diff --git a/cluster/gce/config-default.sh b/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
index ab317650cac..8c6e66f055c 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
@@ -35,3 +35,5 @@ MINION_SCOPES="compute-rw"
 # Increase the sleep interval value if concerned about API rate limits. 3, in seconds, is the default.
 POLL_SLEEP_INTERVAL=3
 PORTAL_NET="10.0.0.0/16"
+# When set to true, heapster will be setup as part of the cluster bring up.
+MONITORING=true
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/cluster/gce/config-test.sh b/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
index 496f9f52cdd..92e6e67cf35 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
@@ -35,3 +35,4 @@ MINION_SCOPES=""
 # Increase the sleep interval value if concerned about API rate limits. 3, in seconds, is the default.
 POLL_SLEEP_INTERVAL=3
 PORTAL_NET="10.0.0.0/16"
+MONITORING=false
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/cluster/gce/util.sh b/cluster/gce/util.sh
index 9210ecbcd85..638b4b49d17 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/util.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/util.sh
@@ -575,10 +575,7 @@ function restart-kube-proxy {
 
 # Setup monitoring using heapster and InfluxDB
 function setup-monitoring {
-    read -p "Setup monitoring of the cluster using heapster (https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/heapster) [Y|N]? " -n 1 -r
-    echo
-    if [[ $REPLY =~ ^[Yy]$ ]]
-    then
+    if [ $MONITORING ]; then
 	teardown-monitoring
 	kubectl.sh create -f "${KUBE_ROOT}/examples/monitoring/influx-grafana-pod.json" && 
 	kubectl.sh create -f "${KUBE_ROOT}/examples/monitoring/influx-grafana-service.json" &&
diff --git a/examples/monitoring/README.md b/examples/monitoring/README.md
index 37149786a88..e40cb638c26 100644
--- a/examples/monitoring/README.md
+++ b/examples/monitoring/README.md
@@ -1,52 +1,3 @@
-Heapster
-===========
+# Heapster
 
-Heapster enables monitoring of Kubernetes Clusters using [cAdvisor](https://github.com/google/cadvisor). It currently works only on GCE.
-
-#####Run Heapster in a Kubernetes cluster with an Influxdb backend and [Grafana](http://grafana.org/docs/features/influxdb)
-
-**Step 1: Setup Kube cluster**
-
-Fork the Kubernetes repository and [turn up a Kubernetes cluster](https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes-new#contents), if you haven't already. Make sure kubectl.sh is exported.
-
-**Step 2: Start a Pod with Influxdb, grafana and elasticsearch**
-
-```shell
-$ kubectl.sh create -f deploy/influx-grafana-pod.json
-```
-
-**Step 3: Start Influxdb service**
-
-```shell
-$ kubectl.sh create -f deploy/influx-grafana-service.json
-```
-
-**Step 4: Update firewall rules**
-
-Open up ports tcp:80,8083,8086,9200.
-```shell
-$ gcutil addfirewall --allowed=tcp:80,tcp:8083,tcp:8086,tcp:9200 --target_tags=kubernetes-minion heapster
-```
-
-**Step 5: Start Heapster Pod**
-
-```shell
-$ kubectl.sh create -f deploy/heapster-pod.json
-```
-
-Verify that all the pods and services are up and running:
-
-```shell
-$ kubectl.sh get pods
-```
-```shell
-$ kubectl.sh get services
-```
-
-To start monitoring the cluster using grafana, find out the the external IP of the minion where the 'influx-grafana' Pod is running from the output of `kubectl.sh get pods`, and visit `http://<minion-ip>:80`. 
-
-To access the Influxdb UI visit  `http://<minion-ip>:8083`.
-
-#####Hints
-* Grafana's default username and password is 'admin'. You can change that by modifying the grafana container [here](influx-grafana/deploy/grafana-influxdb-pod.json)
-* To enable memory and swap accounting on the minions follow the instructions [here](https://docs.docker.com/installation/ubuntulinux/#memory-and-swap-accounting)
+Heapster enables monitoring of Kubernetes Clusters using [cAdvisor](https://github.com/google/cadvisor). Detailed information about heapster can be found [here](https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/heapster).