diff --git a/lib/cli.py b/lib/cli.py
index 61c0e14fafb66ff4223345643e7c8ba33a7d22e2..766981eae8de94f8955ce6eeda5f180ec8b84dca 100644
--- a/lib/cli.py
+++ b/lib/cli.py
@@ -126,6 +126,7 @@ __all__ = [
   "NOSTART_OPT",
   "NOSSH_KEYCHECK_OPT",
   "NOVOTING_OPT",
+  "NO_REMEMBER_OPT",
   "NWSYNC_OPT",
   "ON_PRIMARY_OPT",
   "ON_SECONDARY_OPT",
@@ -1149,6 +1150,12 @@ NODE_POWERED_OPT = cli_option("--node-powered", default=None,
                               dest="node_powered",
                               help="Specify if the SoR for node is powered")
 
+NO_REMEMBER_OPT = cli_option("--no-remember",
+                             dest="no_remember",
+                             action="store_true", default=False,
+                             help="Perform but do not record the change"
+                             " in the configuration")
+
 
 #: Options provided by all commands
 COMMON_OPTS = [DEBUG_OPT]
diff --git a/lib/client/gnt_instance.py b/lib/client/gnt_instance.py
index 3ee4b85b153fbdd9bf0e4de5079d065760f0d9dc..ba9895cb8f71d7692d478236d5763de811913458 100644
--- a/lib/client/gnt_instance.py
+++ b/lib/client/gnt_instance.py
@@ -692,7 +692,8 @@ def _StartupInstance(name, opts):
   """
   op = opcodes.OpInstanceStartup(instance_name=name,
                                  force=opts.force,
-                                 ignore_offline_nodes=opts.ignore_offline)
+                                 ignore_offline_nodes=opts.ignore_offline,
+                                 no_remember=opts.no_remember)
   # do not add these parameters to the opcode unless they're defined
   if opts.hvparams:
     op.hvparams = opts.hvparams
@@ -731,7 +732,8 @@ def _ShutdownInstance(name, opts):
   """
   return opcodes.OpInstanceShutdown(instance_name=name,
                                     timeout=opts.timeout,
-                                    ignore_offline_nodes=opts.ignore_offline)
+                                    ignore_offline_nodes=opts.ignore_offline,
+                                    no_remember=opts.no_remember)
 
 
 def ReplaceDisks(opts, args):
@@ -1457,14 +1459,15 @@ commands = {
     [m_node_opt, m_pri_node_opt, m_sec_node_opt, m_clust_opt,
      m_node_tags_opt, m_pri_node_tags_opt, m_sec_node_tags_opt,
      m_inst_tags_opt, m_inst_opt, m_force_multi, TIMEOUT_OPT, SUBMIT_OPT,
-     DRY_RUN_OPT, PRIORITY_OPT, IGNORE_OFFLINE_OPT],
+     DRY_RUN_OPT, PRIORITY_OPT, IGNORE_OFFLINE_OPT, NO_REMEMBER_OPT],
     "<instance>", "Stops an instance"),
   'startup': (
     GenericManyOps("startup", _StartupInstance), [ArgInstance()],
     [FORCE_OPT, m_force_multi, m_node_opt, m_pri_node_opt, m_sec_node_opt,
      m_node_tags_opt, m_pri_node_tags_opt, m_sec_node_tags_opt,
      m_inst_tags_opt, m_clust_opt, m_inst_opt, SUBMIT_OPT, HVOPTS_OPT,
-     BACKEND_OPT, DRY_RUN_OPT, PRIORITY_OPT, IGNORE_OFFLINE_OPT],
+     BACKEND_OPT, DRY_RUN_OPT, PRIORITY_OPT, IGNORE_OFFLINE_OPT,
+     NO_REMEMBER_OPT],
     "<instance>", "Starts an instance"),
   'reboot': (
     GenericManyOps("reboot", _RebootInstance), [ArgInstance()],
diff --git a/man/gnt-instance.rst b/man/gnt-instance.rst
index 0d6dde51141c8d70e8ee53e7fbfe8bdcdcb4900f..f4dc84e06f29237a53ade7bc535e230d3c91b50b 100644
--- a/man/gnt-instance.rst
+++ b/man/gnt-instance.rst
@@ -989,7 +989,7 @@ STARTUP
 
 | **startup**
 | [--force] [--ignore-offline]
-| [--force-multiple]
+| [--force-multiple] [--no-remember]
 | [--instance \| --node \| --primary \| --secondary \| --all \|
 | --tags \| --node-tags \| --pri-node-tags \| --sec-node-tags]
 | [{-H|--hypervisor-parameters} ``key=value...``]
@@ -1047,6 +1047,12 @@ mark the instance as started even if the primary is not available.
 The ``--force-multiple`` will skip the interactive confirmation in the
 case the more than one instance will be affected.
 
+The ``--no-remember`` option will perform the startup but not change
+the state of the instance in the configuration file (if it was stopped
+before, Ganeti will still thinks it needs to be stopped). This can be
+used for testing, or for a one shot-start where you don't want the
+watcher to restart the instance if it crashes.
+
 The ``-H (--hypervisor-parameters)`` and ``-B (--backend-parameters)``
 options specify temporary hypervisor and backend parameters that can
 be used to start an instance with modified parameters. They can be
@@ -1079,7 +1085,7 @@ SHUTDOWN
 
 | **shutdown**
 | [--timeout=*N*]
-| [--force-multiple] [--ignore-offline]
+| [--force-multiple] [--ignore-offline] [--no-remember]
 | [--instance \| --node \| --primary \| --secondary \| --all \|
 | --tags \| --node-tags \| --pri-node-tags \| --sec-node-tags]
 | [--submit]
@@ -1108,6 +1114,15 @@ can be examined via **gnt-job info**.
 force the instance to be marked as stopped. This option should be used
 with care as it can lead to an inconsistent cluster state.
 
+The ``--no-remember`` option will perform the shutdown but not change
+the state of the instance in the configuration file (if it was running
+before, Ganeti will still thinks it needs to be running). This can be
+useful for a cluster-wide shutdown, where some instances are marked as
+up and some as down, and you don't want to change the running state:
+you just need to disable the watcher, shutdown all instances with
+``--no-remember``, and when the watcher is activated again it will
+restore the correct runtime state for all instances.
+
 Example::
 
     # gnt-instance shutdown instance1.example.com