public static void initMetadataConfig(String tableId) throws IOException {
    try {
      Configuration conf = CachedConfiguration.getInstance();
      int max = conf.getInt("dfs.replication.max", 512);
      // Hadoop 0.23 switched the min value configuration name
      int min = Math.max(conf.getInt("dfs.replication.min", 1), conf.getInt("dfs.namenode.replication.min", 1));
      if (max < 5)
        setMetadataReplication(max, "max");
      if (min > 5)
        setMetadataReplication(min, "min");
      for (Entry<String,String> entry : initialMetadataConf.entrySet()) {
         /* XXX There should only be one of these, and the table id should 
                     be the one passed in.
           */
        if (!TablePropUtil.setTableProperty(RootTable.ID, entry.getKey(), entry.getValue()))
          throw new IOException("Cannot create per-table property " + entry.getKey());
        if (!TablePropUtil.setTableProperty(MetadataTable.ID, entry.getKey(), entry.getValue()))
          throw new IOException("Cannot create per-table property " + entry.getKey());
      }
    } catch (Exception e) {
      log.fatal("error talking to zookeeper", e);
      throw new IOException(e);
    }
  }