diff --git a/cluster/agent.go b/cluster/agent.go
index 89fae22..14e1ef5 100644
--- a/cluster/agent.go
+++ b/cluster/agent.go
@@ -272,6 +272,9 @@ func (a *Agent) raftPropose(msg *message.Message) {
 }
 
 func (a *Agent) getNodesFile() string {
+	if a.Config.NodesFileDir != "" {
+		return filepath.Join(a.Config.NodesFileDir, a.Config.NodeName+"-"+NodesFile)
+	}
 	return a.Config.NodeName + "-" + NodesFile
 }
 
diff --git a/cmd/cluster/main.go b/cmd/cluster/main.go
index a34989c..c73c6ba 100644
--- a/cmd/cluster/main.go
+++ b/cmd/cluster/main.go
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ func realMain(ctx context.Context) error {
 	flag.IntVar(&cfg.Redis.Options.DB, "redis-db", 0, "redis db for cluster mode")
 	flag.BoolVar(&cfg.Log.Enable, "log-enable", true, "log enabled or not")
 	flag.StringVar(&cfg.Log.Filename, "log-file", "./logs/comqtt.log", "log filename")
+	flag.StringVar(&cfg.Cluster.NodesFileDir, "nodes-file-dir", "", "directory holds nodes.json assisting node discovery for cluster")
 	//parse arguments
 	flag.Parse()
 	//load config file
diff --git a/config/config.go b/config/config.go
index 5fe93f4..7a393f7 100644
--- a/config/config.go
+++ b/config/config.go
@@ -146,6 +146,7 @@ type Cluster struct {
 	InboundPoolSize      int               `yaml:"inbound-pool-size" json:"inbound-pool-size"`
 	OutboundPoolSize     int               `yaml:"outbound-pool-size" json:"outbound-pool-size"`
 	InoutPoolNonblocking bool              `yaml:"inout-pool-nonblocking" json:"inout-pool-nonblocking"`
+	NodesFileDir         string            `yaml:"nodes-file-dir" json:"nodes-file-dir"`
 }
 
 func GenTlsConfig(conf *Config) (*tls2.Config, error) {