDescriptor(metadata)); // set to pickup any schema changes
       final String metadataLocation = tbl.getParameters().get(METADATA_LOCATION_PROP);
-      if (!Objects.equals(currentMetadataLocation(), metadataLocation)) {
-        String errMsg = String.format("metadataLocation = %s is not same as table metadataLocation %s for %s.%s",
-            currentMetadataLocation(), metadataLocation, database, tableName);
-        throw new CommitFailedException(errMsg);
+      String baseMetadataLocation = base != null ? base.file().location() : null;
+      if (!Objects.equals(baseMetadataLocation, metadataLocation)) {
+        throw new CommitFailedException(
+            "Base metadata location '%s' is not same as the current table metadata location '%s' for %s.%s",
+            baseMetadataLocation, metadataLocation, database, tableName);
       }
 
       setParameters(newMetadataLocation, tbl);
 
       if (tableExists) {
         metaClients.run(client -> {
-          client.alter_table(database, tableName, tbl);
+          EnvironmentContext envContext = new EnvironmentContext(
+              ImmutableMap.of(StatsSetupConst.DO_NOT_UPDATE_STATS, StatsSetupConst.TRUE)
+          );
+          client.alter_table(database, tableName, tbl, envContext);
           return null;
         });
       } else {
@@ -164,6 +166,9 @@ protected void doCommit(TableMetadata base, TableMetadata metadata) {
         });
       }
       threw = false;
+    } catch (org.apache.hadoop.hive.metastore.api.AlreadyExistsException e) {
+      throw new AlreadyExistsException("Table already exists: %s.%s", database, tableName);
+
     } catch (TException | UnknownHostException e) {
       if (e.getMessage().contains("Table/View 'HIVE_LOCKS' does not exist")) {
         throw new RuntimeException("Failed to acquire locks from metastore because 'HIVE_LOCKS' doesn't " +
@@ -175,6 +180,7 @@ protected void doCommit(TableMetadata base, TableMetadata metadata) {
     } catch (InterruptedException e) {
       Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
       throw new RuntimeException("Interrupted during commit", e);
+
     } finally {
       if (threw) {
         // if anything went wrong, clean up the uncommitted metadata file
@@ -183,76 +189,4 @@ protected void doCommit(TableMetadata base, TableMetadata metadata) {
       unlock(lockId);
     }
   }
-
-  private void setParameters(String newMetadataLocation, Table tbl) {
-    Map<String, String> parameters = tbl.getParameters();
-
-    if (parameters == null) {
-      parameters = new HashMap<>();
-    }
-
-    parameters.put(TABLE_TYPE_PROP, ICEBERG_TABLE_TYPE_VALUE.toUpperCase(Locale.ENGLISH));
-    parameters.put(METADATA_LOCATION_PROP, newMetadataLocation);
-
-    if (currentMetadataLocation() != null && !currentMetadataLocation().isEmpty()) {
-      parameters.put(PREVIOUS_METADATA_LOCATION_PROP, currentMetadataLocation());
-    }
-
-    tbl.setParameters(parameters);
-  }
-
-  private StorageDescriptor storageDescriptor(TableMetadata metadata) {
-
-    final StorageDescriptor storageDescriptor = new StorageDescriptor();
-    storageDescriptor.setCols(columns(metadata.schema()));
-    storageDescriptor.setLocation(metadata.location());
-    storageDescriptor.setOutputFormat("org.apache.hadoop.mapred.FileOutputFormat");
-    storageDescriptor.setInputFormat("org.apache.hadoop.mapred.FileInputFormat");
-    SerDeInfo serDeInfo = new SerDeInfo();
-    serDeInfo.setSerializationLib("org.apache.hadoop.hive.serde2.lazy.LazySimpleSerDe");
-    storageDescriptor.setSerdeInfo(serDeInfo);
-    return storageDescriptor;
-  }
-
-  private List<FieldSchema> columns(Schema schema) {
-    return schema.columns().stream()
-        .map(col -> new FieldSchema(col.name(), HiveTypeConverter.convert(col.type()), ""))
-        .collect(Collectors.toList());
-  }
-
-  private long acquireLock() throws UnknownHostException, TException, InterruptedException {
-    final LockComponent lockComponent = new LockComponent(LockType.EXCLUSIVE, LockLevel.TABLE, database);
-    lockComponent.setTablename(tableName);
-    final LockRequest lockRequest = new LockRequest(Lists.newArrayList(lockComponent), System.getProperty("user.name"),
-        InetAddress.getLocalHost().getHostName());
-    LockResponse lockResponse = metaClients.run(client -> client.lock(lockRequest));
-    LockState state = lockResponse.getState();
-    long lockId = lockResponse.getLockid();
-    //TODO add timeout
-    while (state.equals(LockState.WAITING)) {
-      lockResponse = metaClients.run(client -> client.checkLock(lockId));
-      state = lockResponse.getState();
-      Thread.sleep(50);
-    }
-
-    if (!state.equals(LockState.ACQUIRED)) {
-      throw new CommitFailedException(
-          String.format("Could not acquire the lock on %s.%s, " + "lock request ended in state %s", database, tableName,
-              state));
-    }
-    return lockId;
-  }
-
-  private void unlock(Optional<Long> lockId) {
-    if (lockId.isPresent()) {
-      try {
-        metaClients.run(client -> {
-          client.unlock(lockId.get());
-          return null;
-        });
-      } catch (Exception e) {
-        throw new RuntimeException(String.format("Failed to unlock %s.%s", database, tableName), e);
-      }
-    }
-  }
 }
diff --git a/hive/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/HiveTableOperations.java b/hive/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/HiveTableOperations.java
index 8685783423..d25fcf9ae6 100644
--- a/hive/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/HiveTableOperations.java
+++ b/hive/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/HiveTableOperations.java
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ protected void doCommit(TableMetadata base, TableMetadata metadata) {
     }
   }
 
-  private void setParameters(String newMetadataLocation, Table tbl) {
+  void setParameters(String newMetadataLocation, Table tbl) {
     Map<String, String> parameters = tbl.getParameters();
 
     if (parameters == null) {
@@ -227,7 +227,7 @@ private void setParameters(String newMetadataLocation, Table tbl) {
     tbl.setParameters(parameters);
   }
 
-  private StorageDescriptor storageDescriptor(TableMetadata metadata) {
+  StorageDescriptor storageDescriptor(TableMetadata metadata) {
 
     final StorageDescriptor storageDescriptor = new StorageDescriptor();
     storageDescriptor.setCols(columns(metadata.schema()));
@@ -246,7 +246,7 @@ private List<FieldSchema> columns(Schema schema) {
         .collect(Collectors.toList());
   }
 
-  private long acquireLock() throws UnknownHostException, TException, InterruptedException {
+  long acquireLock() throws UnknownHostException, TException, InterruptedException {
     final LockComponent lockComponent = new LockComponent(LockType.EXCLUSIVE, LockLevel.TABLE, database);
     lockComponent.setTablename(tableName);
     final LockRequest lockRequest = new LockRequest(Lists.newArrayList(lockComponent),
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ private long acquireLock() throws UnknownHostException, TException, InterruptedE
     return lockId;
   }
 
-  private void unlock(Optional<Long> lockId) {
+  void unlock(Optional<Long> lockId) {
     if (lockId.isPresent()) {
       try {
         metaClients.run(client -> {
diff --git a/hive/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/TestCustomHiveCatalog.java b/hive/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/TestHiveMetadataPreservingCatalog.java
similarity index 97%
rename from hive/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/TestCustomHiveCatalog.java
rename to hive/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/TestHiveMetadataPreservingCatalog.java
index 5377ce80c2..788d481f9b 100644
--- a/hive/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/TestCustomHiveCatalog.java
+++ b/hive/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/TestHiveMetadataPreservingCatalog.java
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@
 import static org.apache.iceberg.types.Types.NestedField.required;
 
 
-public class TestCustomHiveCatalog extends HiveMetastoreTest {
+public class TestHiveMetadataPreservingCatalog extends HiveMetastoreTest {
 
   private static final String TABLE_NAME = "tbl";
   private static final TableIdentifier TABLE_IDENTIFIER = TableIdentifier.of(DB_NAME, TABLE_NAME);
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ public class TestCustomHiveCatalog extends HiveMetastoreTest {
 
   @BeforeClass
   public static void setCustomHiveCatalog() {
-    catalog = new CustomHiveCatalog(hiveConf);
+    catalog = new HiveMetadataPreservingCatalog(hiveConf);
   }
 
   @Before