LOG.debug("Reading existing HBase schema");
final KijiManagedHBaseTableName hbaseTableName =
KijiManagedHBaseTableName.getKijiTableName(mURI.getInstance(), tableName);
HTableDescriptor currentTableDescriptor = null;
byte[] tableNameAsBytes = hbaseTableName.toBytes();
try {
currentTableDescriptor = getHBaseAdmin().getTableDescriptor(tableNameAsBytes);
} catch (TableNotFoundException tnfe) {
if (!dryRun) {
throw tnfe; // Not in dry-run mode; table needs to exist. Rethrow exception.