diff --git a/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/rescanplugins.pm b/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/rescanplugins.pm
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..207eb594d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/rescanplugins.pm
@@ -0,0 +1,194 @@
+# IBM(c) 2007 EPL license http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
+#-------------------------------------------------------
+
+=head1
+  xCAT plugin package to tell xcatd daemon to rescan plugin directory
+
+   Supported command:
+         rescanplugins->rescanplugins
+
+=cut
+
+#-------------------------------------------------------
+package xCAT_plugin::rescanplugins;
+BEGIN
+{
+  $::XCATROOT = $ENV{'XCATROOT'} ? $ENV{'XCATROOT'} : '/opt/xcat';
+}
+use lib "$::XCATROOT/lib/perl";
+use xCAT::Utils;
+use xCAT::MsgUtils;
+use Getopt::Long;
+use strict;
+1;
+
+#-------------------------------------------------------
+
+=head3  handled_commands
+
+Return list of commands handled by this plugin
+
+=cut
+
+#-------------------------------------------------------
+
+sub handled_commands
+{
+    return {rescanplugins => "rescanplugins"};
+}
+
+#-------------------------------------------------------
+
+=head3  preprocess_request
+
+   If hierarchy, send request to xcatd on service nodes
+
+=cut
+
+#-------------------------------------------------------
+sub preprocess_request
+{
+    my $req  = shift;
+    my $callback = shift;
+    my $subreq    = shift;
+    $::CALLBACK=$callback; 
+    my $args     = $req->{arg};
+    my $envs     = $req->{env};
+
+
+  #if already preprocessed, go straight to request
+    if (($req->{_xcatpreprocessed}) and 
+        ($req->{_xcatpreprocessed}->[0] == 1) ) { return [$req]; }
+
+
+    # do your processing here
+    # return info
+   if ($args) {
+        @ARGV = @{$args};    # get arguments
+    }
+    Getopt::Long::Configure("posix_default");
+    Getopt::Long::Configure("no_gnu_compat");
+    Getopt::Long::Configure("bundling");
+    my %options = ();
+    if (
+        !GetOptions(
+            'h|help'                   => \$options{'help'},
+            's|servicenodes'           => \$options{'servicenodes'},
+            'v|version'                => \$options{'version'},
+            'V|Verbose'                => \$options{'verbose'}
+        )
+      )
+    {  
+        &usage;
+        exit 1;
+    }
+
+    if ($options{'help'})
+    {
+        &usage;
+        exit 0;
+    }
+
+   if ($options{'version'})
+    {
+        my $version = xCAT::Utils->Version();
+        #$version .= "\n";
+        my $rsp={};
+        $rsp->{data}->[0] = $version;        
+        xCAT::MsgUtils->message("I",$rsp,$callback, 0);
+        exit 0;
+    }
+
+
+    if ( @ARGV && $ARGV[0] ) {
+        my $rsp={};
+        $rsp->{data}->[0] = "Ignoring arguments ". join(',',@ARGV);
+        xCAT::MsgUtils->message("I",$rsp,$callback, 0);
+    }
+
+    if ( $req->{node} && $req->{node}->[0] ) {
+        my $rsp={};
+        $rsp->{data}->[0] = "Ignoring nodes ". join(',',@{$req->{node}});
+        xCAT::MsgUtils->message("I",$rsp,$callback, 0);
+        $req->{node}=[];
+    }
+
+    if ($options{'servicenodes'}) {
+
+    # Run rescanplugins on MN and all service nodes
+    # build an individual request for each service node
+        my @requests;
+            my $MNreq = {%$req};
+            $MNreq->{_xcatpreprocessed}->[0] = 1;
+            push @requests, $MNreq;
+ 
+        foreach my $sn (xCAT::ServiceNodeUtils->getAllSN())
+        {
+            my $SNreq = {%$req};
+            $SNreq->{'_xcatdest'} = $sn;
+            $SNreq->{_xcatpreprocessed}->[0] = 1;
+            push @requests, $SNreq;
+
+        }
+        return \@requests;  # return requests for all Service nodes
+    } 
+
+  return [$req];
+}
+
+#-------------------------------------------------------
+
+=head3  process_request
+
+  Process the command
+
+=cut
+
+#-------------------------------------------------------
+sub process_request
+{
+    my $req  = shift;
+    my $callback = shift;
+    my $subreq    = shift;
+
+    # The xcatd daemon should intercept this command and process it directly
+
+    print "in rescanplugins->process_request -- xcatd should process this request directly.  WE SHOULD NEVER GET HERE \n";
+    my $rsp={};
+    $rsp->{data}->[0] = "in rescanplugins->process_request:  xcatd should process this request directly. WE SHOULD NEVER GET HERE";
+    xCAT::MsgUtils->message("I", $rsp, $callback, 0);
+    return;
+
+}
+#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+=head3
+      usage
+
+        puts out  usage message  for help
+
+        Arguments:
+          None
+
+        Returns:
+
+        Globals:
+
+        Error:
+                None
+
+
+=cut
+
+#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+sub usage
+{
+## usage message
+      my $usagemsg  = " rescanplugins [-h|--help] \n rescanplugins [-v|--version] \n rescanplugins [-s|--servicenodes]\n";
+###  end usage mesage
+        my $rsp = {};
+        $rsp->{data}->[0] = $usagemsg;
+        xCAT::MsgUtils->message("I", $rsp, $::CALLBACK);
+  return;
+}
diff --git a/xCAT-server/sbin/xcatd b/xCAT-server/sbin/xcatd
index be95c4e6a..f2cad92f7 100755
--- a/xCAT-server/sbin/xcatd
+++ b/xCAT-server/sbin/xcatd
@@ -749,6 +749,8 @@ sleep 0.05;
 
 sub scan_plugins {
   my $serialdest = shift;
+  my $rescan = shift;
+  %cmd_handlers=();
   my @plugins=glob($plugins_dir."/*.pm");
   foreach (@plugins) {
     /.*\/([^\/]*).pm$/;
@@ -784,14 +786,16 @@ sub scan_plugins {
       }
     }
   }
-  foreach (@plugins) {
-    no strict 'refs';
-    /.*\/([^\/]*).pm$/;
-    my $modname = $1;
-    unless (defined(${"xCAT_plugin::".$modname."::"}{init_plugin})) {
-        next;
+  if ( ! $rescan ) {
+    foreach (@plugins) {
+      no strict 'refs';
+      /.*\/([^\/]*).pm$/;
+      my $modname = $1;
+      unless (defined(${"xCAT_plugin::".$modname."::"}{init_plugin})) {
+          next;
+      }
+      ${"xCAT_plugin::".$modname."::"}{init_plugin}->(\&do_request);
     }
-    ${"xCAT_plugin::".$modname."::"}{init_plugin}->(\&do_request);
   }
   if ($serialdest) { store_fd(\%cmd_handlers,$serialdest); }; #print $serialdest freeze(\%cmd_handlers); };
 }
@@ -977,6 +981,17 @@ xCAT::NotifHandler::setup($$, $dbmaster);
 #start the monitoring process
 xCAT_monitoring::monitorctrl::start($$);
 
+# Set up communication pipe to have subcommand process be able to reload the
+# cmd_handlers hash and pass it back to this parent when rescanplugins requested
+my $chreadpipe;
+my $chwritepipe;
+if ( !(socketpair($chreadpipe, $chwritepipe,AF_UNIX,SOCK_STREAM,PF_UNSPEC)) ) {
+    xCAT::MsgUtils->message("S", "socketpair failed: $!");
+}
+my $chrselect = new IO::Select;
+$chrselect->add($chreadpipe);
+
+
 my $peername;
 my $ssltimeout;
 my $retry=1;
@@ -1075,6 +1090,14 @@ until ($quit) {
       $listenwatcher->can_read(0.1); #when next connection tries to come in or a tenth of a second, whichever comes first
       next; #just keep pulling things off listen queue onto our own
   }
+  # before we fork, check to see if rescanplugins was previously processed and
+  #   we now have a new cmd_handlers hash to refresh
+  my @chdata;
+  if (@chdata = $chrselect->can_read(0)) {
+   foreach my $chd (@chdata) {
+      %cmd_handlers = %{fd_retrieve($chd)};
+   }
+  }
   #we have a pending connection and we are under the threshold, grab one from the list and process it...
   my $cnnection=shift @pendingconnections;
   #my $previous = select ($cnnection); #assure that perl buffering is not in play at the low level
@@ -1421,7 +1444,13 @@ sub plugin_command {
     	        dispatch_request($req,$callback,$modname);
             } else {
                $SIG{CHLD}='DEFAULT';
-               ${"xCAT_plugin::".$modname."::"}{process_request}->($req,$callback,\&do_request);
+               # Call the plugin to process the command request
+               #    rescanplugins request gets handled directly here in xcatd
+               if ($req->{command}->[0] eq 'rescanplugins') { 
+                 scan_plugins($chwritepipe,'1');
+               } else {
+                 ${"xCAT_plugin::".$modname."::"}{process_request}->($req,$callback,\&do_request);
+               }
             }
             $$progname=$oldprogname;
             }; #REMOVEEVALFORDEBUG
@@ -1509,7 +1538,13 @@ sub plugin_command {
 	        dispatch_request($req,$callback,$modname);
         } else {
            $SIG{CHLD}='DEFAULT';
-           ${"xCAT_plugin::".$modname."::"}{process_request}->($req,$callback,\&do_request);
+           # Call the plugin to process the command request
+           #    rescanplugins request gets handled directly here in xcatd
+           if ($req->{command}->[0] eq 'rescanplugins') { 
+             scan_plugins($chwritepipe,'1');
+           } else {
+             ${"xCAT_plugin::".$modname."::"}{process_request}->($req,$callback,\&do_request);
+           }
         }
         $$progname=$oldprogname;
         $parent_fd = $org_parent_fd;
@@ -1735,7 +1770,13 @@ sub dispatch_request {
         $SIG{CHLD}='DEFAULT';
         "" =~ m/()/; #clear $1 that we may have sitting around
 	if ($_->{'_xcatdelay'} and not ref $_->{'_xcatdelay'}) { sleep $_->{'_xcatdelay'}; }
-        ${"xCAT_plugin::".$modname."::"}{process_request}->($_,$dispatch_cb,\&do_request);
+        # Call the plugin to process the command request
+        #    rescanplugins request gets handled directly here in xcatd
+        if ($_->{command}->[0] eq 'rescanplugins') {
+          scan_plugins($chwritepipe,'1');
+        } else {
+          ${"xCAT_plugin::".$modname."::"}{process_request}->($_,$dispatch_cb,\&do_request);
+        }
         return;
     }
 
@@ -1818,7 +1859,13 @@ sub dispatch_request {
          } else {
             $$progname.=": locally executing";
             $SIG{CHLD}='DEFAULT';
-            ${"xCAT_plugin::".$modname."::"}{process_request}->($_,\&dispatch_callback,\&do_request);
+            # Call the plugin to process the command request
+            #    rescanplugins request gets handled directly here in xcatd
+            if ($_->{command}->[0] eq 'rescanplugins') {
+              scan_plugins($chwritepipe,'1');
+            } else {
+              ${"xCAT_plugin::".$modname."::"}{process_request}->($_,\&dispatch_callback,\&do_request);
+            }
             last;
         }
      }
@@ -1852,6 +1899,7 @@ sub do_request {
     }
   }
 
+
   #my $sock = shift; #If no sock, will return a response hash
   if ($cmd_handlers{$req->{command}->[0]}) {
      return plugin_command($req,$sock,$rsphandler);