diff --git a/lib/jqueue.py b/lib/jqueue.py
index 6e0ccec206eaae45f6a7c66035452606189a593b..001bc43e2bd86efd4ee9edd547556a50f7f6c363 100644
--- a/lib/jqueue.py
+++ b/lib/jqueue.py
@@ -822,7 +822,7 @@ class JobQueue(object):
     addr_list = [self._nodes[name] for name in name_list]
     return name_list, addr_list
 
-  def _WriteAndReplicateFileUnlocked(self, file_name, data):
+  def _UpdateJobQueueFile(self, file_name, data, replicate):
     """Writes a file locally and then replicates it to all nodes.
 
     This function will replace the contents of a file on the local
@@ -832,14 +832,16 @@ class JobQueue(object):
     @param file_name: the path of the file to be replicated
     @type data: str
     @param data: the new contents of the file
+    @type replicate: boolean
+    @param replicate: whether to spread the changes to the remote nodes
 
     """
     utils.WriteFile(file_name, data=data)
 
-    names, addrs = self._GetNodeIp()
-    result = rpc.RpcRunner.call_jobqueue_update(names, addrs, file_name, data)
-    self._CheckRpcResult(result, self._nodes,
-                         "Updating %s" % file_name)
+    if replicate:
+      names, addrs = self._GetNodeIp()
+      result = rpc.RpcRunner.call_jobqueue_update(names, addrs, file_name, data)
+      self._CheckRpcResult(result, self._nodes, "Updating %s" % file_name)
 
   def _RenameFilesUnlocked(self, rename):
     """Renames a file locally and then replicate the change.
@@ -909,8 +911,8 @@ class JobQueue(object):
     serial = self._last_serial + count
 
     # Write to file
-    self._WriteAndReplicateFileUnlocked(constants.JOB_QUEUE_SERIAL_FILE,
-                                        "%s\n" % serial)
+    self._UpdateJobQueueFile(constants.JOB_QUEUE_SERIAL_FILE,
+                             "%s\n" % serial, True)
 
     result = [self._FormatJobID(v)
               for v in range(self._last_serial, serial + 1)]
@@ -1149,7 +1151,7 @@ class JobQueue(object):
     return results
 
   @_RequireOpenQueue
-  def UpdateJobUnlocked(self, job):
+  def UpdateJobUnlocked(self, job, replicate=True):
     """Update a job's on disk storage.
 
     After a job has been modified, this function needs to be called in
@@ -1158,12 +1160,14 @@ class JobQueue(object):
 
     @type job: L{_QueuedJob}
     @param job: the changed job
+    @type replicate: boolean
+    @param replicate: whether to replicate the change to remote nodes
 
     """
     filename = self._GetJobPath(job.id)
     data = serializer.DumpJson(job.Serialize(), indent=False)
     logging.debug("Writing job %s to %s", job.id, filename)
-    self._WriteAndReplicateFileUnlocked(filename, data)
+    self._UpdateJobQueueFile(filename, data, replicate)
 
     # Notify waiters about potential changes
     job.change.notifyAll()