diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
index 5b0c65d1a05..2669204e1f1 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -318,6 +318,9 @@ Release 2.0.4-alpha - UNRELEASED
     MAPREDUCE-5083. MiniMRCluster should use a random component when creating an
     actual cluster (Siddharth Seth via hitesh)
 
+    MAPREDUCE-5094. Disabled memory monitoring by default in MiniMRYarnCluster
+    to avoid some downstream tests failing. (Siddharth Seth via vinodkv)
+
 Release 2.0.3-alpha - 2013-02-06 
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/MRConfig.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/MRConfig.java
index 375391320be..bbac5fcab9d 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/MRConfig.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/MRConfig.java
@@ -103,4 +103,15 @@ public interface MRConfig {
     "mapreduce.ifile.readahead.bytes";
 
   public static final int DEFAULT_MAPRED_IFILE_READAHEAD_BYTES =
-    4 * 1024 * 1024;}
+    4 * 1024 * 1024;
+
+  /**
+   * Whether users are explicitly trying to control resource monitoring
+   * configuration for the MiniMRCluster. Disabled by default.
+   */
+  public static final String MAPREDUCE_MINICLUSTER_CONTROL_RESOURCE_MONITORING
+      = "mapreduce.minicluster.control-resource-monitoring";
+  public static final boolean
+      DEFAULT_MAPREDUCE_MINICLUSTER_CONTROL_RESOURCE_MONITORING = false;
+}
+  
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/MiniMRYarnCluster.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/MiniMRYarnCluster.java
index 8edf4f15d93..10d7a71e1b8 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/MiniMRYarnCluster.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/MiniMRYarnCluster.java
@@ -20,16 +20,13 @@
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
-import java.net.InetAddress;
-import java.net.UnknownHostException;
 
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
-import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileContext;
-import org.apache.hadoop.fs.permission.FsPermission;
-import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.CommonConfigurationKeys;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileContext;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapred.LocalContainerLauncher;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapred.ShuffleHandler;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.MRConfig;
@@ -76,6 +73,15 @@ public void init(Configuration conf) {
       conf.set(MRJobConfig.MR_AM_STAGING_DIR, new File(getTestWorkDir(),
           "apps_staging_dir/").getAbsolutePath());
     }
+
+    // By default, VMEM monitoring disabled, PMEM monitoring enabled.
+    if (!conf.getBoolean(
+        MRConfig.MAPREDUCE_MINICLUSTER_CONTROL_RESOURCE_MONITORING,
+        MRConfig.DEFAULT_MAPREDUCE_MINICLUSTER_CONTROL_RESOURCE_MONITORING)) {
+      conf.setBoolean(YarnConfiguration.NM_PMEM_CHECK_ENABLED, false);
+      conf.setBoolean(YarnConfiguration.NM_VMEM_CHECK_ENABLED, false);
+    }
+
     conf.set(CommonConfigurationKeys.FS_PERMISSIONS_UMASK_KEY,  "000");
 
     try {