diff --git a/hbase-shell/src/main/ruby/hbase/admin.rb b/hbase-shell/src/main/ruby/hbase/admin.rb
index 01021186b14..f52438088a0 100644
--- a/hbase-shell/src/main/ruby/hbase/admin.rb
+++ b/hbase-shell/src/main/ruby/hbase/admin.rb
@@ -50,12 +50,17 @@ module Hbase
     end
 
     #----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-    # Requests a table or region flush
-    def flush(table_or_region_name)
-      @admin.flushRegion(table_or_region_name.to_java_bytes)
-    rescue java.lang.IllegalArgumentException => e
+    # Requests a table or region or region server flush
+    def flush(name)
+      @admin.flushRegion(name.to_java_bytes)
+    rescue java.lang.IllegalArgumentException
       # Unknown region. Try table.
-      @admin.flush(TableName.valueOf(table_or_region_name))
+      begin
+        @admin.flush(TableName.valueOf(name))
+      rescue java.lang.IllegalArgumentException
+        # Unknown table. Try region server.
+        @admin.flushRegionServer(ServerName.valueOf(name))
+      end
     end
 
     #----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -1286,5 +1291,11 @@ module Hbase
       end
       @admin.clearDeadServers(servers).to_a
     end
+
+    #----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    # List live region servers
+    def list_liveservers
+      @admin.getClusterStatus.getServers.to_a
+    end
   end
 end
diff --git a/hbase-shell/src/main/ruby/shell/commands/flush.rb b/hbase-shell/src/main/ruby/shell/commands/flush.rb
index 4165b84e385..1f6b3105a1d 100644
--- a/hbase-shell/src/main/ruby/shell/commands/flush.rb
+++ b/hbase-shell/src/main/ruby/shell/commands/flush.rb
@@ -23,11 +23,14 @@ module Shell
       def help
         <<-EOF
 Flush all regions in passed table or pass a region row to
-flush an individual region.  For example:
+flush an individual region or a region server name whose format
+is 'host,port,startcode', to flush all its regions.
+For example:
 
   hbase> flush 'TABLENAME'
   hbase> flush 'REGIONNAME'
   hbase> flush 'ENCODED_REGIONNAME'
+  hbase> flush 'REGION_SERVER_NAME'
 EOF
       end
 
diff --git a/hbase-shell/src/test/ruby/hbase/admin_test.rb b/hbase-shell/src/test/ruby/hbase/admin_test.rb
index cbeb8b626f2..929484c51d2 100644
--- a/hbase-shell/src/test/ruby/hbase/admin_test.rb
+++ b/hbase-shell/src/test/ruby/hbase/admin_test.rb
@@ -101,6 +101,10 @@ module Hbase
 
     define_test "flush should work" do
       command(:flush, 'hbase:meta')
+      servers = admin.list_liveservers
+      servers.each do |s|
+        command(:flush, s.toString)
+      end
     end
 
     #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------