diff --git a/cmd/gateway/hdfs/gateway-hdfs.go b/cmd/gateway/hdfs/gateway-hdfs.go
index 221dae4ac..5eff3d5d7 100644
--- a/cmd/gateway/hdfs/gateway-hdfs.go
+++ b/cmd/gateway/hdfs/gateway-hdfs.go
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ import (
 	krb "github.com/jcmturner/gokrb5/v8/client"
 	"github.com/jcmturner/gokrb5/v8/config"
 	"github.com/jcmturner/gokrb5/v8/credentials"
+	"github.com/jcmturner/gokrb5/v8/keytab"
 	"github.com/minio/cli"
 	"github.com/minio/minio-go/v7/pkg/s3utils"
 	minio "github.com/minio/minio/cmd"
@@ -121,6 +122,23 @@ func getKerberosClient() (*krb.Client, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
+	keytabPath := env.Get("KRB5KEYTAB", "")
+	if keytabPath != "" {
+		kt, err := keytab.Load(keytabPath)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+
+		username := env.Get("KRB5USERNAME", "")
+		realm := env.Get("KRB5REALM", "")
+		if username == "" || realm == "" {
+			return nil, errors.New("empty KRB5USERNAME or KRB5REALM")
+
+		}
+
+		return krb.NewWithKeytab(username, realm, kt, cfg), nil
+	}
+
 	// Determine the ccache location from the environment, falling back to the default location.
 	ccachePath := env.Get("KRB5CCNAME", fmt.Sprintf("/tmp/krb5cc_%s", u.Uid))
 	if strings.Contains(ccachePath, ":") {
@@ -195,7 +213,7 @@ func (g *HDFS) NewGatewayLayer(creds auth.Credentials) (minio.ObjectLayer, error
 
 	clnt, err := hdfs.NewClient(opts)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to initialize hdfsClient")
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to initialize hdfsClient: %v", err)
 	}
 
 	if err = clnt.MkdirAll(minio.PathJoin(commonPath, hdfsSeparator, minioMetaTmpBucket), os.FileMode(0755)); err != nil {
diff --git a/docs/gateway/hdfs.md b/docs/gateway/hdfs.md
index e98e02394..536146436 100644
--- a/docs/gateway/hdfs.md
+++ b/docs/gateway/hdfs.md
@@ -30,6 +30,44 @@ docker run -p 9000:9000 \
  minio/minio gateway hdfs hdfs://namenode:8200
 ```
 
+### Setup Kerberos
+
+MinIO supports two kerberos authentication methods, keytab and ccache.
+
+To enable kerberos authentication, you need to set `hadoop.security.authentication=kerberos` in the HDFS config file.
+
+```xml
+<property>
+  <name>hadoop.security.authentication</name>
+  <value>kerberos</value>
+</property>
+```
+
+MinIO will load `krb5.conf` from environment variable `KRB5_CONFIG` or default location `/etc/krb5.conf`.
+```sh
+export KRB5_CONFIG=/path/to/krb5.conf
+```
+
+If you want MinIO to use ccache for authentication, set environment variable `KRB5CCNAME` to the credential cache file path,
+or MinIO will use the default location `/tmp/krb5cc_%{uid}`.
+```sh
+export KRB5CCNAME=/path/to/krb5cc
+```
+
+If you prefer to use keytab, with automatically renewal, you need to config three environment variables:
+
+- `KRB5KEYTAB`: the location of keytab file
+- `KRB5USERNAME`: the username
+- `KRB5REALM`: the realm
+
+Please note that the username is not principal name.
+
+```sh
+export KRB5KEYTAB=/path/to/keytab
+export KRB5USERNAME=hdfs
+export KRB5REALM=REALM.COM
+```
+
 ## Test using MinIO Browser
 *MinIO gateway* comes with an embedded web based object browser. Point your web browser to http://127.0.0.1:9000 to ensure that your server has started successfully.