diff --git a/xCAT-client/pods/man1/updatenode.1.pod b/xCAT-client/pods/man1/updatenode.1.pod
index 8ba1ae665..ab2dd30a9 100644
--- a/xCAT-client/pods/man1/updatenode.1.pod
+++ b/xCAT-client/pods/man1/updatenode.1.pod
@@ -331,7 +331,11 @@ nodes with the data to sync to the nodes. rsync and ssh must
 be installed and configured on the service nodes.
 For hierachy, this optionally can  be done before syncing the files
 to the nodes with the -F flag.  If the -f flag is not used, then
-the -F flag will sync the servicenodes before the nodes automatically.  
+the -F flag will sync the servicenodes before the nodes automatically. 
+When installing nodes in a hierarchical cluster, this flag should be
+used to sync the service nodes before the install, since the files will
+be sync'd from the service node by the syncfiles postscript during the
+install.
 The function is not supported for statelite installations.
 For statelite installations to sync files, you should use the
 read-only option for files/directories listed in