diff --git a/doc/configuration.txt b/doc/configuration.txt
index a2046ebbf..3972ce1c3 100644
--- a/doc/configuration.txt
+++ b/doc/configuration.txt
@@ -5392,6 +5392,15 @@ cookie <value>
 
   Supported in default-server: No
 
+disabled
+  The "disabled" keyword starts the server in the "disabled" state. That means
+  that it is marked down in maintenance mode, and no connection other than the
+  ones allowed by persist mode will reach it. It is very well suited to setup
+  new servers, because normal traffic will never reach them, while it is still
+  possible to test the service by making use of the force-persist mechanism.
+
+  Supported in default-server: No
+
 error-limit <count>
   If health observing is enabled, the "error-limit" parameter specifies the
   number of consecutive errors that triggers event selected by the "on-error"
diff --git a/src/cfgparse.c b/src/cfgparse.c
index bddb6e730..645c631c8 100644
--- a/src/cfgparse.c
+++ b/src/cfgparse.c
@@ -3181,7 +3181,8 @@ stats_error_parsing:
 					goto out;
 				}
 
-				newsrv->health = newsrv->rise;
+				if (newsrv->health)
+					newsrv->health = newsrv->rise;
 				cur_arg += 2;
 			}
 			else if (!strcmp(args[cur_arg], "fall")) {
@@ -3332,6 +3333,12 @@ stats_error_parsing:
 				do_check = 1;
 				cur_arg += 1;
 			}
+			else if (!defsrv && !strcmp(args[cur_arg], "disabled")) {
+				newsrv->state |= SRV_MAINTAIN;
+				newsrv->state &= ~SRV_RUNNING;
+				newsrv->health = 0;
+				cur_arg += 1;
+			}
 			else if (!defsrv && !strcmp(args[cur_arg], "observe")) {
 				if (!strcmp(args[cur_arg + 1], "none"))
 					newsrv->observe = HANA_OBS_NONE;
@@ -3512,7 +3519,7 @@ stats_error_parsing:
 			}
 			else {
 				if (!defsrv)
-					Alert("parsing [%s:%d] : server %s only supports options 'backup', 'cookie', 'redir', 'observer', 'on-error', 'error-limit', 'check', 'track', 'id', 'inter', 'fastinter', 'downinter', 'rise', 'fall', 'addr', 'port', 'source', 'minconn', 'maxconn', 'maxqueue', 'slowstart' and 'weight'.\n",
+					Alert("parsing [%s:%d] : server %s only supports options 'backup', 'cookie', 'redir', 'observer', 'on-error', 'error-limit', 'check', 'disabled', 'track', 'id', 'inter', 'fastinter', 'downinter', 'rise', 'fall', 'addr', 'port', 'source', 'minconn', 'maxconn', 'maxqueue', 'slowstart' and 'weight'.\n",
 					      file, linenum, newsrv->id);
 				else
 					Alert("parsing [%s:%d]: default-server only supports options 'on-error', 'error-limit', 'inter', 'fastinter', 'downinter', 'rise', 'fall', 'port', 'minconn', 'maxconn', 'maxqueue', 'slowstart' and 'weight'.\n",