diff --git a/man/gnt-instance.rst b/man/gnt-instance.rst
index b208954edf070cbc5c8f114167d715afc844df4c..82b032e32175163c767a998176c99d7993c4862d 100644
--- a/man/gnt-instance.rst
+++ b/man/gnt-instance.rst
@@ -617,11 +617,11 @@ a hypothetical ``dhcp`` parameter to yes can be achieved by::
 
     gnt-instance add -O dhcp=yes ...
 
-The ``-I (--iallocator)`` option specifies the instance allocator
-plugin to use. If you pass in this option the allocator will select
-nodes for this instance automatically, so you don't need to pass them
-with the ``-n`` option. For more information please refer to the
-instance allocator documentation.
+The ``-I (--iallocator)`` option specifies the instance allocator plugin
+to use (``.`` means the default allocator). If you pass in this option
+the allocator will select nodes for this instance automatically, so you
+don't need to pass them with the ``-n`` option. For more information
+please refer to the instance allocator documentation.
 
 The ``-t (--disk-template)`` options specifies the disk layout type
 for the instance.  The available choices are:
@@ -1283,11 +1283,11 @@ of comma-delimited disk indices (zero-based), e.g. 0,2 to replace only
 the first and third disks.
 
 The third form (when passing either the ``--iallocator`` or the
-``--new-secondary`` option) is designed to change secondary node of
-the instance. Specifying ``--iallocator`` makes the new secondary be
-selected automatically by the specified allocator plugin, otherwise
-the new secondary node will be the one chosen manually via the
-``--new-secondary`` option.
+``--new-secondary`` option) is designed to change secondary node of the
+instance. Specifying ``--iallocator`` makes the new secondary be
+selected automatically by the specified allocator plugin (use ``.`` to
+indicate the default allocator), otherwise the new secondary node will
+be the one chosen manually via the ``--new-secondary`` option.
 
 Note that it is not possible to select an offline or drained node as a
 new secondary.
@@ -1458,10 +1458,10 @@ passed must equal the number of nodes that the instance currently
 has. Note that changing nodes is only allowed when all disks are
 replaced, e.g. when no ``--disk`` option is passed.
 
-Another method of chosing which nodes to place the instance on is by
+Another method of choosing which nodes to place the instance on is by
 using the specified iallocator, passing the ``--iallocator`` option.
 The primary and secondary nodes will be chosen by the specified
-iallocator plugin.
+iallocator plugin, or by the default allocator if ``.`` is specified.
 
 See **ganeti(7)** for a description of ``--submit`` and other common
 options.
@@ -1535,6 +1535,8 @@ explicitly specify the target node (which can be any node) using the
 ``-n`` or ``--target-node`` option, or specify an iallocator plugin
 using the ``-I`` or ``--iallocator`` option. If you omit both, the
 default iallocator will be used to specify the target node.
+Alternatively, the default iallocator can be requested by specifying
+``.`` as the name of the plugin.
 
 The migration command needs a perfectly healthy instance, as we rely
 on the dual-master capability of drbd8 and the disks of the instance
diff --git a/man/gnt-node.rst b/man/gnt-node.rst
index 41eb1e0b3f0a55cf863c0dc36a4b175d9f88daec..885cfd7c27ae6b1921ae0541309212331ec8dfa3 100644
--- a/man/gnt-node.rst
+++ b/man/gnt-node.rst
@@ -112,8 +112,8 @@ The new location for the instances can be specified in two ways:
   option
 
 - or via the ``-I (--iallocator)`` option, giving a script name as
-  parameter, so each instance will be in turn placed on the (per the
-  script) optimal node
+  parameter (or ``.`` to use the default allocator), so each instance
+  will be in turn placed on the (per the script) optimal node
 
 The ``--early-release`` changes the code so that the old storage on
 node being evacuated is removed early (before the resync is