diff --git a/perl-xCAT/xCAT/Schema.pm b/perl-xCAT/xCAT/Schema.pm
index ab40f1c2e..874be6bc6 100644
--- a/perl-xCAT/xCAT/Schema.pm
+++ b/perl-xCAT/xCAT/Schema.pm
@@ -850,6 +850,10 @@ site => {
    "                   will not interfere.\n\n".
    " vmwarereconfigonpower:  When set to no, the VMWare plugin will make no effort to\n".
    "                         push vm.cpus/vm.memory updates from xCAT to VMWare.\n\n".
+   " vsftp:       Default is 'y'. If set to 'n', the xcatd on the mn will not automatically \n".
+   "              bring up the vsftpd. This setting does not apply to the sn, for sn\n".
+   "              you need to set servicenode.ftpserver=0 if you do not want the xcatd\n".
+   "              bring up vsftpd.\n\n".
    " xcatconfdir:  Where xCAT config data is (default /etc/xcat).\n\n".
    " xcatdport:  The port used by the xcatd daemon for client/server communication.\n\n".
    " xcatiport:  The port used by xcatd to receive install status updates from nodes.\n\n",
diff --git a/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/AAsn.pm b/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/AAsn.pm
index ae2b4a4fd..6023167c7 100644
--- a/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/AAsn.pm
+++ b/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/AAsn.pm
@@ -272,7 +272,10 @@ sub init_plugin
         {
             print "\n"
               ; # make OK prints look better.  Only need to do this for the 1st service.
-            $rc = &setup_FTP();    # setup FTP
+            my @tmp = xCAT::Utils->get_site_attribute("vsftp");   
+		    if ((!$tmp[0]) || ($tmp[0] !~ /0|NO|No|no|N|n/ )) {         
+                $rc = &setup_FTP();    # setup FTP
+            }
         }
     }
     return $rc;