diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/CatalystConf.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/CatalystConf.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..cb04cc8dca428
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/CatalystConf.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+/*
+ * 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.sql.catalyst
+
+import scala.collection.immutable
+
+private[spark] object CatalystConf{
+  val CASE_SENSITIVE = "spark.sql.caseSensitive"
+}
+
+private[spark] trait CatalystConf {
+  def setConf(key: String, value: String) : Unit
+  def getConf(key: String) : String
+  def getConf(key: String, defaultValue: String) : String
+  def getAllConfs: immutable.Map[String, String]
+}
+
+/**
+ * A trivial conf that is empty.  Used for testing when all
+ * relations are already filled in and the analyser needs only to resolve attribute references.
+ */
+object EmptyConf extends CatalystConf {
+  def setConf(key: String, value: String) : Unit = {
+    throw new UnsupportedOperationException
+  }
+
+  def getConf(key: String) : String = {
+    throw new UnsupportedOperationException
+  }
+
+  def getConf(key: String, defaultValue: String) : String = {
+    throw new UnsupportedOperationException
+  }
+
+  def getAllConfs: immutable.Map[String, String] = {
+    throw new UnsupportedOperationException
+  }
+}
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/Analyzer.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/Analyzer.scala
index fc37b8cde0806..1ae74fd96e8dc 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/Analyzer.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/Analyzer.scala
@@ -19,10 +19,11 @@ package org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.analysis
 
 import org.apache.spark.util.collection.OpenHashSet
 import org.apache.spark.sql.AnalysisException
-import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.errors.TreeNodeException
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.CatalystConf
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions._
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.plans.logical._
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.rules._
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.test.SimpleConf
 import org.apache.spark.sql.types._
 
 /**
@@ -30,7 +31,7 @@ import org.apache.spark.sql.types._
  * when all relations are already filled in and the analyser needs only to resolve attribute
  * references.
  */
-object SimpleAnalyzer extends Analyzer(EmptyCatalog, EmptyFunctionRegistry, true)
+object SimpleAnalyzer extends Analyzer(EmptyCatalog, EmptyFunctionRegistry, new SimpleConf)
 
 /**
  * Provides a logical query plan analyzer, which translates [[UnresolvedAttribute]]s and
@@ -39,11 +40,17 @@ object SimpleAnalyzer extends Analyzer(EmptyCatalog, EmptyFunctionRegistry, true
  */
 class Analyzer(catalog: Catalog,
                registry: FunctionRegistry,
-               caseSensitive: Boolean,
+               conf: CatalystConf,
                maxIterations: Int = 100)
   extends RuleExecutor[LogicalPlan] with HiveTypeCoercion {
 
-  val resolver = if (caseSensitive) caseSensitiveResolution else caseInsensitiveResolution
+  def resolver: Resolver = {
+    if (conf.getConf(CatalystConf.CASE_SENSITIVE, "true").toBoolean) {
+      caseSensitiveResolution
+    } else {
+      caseInsensitiveResolution
+    }
+  }
 
   val fixedPoint = FixedPoint(maxIterations)
 
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/Catalog.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/Catalog.scala
index 9e6e2912e0622..29262e8d7e056 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/Catalog.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/Catalog.scala
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ package org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.analysis
 import scala.collection.mutable
 
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.plans.logical.{LogicalPlan, Subquery}
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.CatalystConf
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.EmptyConf
 
 /**
  * Thrown by a catalog when a table cannot be found.  The analzyer will rethrow the exception
@@ -32,7 +34,7 @@ class NoSuchTableException extends Exception
  */
 trait Catalog {
 
-  def caseSensitive: Boolean
+  val conf: CatalystConf
 
   def tableExists(tableIdentifier: Seq[String]): Boolean
 
@@ -55,7 +57,7 @@ trait Catalog {
   def unregisterAllTables(): Unit
 
   protected def processTableIdentifier(tableIdentifier: Seq[String]): Seq[String] = {
-    if (!caseSensitive) {
+    if (!conf.getConf(CatalystConf.CASE_SENSITIVE, "true").toBoolean) {
       tableIdentifier.map(_.toLowerCase)
     } else {
       tableIdentifier
@@ -76,7 +78,7 @@ trait Catalog {
   }
 }
 
-class SimpleCatalog(val caseSensitive: Boolean) extends Catalog {
+class SimpleCatalog(val conf: CatalystConf) extends Catalog {
   val tables = new mutable.HashMap[String, LogicalPlan]()
 
   override def registerTable(
@@ -162,7 +164,7 @@ trait OverrideCatalog extends Catalog {
   }
 
   abstract override def getTables(databaseName: Option[String]): Seq[(String, Boolean)] = {
-    val dbName = if (!caseSensitive) {
+    val dbName = if (!conf.getConf(CatalystConf.CASE_SENSITIVE).toBoolean) {
       if (databaseName.isDefined) Some(databaseName.get.toLowerCase) else None
     } else {
       databaseName
@@ -205,7 +207,7 @@ trait OverrideCatalog extends Catalog {
  */
 object EmptyCatalog extends Catalog {
 
-  val caseSensitive: Boolean = true
+  override val conf: CatalystConf = EmptyConf
 
   def tableExists(tableIdentifier: Seq[String]): Boolean = {
     throw new UnsupportedOperationException
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/test/SimpleConf.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/test/SimpleConf.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..1f6675f89190d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/test/SimpleConf.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+/*
+ * 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.sql.catalyst.test
+
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.CatalystConf
+
+import scala.collection.immutable
+import scala.collection.mutable
+
+/** A CatalystConf that can be used for local testing. */
+class SimpleConf extends CatalystConf{
+  val map = mutable.Map[String, String]()
+
+  def setConf(key: String, value: String) : Unit = {
+    map.put(key, value)
+  }
+  def getConf(key: String) : String ={
+    map.get(key).get
+  }
+  def getConf(key: String, defaultValue: String) : String = {
+    map.getOrElse(key, defaultValue)
+  }
+  def getAllConfs: immutable.Map[String, String] = {
+    map.toMap
+  }
+}
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/AnalysisSuite.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/AnalysisSuite.scala
index aec7847356cd4..98ec29f762c75 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/AnalysisSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/AnalysisSuite.scala
@@ -23,17 +23,22 @@ import org.apache.spark.sql.AnalysisException
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions._
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.plans.logical._
 import org.apache.spark.sql.types._
-
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.CatalystConf
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.test.SimpleConf
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.dsl.expressions._
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.dsl.plans._
 
 class AnalysisSuite extends FunSuite with BeforeAndAfter {
-  val caseSensitiveCatalog = new SimpleCatalog(true)
-  val caseInsensitiveCatalog = new SimpleCatalog(false)
+  val caseSensitiveConf = new SimpleConf()
+  caseSensitiveConf.setConf(CatalystConf.CASE_SENSITIVE, "true")
+  val caseInsensitiveConf = new SimpleConf()
+  caseInsensitiveConf.setConf(CatalystConf.CASE_SENSITIVE, "false")
+  val caseSensitiveCatalog = new SimpleCatalog(caseSensitiveConf)
+  val caseInsensitiveCatalog = new SimpleCatalog(caseInsensitiveConf)
   val caseSensitiveAnalyze =
-    new Analyzer(caseSensitiveCatalog, EmptyFunctionRegistry, caseSensitive = true)
+    new Analyzer(caseSensitiveCatalog, EmptyFunctionRegistry, caseSensitiveConf)
   val caseInsensitiveAnalyze =
-    new Analyzer(caseInsensitiveCatalog, EmptyFunctionRegistry, caseSensitive = false)
+    new Analyzer(caseInsensitiveCatalog, EmptyFunctionRegistry, caseInsensitiveConf)
 
   val testRelation = LocalRelation(AttributeReference("a", IntegerType, nullable = true)())
   val testRelation2 = LocalRelation(
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/DecimalPrecisionSuite.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/DecimalPrecisionSuite.scala
index bc2ec754d5865..3dc7f004271a9 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/DecimalPrecisionSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/DecimalPrecisionSuite.scala
@@ -20,11 +20,13 @@ package org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.analysis
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions._
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.plans.logical.{Project, LocalRelation}
 import org.apache.spark.sql.types._
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.test.SimpleConf
 import org.scalatest.{BeforeAndAfter, FunSuite}
 
 class DecimalPrecisionSuite extends FunSuite with BeforeAndAfter {
-  val catalog = new SimpleCatalog(false)
-  val analyzer = new Analyzer(catalog, EmptyFunctionRegistry, caseSensitive = false)
+  val conf = new SimpleConf
+  val catalog = new SimpleCatalog(conf)
+  val analyzer = new Analyzer(catalog, EmptyFunctionRegistry, conf)
 
   val relation = LocalRelation(
     AttributeReference("i", IntegerType)(),
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLConf.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLConf.scala
index 39f6c2f4bc8b4..087b17f53ae80 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLConf.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLConf.scala
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
 
 package org.apache.spark.sql
 
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.CatalystConf
+
 import scala.collection.immutable
 import scala.collection.JavaConversions._
 
@@ -69,7 +71,8 @@ private[spark] object SQLConf {
  *
  * SQLConf is thread-safe (internally synchronized, so safe to be used in multiple threads).
  */
-private[sql] class SQLConf extends Serializable {
+
+private[sql] class SQLConf extends Serializable with CatalystConf {
   import SQLConf._
 
   /** Only low degree of contention is expected for conf, thus NOT using ConcurrentHashMap. */
@@ -220,4 +223,3 @@ private[sql] class SQLConf extends Serializable {
     settings.clear()
   }
 }
-
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLContext.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLContext.scala
index 4bdaa023914b8..41bb5be5a27eb 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLContext.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLContext.scala
@@ -104,14 +104,14 @@ class SQLContext(@transient val sparkContext: SparkContext)
   def getAllConfs: immutable.Map[String, String] = conf.getAllConfs
 
   @transient
-  protected[sql] lazy val catalog: Catalog = new SimpleCatalog(true)
+  protected[sql] lazy val catalog: Catalog = new SimpleCatalog(conf)
 
   @transient
   protected[sql] lazy val functionRegistry: FunctionRegistry = new SimpleFunctionRegistry(true)
 
   @transient
   protected[sql] lazy val analyzer: Analyzer =
-    new Analyzer(catalog, functionRegistry, caseSensitive = true) {
+    new Analyzer(catalog, functionRegistry, conf) {
       override val extendedResolutionRules =
         ExtractPythonUdfs ::
         sources.PreWriteCheck(catalog) ::
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLQuerySuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLQuerySuite.scala
index 097bf0dd23c89..250e55cc3ef91 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLQuerySuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLQuerySuite.scala
@@ -21,10 +21,10 @@ import org.apache.spark.sql.test.TestSQLContext
 import org.scalatest.BeforeAndAfterAll
 
 import org.apache.spark.sql.functions._
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.CatalystConf
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.errors.TreeNodeException
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.plans.logical.LogicalPlan
 import org.apache.spark.sql.types._
-
 import org.apache.spark.sql.TestData._
 import org.apache.spark.sql.test.TestSQLContext.{udf => _, _}
 
@@ -1049,4 +1049,13 @@ class SQLQuerySuite extends QueryTest with BeforeAndAfterAll {
     rdd.toDF().registerTempTable("distinctData")
     checkAnswer(sql("SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT key,value) FROM distinctData"), Row(2))
   }
+
+  test("SPARK-4699 case sensitivity SQL query") {
+    setConf(CatalystConf.CASE_SENSITIVE, "false")
+    val data = TestData(1,"val_1") :: TestData(2,"val_2") :: Nil
+    val rdd = sparkContext.parallelize((0 to 1).map(i => data(i)))
+    rdd.toDF().registerTempTable("testTable1")
+    checkAnswer(sql("SELECT VALUE FROM TESTTABLE1 where KEY = 1"), Row("val_1"))
+    setConf(CatalystConf.CASE_SENSITIVE, "true")
+  }
 }
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/sources/DataSourceTest.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/sources/DataSourceTest.scala
index 0ec6881d7afe6..a023788c8ab75 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/sources/DataSourceTest.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/sources/DataSourceTest.scala
@@ -18,22 +18,13 @@
 package org.apache.spark.sql.sources
 
 import org.apache.spark.sql._
-import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.analysis.Analyzer
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.CatalystConf
 import org.apache.spark.sql.test.TestSQLContext
 import org.scalatest.BeforeAndAfter
 
 abstract class DataSourceTest extends QueryTest with BeforeAndAfter {
-  // Case sensitivity is not configurable yet, but we want to test some edge cases.
-  // TODO: Remove when it is configurable
-  implicit val caseInsensisitiveContext = new SQLContext(TestSQLContext.sparkContext) {
-    @transient
-    override protected[sql] lazy val analyzer: Analyzer =
-      new Analyzer(catalog, functionRegistry, caseSensitive = false) {
-        override val extendedResolutionRules =
-          PreWriteCheck(catalog) ::
-          PreInsertCastAndRename ::
-          Nil
-      }
-  }
-}
+  // We want to test some edge cases.
+  implicit val caseInsensisitiveContext = new SQLContext(TestSQLContext.sparkContext)
 
+  caseInsensisitiveContext.setConf(CatalystConf.CASE_SENSITIVE, "false")
+}
diff --git a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveContext.scala b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveContext.scala
index 2e205e67c0fdd..eae4008bcd0a6 100644
--- a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveContext.scala
+++ b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveContext.scala
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.plans.logical._
 import org.apache.spark.sql.execution.{ExecutedCommand, ExtractPythonUdfs, QueryExecutionException, SetCommand}
 import org.apache.spark.sql.hive.execution.{DescribeHiveTableCommand, HiveNativeCommand}
 import org.apache.spark.sql.sources.{DDLParser, DataSourceStrategy}
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.CatalystConf
 import org.apache.spark.sql.types._
 
 /**
@@ -53,6 +54,9 @@ class HiveContext(sc: SparkContext) extends SQLContext(sc) {
     override def dialect: String = getConf(SQLConf.DIALECT, "hiveql")
   }
 
+  /* By default it should be case insensitive to match Hive */
+  conf.setConf(CatalystConf.CASE_SENSITIVE, "false")
+
   /**
    * When true, enables an experimental feature where metastore tables that use the parquet SerDe
    * are automatically converted to use the Spark SQL parquet table scan, instead of the Hive
@@ -249,7 +253,8 @@ class HiveContext(sc: SparkContext) extends SQLContext(sc) {
 
   /* A catalyst metadata catalog that points to the Hive Metastore. */
   @transient
-  override protected[sql] lazy val catalog = new HiveMetastoreCatalog(this) with OverrideCatalog
+  override protected[sql] lazy val catalog =
+    new HiveMetastoreCatalog(this, conf) with OverrideCatalog
 
   // Note that HiveUDFs will be overridden by functions registered in this context.
   @transient
@@ -261,7 +266,7 @@ class HiveContext(sc: SparkContext) extends SQLContext(sc) {
   /* An analyzer that uses the Hive metastore. */
   @transient
   override protected[sql] lazy val analyzer =
-    new Analyzer(catalog, functionRegistry, caseSensitive = false) {
+    new Analyzer(catalog, functionRegistry, conf) {
       override val extendedResolutionRules =
         catalog.ParquetConversions ::
         catalog.CreateTables ::
diff --git a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveMetastoreCatalog.scala b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveMetastoreCatalog.scala
index f7ad2efc9544e..d9951d0deb0ca 100644
--- a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveMetastoreCatalog.scala
+++ b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveMetastoreCatalog.scala
@@ -41,12 +41,14 @@ import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.rules._
 import org.apache.spark.sql.parquet.{ParquetRelation2, Partition => ParquetPartition, PartitionSpec}
 import org.apache.spark.sql.sources.{CreateTableUsingAsSelect, DDLParser, LogicalRelation, ResolvedDataSource}
 import org.apache.spark.sql.types._
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.CatalystConf
 import org.apache.spark.util.Utils
 
 /* Implicit conversions */
 import scala.collection.JavaConversions._
 
-private[hive] class HiveMetastoreCatalog(hive: HiveContext) extends Catalog with Logging {
+private[hive] class HiveMetastoreCatalog(hive: HiveContext, val conf: CatalystConf)
+  extends Catalog with Logging {
   import org.apache.spark.sql.hive.HiveMetastoreTypes._
 
   /** Connection to hive metastore.  Usages should lock on `this`. */
diff --git a/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/execution/SQLQuerySuite.scala b/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/execution/SQLQuerySuite.scala
index f2bc73bf3bdf9..86c8b2dc2006a 100644
--- a/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/execution/SQLQuerySuite.scala
+++ b/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/execution/SQLQuerySuite.scala
@@ -337,6 +337,12 @@ class SQLQuerySuite extends QueryTest {
     }
   }
 
+  test("SPARK-4699 HiveContext should be case insensitive by default") {
+    checkAnswer(
+      sql("SELECT KEY FROM Src ORDER BY value"),
+      sql("SELECT key FROM src ORDER BY value").collect().toSeq)
+  }
+
   test("SPARK-5284 Insert into Hive throws NPE when a inner complex type field has a null value") {
     val schema = StructType(
       StructField("s",