diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
index 0a13cafa4d..c34f1494ce 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -514,6 +514,9 @@ Release 2.1.0-beta - 2013-08-06
 
     YARN-84. Use Builder to build RPC server. (Brandon Li via suresh)
 
+    YARN-1046. Disable mem monitoring by default in MiniYARNCluster. (Karthik
+    Kambatla via Sandy Ryza)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
     YARN-512. Log aggregation root directory check is more expensive than it
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/conf/YarnConfiguration.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/conf/YarnConfiguration.java
index b14e652252..065fb6344c 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/conf/YarnConfiguration.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/conf/YarnConfiguration.java
@@ -711,6 +711,14 @@ public class YarnConfiguration extends Configuration {
    */
   public static boolean DEFAULT_YARN_MINICLUSTER_FIXED_PORTS = false;
 
+  /**
+   * Whether users are explicitly trying to control resource monitoring
+   * configuration for the MiniYARNCluster. Disabled by default.
+   */
+  public static final String YARN_MINICLUSTER_CONTROL_RESOURCE_MONITORING =
+      YARN_PREFIX + "minicluster.control-resource-monitoring";
+  public static final boolean
+      DEFAULT_YARN_MINICLUSTER_CONTROL_RESOURCE_MONITORING = false;
 
   /** The log directory for the containers */
   public static final String YARN_APP_CONTAINER_LOG_DIR =
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-tests/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/MiniYARNCluster.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-tests/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/MiniYARNCluster.java
index 144b111f83..cba27e4b32 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-tests/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/MiniYARNCluster.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-tests/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/MiniYARNCluster.java
@@ -304,6 +304,16 @@ public synchronized void serviceStart() throws Exception {
                         MiniYARNCluster.getHostname() + ":0");
         getConfig().set(YarnConfiguration.NM_WEBAPP_ADDRESS,
                         MiniYARNCluster.getHostname() + ":0");
+
+        // Disable resource checks by default
+        if (!getConfig().getBoolean(
+            YarnConfiguration.YARN_MINICLUSTER_CONTROL_RESOURCE_MONITORING,
+            YarnConfiguration.
+                DEFAULT_YARN_MINICLUSTER_CONTROL_RESOURCE_MONITORING)) {
+          getConfig().setBoolean(YarnConfiguration.NM_PMEM_CHECK_ENABLED, false);
+          getConfig().setBoolean(YarnConfiguration.NM_VMEM_CHECK_ENABLED, false);
+        }
+
         LOG.info("Starting NM: " + index);
         nodeManagers[index].init(getConfig());
         new Thread() {