diff --git a/docs/source/guides/admin-guides/references/man5/nodehm.5.rst b/docs/source/guides/admin-guides/references/man5/nodehm.5.rst
index 39d61c12e..e3978e25e 100644
--- a/docs/source/guides/admin-guides/references/man5/nodehm.5.rst
+++ b/docs/source/guides/admin-guides/references/man5/nodehm.5.rst
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ nodehm Attributes:
 
 \ **consoleondemand**\ 
  
- This overrides the value from site.consoleondemand; (0=no, 1=yes). Default is the result from site.consoleondemand.
+ This overrides the value from site.consoleondemand. Set to 'yes', 'no', '1' (equivalent to 'yes'), or '0' (equivalent to 'no'). If not set, the default is the value from site.consoleondemand.
  
 
 
diff --git a/docs/source/guides/admin-guides/references/man7/group.7.rst b/docs/source/guides/admin-guides/references/man7/group.7.rst
index 51e9aab67..410881cb7 100644
--- a/docs/source/guides/admin-guides/references/man7/group.7.rst
+++ b/docs/source/guides/admin-guides/references/man7/group.7.rst
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ group Attributes:
 
 \ **consoleondemand**\  (nodehm.consoleondemand)
  
- This overrides the value from site.consoleondemand; (0=no, 1=yes). Default is the result from site.consoleondemand.
+ This overrides the value from site.consoleondemand. Set to 'yes', 'no', '1' (equivalent to 'yes'), or '0' (equivalent to 'no'). If not set, the default is the value from site.consoleondemand.
  
 
 
diff --git a/docs/source/guides/admin-guides/references/man7/node.7.rst b/docs/source/guides/admin-guides/references/man7/node.7.rst
index e894f7fb1..09b1fa33a 100644
--- a/docs/source/guides/admin-guides/references/man7/node.7.rst
+++ b/docs/source/guides/admin-guides/references/man7/node.7.rst
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ node Attributes:
 
 \ **consoleondemand**\  (nodehm.consoleondemand)
  
- This overrides the value from site.consoleondemand; (0=no, 1=yes). Default is the result from site.consoleondemand.
+ This overrides the value from site.consoleondemand. Set to 'yes', 'no', '1' (equivalent to 'yes'), or '0' (equivalent to 'no'). If not set, the default is the value from site.consoleondemand.
  
 
 
diff --git a/perl-xCAT/xCAT/Schema.pm b/perl-xCAT/xCAT/Schema.pm
index ae4d446de..b70a4ad7b 100755
--- a/perl-xCAT/xCAT/Schema.pm
+++ b/perl-xCAT/xCAT/Schema.pm
@@ -595,7 +595,7 @@ passed as argument rather than by table value',
             serialflow => "The flow control value of the serial port for this node.  For SOL this is typically 'hard'.",
             getmac => 'The method to use to get MAC address of the node with the getmac command. If not set, the mgt attribute will be used.  Valid values: same as values for mgmt attribute.',
             cmdmapping => 'The fully qualified name of the file that stores the mapping between PCM hardware management commands and xCAT/third-party hardware management commands for a particular type of hardware device.  Only used by PCM.',
-            consoleondemand => 'This overrides the value from site.consoleondemand; (0=no, 1=yes). Default is the result from site.consoleondemand.',
+            consoleondemand => "This overrides the value from site.consoleondemand. Set to 'yes', 'no', '1' (equivalent to 'yes'), or '0' (equivalent to 'no'). If not set, the default is the value from site.consoleondemand.",
             comments => 'Any user-written notes.',
             disable  => "Set to 'yes' or '1' to comment out this row.",
         },
diff --git a/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/conserver.pm b/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/conserver.pm
index 986b77b90..8fdc5dfec 100644
--- a/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/conserver.pm
+++ b/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/conserver.pm
@@ -191,6 +191,7 @@ sub docfheaders {
 
     # Put in standard headers common to all conserver.cf files
     my $content    = shift;
+    my $cb         = shift;
     my @newheaders = ();
     my $numlines   = @$content;
     my $idx        = 0;
@@ -283,18 +284,19 @@ sub docfheaders {
     #-- then start all consoles on demand
     #-- this helps eliminate many ssh connections to blade AMM
     #-- which seems to kill AMMs occasionally
-    #my $sitetab  = xCAT::Table->new('site');
-    #my $vcon = $sitetab->getAttribs({key => "consoleondemand"}, 'value');
     my @entries    = xCAT::TableUtils->get_site_attribute("consoleondemand");
     my $site_entry = $entries[0];
-    if (defined($site_entry) and $site_entry eq "yes") {
-        push @newheaders, "  options ondemand;\n";
-        $siteondemand = 1;
+    $siteondemand = 0;
+    if (defined($site_entry)) {
+        if (lc($site_entry) eq "yes") {
+            push @newheaders, "  options ondemand;\n";
+            $siteondemand = 1;
+        }
+        elsif (lc($site_entry) ne "no") {
+            # consoleondemand attribute is set, but it is not "yes" or "no"
+            xCAT::SvrUtils::sendmsg([ 1, "Unexpected value $site_entry for consoleondemand attribute in site table" ], $cb);
+        }
     }
-    else {
-        $siteondemand = 0;
-    }
-
     push @newheaders, "}\n";
     unshift @$content, @newheaders;
 }
@@ -327,7 +329,7 @@ sub makeconservercf {
         push @filecontent, $_;
     }
     close $cfile;
-    docfheaders(\@filecontent);
+    docfheaders(\@filecontent,$cb);
 
     my $isSN     = xCAT::Utils->isServiceNode();
     my @hostinfo = xCAT::NetworkUtils->determinehostname();
@@ -575,10 +577,11 @@ sub donodeent {
             }
         }
         if (defined($cfgent->{consoleondemand})) {
-            if ($cfgent->{consoleondemand} && !$siteondemand) {
+            # consoleondemand attribute for node can be "1", "yes", "0" and "no"
+            if ((($cfgent->{consoleondemand} eq "1") || lc($cfgent->{consoleondemand}) eq "yes") && !$siteondemand) {
                 push @$content, "  options ondemand;\n";
             }
-            elsif (!$cfgent->{consoleondemand} && $siteondemand) {
+            elsif ((($cfgent->{consoleondemand} eq "0") || lc($cfgent->{consoleondemand}) eq "no") && $siteondemand) {
                 push @$content, "  options !ondemand;\n";
             }
         }