diff --git a/hbase-it/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/IntegrationTestBase.java b/hbase-it/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/IntegrationTestBase.java
index 085c252b719..f45fb048314 100644
--- a/hbase-it/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/IntegrationTestBase.java
+++ b/hbase-it/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/IntegrationTestBase.java
@@ -178,6 +178,9 @@ public abstract class IntegrationTestBase extends AbstractHBaseTool {
   public abstract void setUpCluster() throws Exception;
 
   public void cleanUpCluster() throws Exception {
+    if (util.isDistributedCluster() &&  (monkey == null || !monkey.isDestructive())) {
+      noClusterCleanUp = true;
+    }
     if (noClusterCleanUp) {
       LOG.debug("noClusterCleanUp is set, skip restoring the cluster");
       return;
diff --git a/hbase-it/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/chaos/monkies/CalmChaosMonkey.java b/hbase-it/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/chaos/monkies/CalmChaosMonkey.java
index bcf45dd1a23..bcf7d85ee75 100644
--- a/hbase-it/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/chaos/monkies/CalmChaosMonkey.java
+++ b/hbase-it/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/chaos/monkies/CalmChaosMonkey.java
@@ -41,4 +41,9 @@ public class CalmChaosMonkey extends ChaosMonkey {
   public void waitForStop() throws InterruptedException {
 
   }
+
+  @Override
+  public boolean isDestructive() {
+    return false;
+  }
 }
diff --git a/hbase-it/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/chaos/monkies/ChaosMonkey.java b/hbase-it/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/chaos/monkies/ChaosMonkey.java
index da75c3be480..86cbfe5c612 100644
--- a/hbase-it/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/chaos/monkies/ChaosMonkey.java
+++ b/hbase-it/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/chaos/monkies/ChaosMonkey.java
@@ -51,4 +51,10 @@ public abstract class ChaosMonkey implements Stoppable {
   public abstract boolean isStopped();
 
   public abstract void waitForStop() throws InterruptedException;
+
+  /**
+   * Returns whether the CM does destructive actions (killing servers) so that a cluster restore
+   * is needed after CM is stopped. Otherwise cluster will be left as it is
+   */
+  public abstract boolean isDestructive();
 }
diff --git a/hbase-it/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/chaos/monkies/PolicyBasedChaosMonkey.java b/hbase-it/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/chaos/monkies/PolicyBasedChaosMonkey.java
index f42f903473e..9152cb2a3a0 100644
--- a/hbase-it/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/chaos/monkies/PolicyBasedChaosMonkey.java
+++ b/hbase-it/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/chaos/monkies/PolicyBasedChaosMonkey.java
@@ -149,4 +149,10 @@ public class PolicyBasedChaosMonkey extends ChaosMonkey {
       monkeyThread.join();
     }
   }
+
+  @Override
+  public boolean isDestructive() {
+    // TODO: we can look at the actions, and decide to do the restore cluster or not based on them.
+    return true;
+  }
 }