diff --git a/federation/pkg/kubefed/init/init.go b/federation/pkg/kubefed/init/init.go
index 8aea0c96fcc..6c4a6e0986b 100644
--- a/federation/pkg/kubefed/init/init.go
+++ b/federation/pkg/kubefed/init/init.go
@@ -119,6 +119,7 @@ func NewCmdInit(cmdOut io.Writer, config util.AdminConfig) *cobra.Command {
 	cmd.Flags().String("dns-zone-name", "", "DNS suffix for this federation. Federated Service DNS names are published with this suffix.")
 	cmd.Flags().String("image", defaultImage, "Image to use for federation API server and controller manager binaries.")
 	cmd.Flags().String("dns-provider", "google-clouddns", "Dns provider to be used for this deployment.")
+	cmd.Flags().String("etcd-pv-capacity", "10Gi", "Size of persistent volume claim to be used for etcd.")
 	return cmd
 }
 
@@ -140,6 +141,7 @@ func initFederation(cmdOut io.Writer, config util.AdminConfig, cmd *cobra.Comman
 	dnsZoneName := cmdutil.GetFlagString(cmd, "dns-zone-name")
 	image := cmdutil.GetFlagString(cmd, "image")
 	dnsProvider := cmdutil.GetFlagString(cmd, "dns-provider")
+	etcdPVCapacity := cmdutil.GetFlagString(cmd, "etcd-pv-capacity")
 
 	hostFactory := config.HostFactory(initFlags.Host, initFlags.Kubeconfig)
 	hostClientset, err := hostFactory.ClientSet()
@@ -188,7 +190,7 @@ func initFederation(cmdOut io.Writer, config util.AdminConfig, cmd *cobra.Comman
 	// 5. Create a persistent volume and a claim to store the federation
 	// API server's state. This is where federation API server's etcd
 	// stores its data.
-	pvc, err := createPVC(hostClientset, initFlags.FederationSystemNamespace, svc.Name)
+	pvc, err := createPVC(hostClientset, initFlags.FederationSystemNamespace, svc.Name, etcdPVCapacity)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -353,8 +355,8 @@ func createControllerManagerKubeconfigSecret(clientset *client.Clientset, namesp
 	return util.CreateKubeconfigSecret(clientset, config, namespace, kubeconfigName, false)
 }
 
-func createPVC(clientset *client.Clientset, namespace, svcName string) (*api.PersistentVolumeClaim, error) {
-	capacity, err := resource.ParseQuantity("10Gi")
+func createPVC(clientset *client.Clientset, namespace, svcName, etcdPVCapacity string) (*api.PersistentVolumeClaim, error) {
+	capacity, err := resource.ParseQuantity(etcdPVCapacity)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
diff --git a/federation/pkg/kubefed/init/init_test.go b/federation/pkg/kubefed/init/init_test.go
index 14371807d11..0d5e680b0d2 100644
--- a/federation/pkg/kubefed/init/init_test.go
+++ b/federation/pkg/kubefed/init/init_test.go
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ func TestInitFederation(t *testing.T) {
 		dnsZoneName        string
 		lbIP               string
 		image              string
+		etcdPVCapacity     string
 		expectedErr        string
 		dnsProvider        string
 	}{
@@ -86,6 +87,7 @@ func TestInitFederation(t *testing.T) {
 			dnsZoneName:        "example.test.",
 			lbIP:               "10.20.30.40",
 			image:              "example.test/foo:bar",
+			etcdPVCapacity:     "5Gi",
 			expectedErr:        "",
 			dnsProvider:        "test-dns-provider",
 		},
@@ -96,6 +98,7 @@ func TestInitFederation(t *testing.T) {
 			dnsZoneName:        "example.test.",
 			lbIP:               "10.20.30.40",
 			image:              "example.test/foo:bar",
+			etcdPVCapacity:     "", //test for default value of pvc-size
 			expectedErr:        "",
 			dnsProvider:        "", //test for default value of dns provider
 		},
@@ -111,7 +114,7 @@ func TestInitFederation(t *testing.T) {
 		} else {
 			dnsProvider = "google-clouddns" //default value of dns-provider
 		}
-		hostFactory, err := fakeInitHostFactory(tc.federation, util.DefaultFederationSystemNamespace, tc.lbIP, tc.dnsZoneName, tc.image, dnsProvider)
+		hostFactory, err := fakeInitHostFactory(tc.federation, util.DefaultFederationSystemNamespace, tc.lbIP, tc.dnsZoneName, tc.image, dnsProvider, tc.etcdPVCapacity)
 		if err != nil {
 			t.Fatalf("[%d] unexpected error: %v", i, err)
 		}
@@ -130,6 +133,9 @@ func TestInitFederation(t *testing.T) {
 		if "" != tc.dnsProvider {
 			cmd.Flags().Set("dns-provider", tc.dnsProvider)
 		}
+		if "" != tc.etcdPVCapacity {
+			cmd.Flags().Set("etcd-pv-capacity", tc.etcdPVCapacity)
+		}
 		cmd.Run(cmd, []string{tc.federation})
 
 		if tc.expectedErr == "" {
@@ -392,12 +398,17 @@ func TestCertsHTTPS(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func fakeInitHostFactory(federationName, namespaceName, ip, dnsZoneName, image, dnsProvider string) (cmdutil.Factory, error) {
+func fakeInitHostFactory(federationName, namespaceName, ip, dnsZoneName, image, dnsProvider, etcdPVCapacity string) (cmdutil.Factory, error) {
 	svcName := federationName + "-apiserver"
 	svcUrlPrefix := "/api/v1/namespaces/federation-system/services"
 	credSecretName := svcName + "-credentials"
 	cmKubeconfigSecretName := federationName + "-controller-manager-kubeconfig"
-	capacity, err := resource.ParseQuantity("10Gi")
+	pvCap := "10Gi"
+	if etcdPVCapacity != "" {
+		pvCap = etcdPVCapacity
+	}
+
+	capacity, err := resource.ParseQuantity(pvCap)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
diff --git a/hack/verify-flags/known-flags.txt b/hack/verify-flags/known-flags.txt
index 333ef7c7f8f..506ee90d60d 100644
--- a/hack/verify-flags/known-flags.txt
+++ b/hack/verify-flags/known-flags.txt
@@ -174,6 +174,7 @@ etcd-config
 etcd-keyfile
 etcd-mutation-timeout
 etcd-prefix
+etcd-pv-capacity
 etcd-quorum-read
 etcd-server
 etcd-servers