diff --git a/perl-xCAT-2.0/xCAT/Schema.pm b/perl-xCAT-2.0/xCAT/Schema.pm
index b68247d52..01cbcf431 100644
--- a/perl-xCAT-2.0/xCAT/Schema.pm
+++ b/perl-xCAT-2.0/xCAT/Schema.pm
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ monitoring => {
 	descriptions => {
 		name => "The name of the mornitoring plug-in module.  The plug-in must be put in $ENV{XCATROOT}/lib/perl/xCAT_monitoring/.  See the man page for startmon for details.",
 		nodestatmon => 'Specifies if the monitoring plug-in is used to feed the node status to the xCAT cluster.  Any one of the following values indicates "yes":  y, Y, yes, Yes, YES, 1.  Any other value or blank (default), indicates "no".',
-		settings => 'Specifies the plug-in specific settings. These setting will be used by the plug-in to customize certain entities for the plug-in or the third party monitoring software. e.g. mon_interval=10,toggle=1',
+		settings => 'Specifies the plug-in specific settings. These settings will be used by the plug-in to customize certain entities for the plug-in or the third party monitoring software. It is a comma separated item=value pairs. e.g. mon_interval=10,toggle=1',
 		comments => 'Any user-written notes.',
 		disable => "Set to 'yes' or '1' to comment out this row.",
 	},
diff --git a/xCAT-client-2.0/pods/man1/startmon.1.pod b/xCAT-client-2.0/pods/man1/startmon.1.pod
index b0c22cab7..eb41ffb38 100644
--- a/xCAT-client-2.0/pods/man1/startmon.1.pod
+++ b/xCAT-client-2.0/pods/man1/startmon.1.pod
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ I<startmon [-h| --help]>
 I<startmon  [-v| --version]>
 
 
-I<startmon I<name> [-n|--nodestatmon]>
+I<startmon I<name> [-n|--nodestatmon] [-s|--settings item=value[,item=value]...]> 
 
 
 =head1 DESCRIPTION
@@ -26,10 +26,12 @@ I<name> is the name of the monitoring plug-in module. For example, if the the I<
 =head1 OPTIONS
 
 
-B<-n | -nodestatmon>   Indicate that this monitoring plug-in will be used for feeding the node liveness status to the xCAT I<nodelist> table. 
-
 B<-h | -help>          Display usage message.
 
+B<-n | -nodestatmon>   Indicate that this monitoring plug-in will be used for feeding the node liveness status to the xCAT I<nodelist> table.
+
+B<-s | -settings>     Specifies the plug-in specific settings. These settings will be used by the plug-in to customize certain entities for the plug-in or the third party monitoring software. e.g. mon_interval=10,toggle=1.
+
 B<-v | -version >      Command Version. 
 
 B<-V | -verbose>       Verbose output. 
@@ -51,6 +53,12 @@ B<-V | -verbose>       Verbose output.
 
   startmon rmcmon -n
 
+3. To start xcatmon plug-in module to feed the node liveness status to xCAT's I<nodelist> table, enter:
+
+  startmon rmcmon -n -s ping-interval=2
+where 2 is the number of minutes between the pings.
+
+
 
 =head1 FILES 
  
diff --git a/xCAT-server-2.0/lib/xcat/plugins/monctrlcmds.pm b/xCAT-server-2.0/lib/xcat/plugins/monctrlcmds.pm
index 46696b2ee..58b6084f8 100644
--- a/xCAT-server-2.0/lib/xcat/plugins/monctrlcmds.pm
+++ b/xCAT-server-2.0/lib/xcat/plugins/monctrlcmds.pm
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ sub startmon {
   {
     my %rsp;
     $rsp->{data}->[0]= "Usage:";
-    $rsp->{data}->[1]= "  startmon name [-n|--nodestatmon] [-s|--settings]";
+    $rsp->{data}->[1]= "  startmon name [-n|--nodestatmon] [-s|--settings item=value[,item=value]...]";
     $rsp->{data}->[2]= "  startmon [-h|--help|-v|--version]";
     $rsp->{data}->[3]= "     name is the name of the monitoring plug-in to be registered and invoked.";
     $callback->($rsp);