diff --git a/ceph/templates/bin/_start_mon.sh.tpl b/ceph/templates/bin/_start_mon.sh.tpl
index 34ab46846b..715922496a 100644
--- a/ceph/templates/bin/_start_mon.sh.tpl
+++ b/ceph/templates/bin/_start_mon.sh.tpl
@@ -37,6 +37,15 @@ function get_mon_config {
       exit 1
   fi
 
+  # if monmap exists and the mon is already there, don't overwrite monmap
+  if [ -f "${MONMAP}" ]; then
+      monmaptool --print "${MONMAP}" |grep -q "${MON_IP// }"":6789"
+      if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
+          log "${MON_IP} already exists in monmap ${MONMAP}"
+          return
+      fi
+  fi
+
   # Create a monmap with the Pod Names and IP
   monmaptool --create ${MONMAP_ADD} --fsid ${fsid} $MONMAP --clobber
 }
diff --git a/ceph/templates/daemonset-mon.yaml b/ceph/templates/daemonset-mon.yaml
index da2d6c7033..98ad3ab21b 100644
--- a/ceph/templates/daemonset-mon.yaml
+++ b/ceph/templates/daemonset-mon.yaml
@@ -202,7 +202,8 @@ spec:
             name: ceph-etc
             defaultMode: 0444
         - name: pod-var-lib-ceph
-          emptyDir: {}
+          hostPath:
+            path: {{ .Values.ceph.storage.mon_directory }}
         - name: pod-run
           emptyDir:
             medium: "Memory"