diff --git a/rfc7807/errors.go b/rfc7807/errors.go
index f5af687..3b7b257 100644
--- a/rfc7807/errors.go
+++ b/rfc7807/errors.go
@@ -232,4 +232,9 @@ var (
 		"Message queue is full",
 		http.StatusInternalServerError,
 	)
+	FetchDownDatabase = newProblemID(
+		path.Join(errorEndpointsPrefix, "fetch-down-database"),
+		"Fetch information from a down database",
+		http.StatusInternalServerError,
+	)
 )
diff --git a/vclusterops/fetch_node_state.go b/vclusterops/fetch_node_state.go
index 41704a0..45d9646 100644
--- a/vclusterops/fetch_node_state.go
+++ b/vclusterops/fetch_node_state.go
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ type VFetchNodeStateOptions struct {
 	// operations: NMAHealth and NMA readCatalogEditor. This is useful
 	// when we cannot get the version for down nodes from a running database
 	GetVersion bool
+
+	SkipDownDatabase bool
 }
 
 func VFetchNodeStateOptionsFactory() VFetchNodeStateOptions {
@@ -82,6 +84,10 @@ func (vcc VClusterCommands) VFetchNodeState(options *VFetchNodeStateOptions) ([]
 			}
 		}
 
+		if options.SkipDownDatabase {
+			return []NodeInfo{}, rfc7807.New(rfc7807.FetchDownDatabase)
+		}
+
 		return vcc.fetchNodeStateFromDownDB(options)
 	}
 
@@ -130,6 +136,10 @@ func (vcc VClusterCommands) VFetchNodeState(options *VFetchNodeStateOptions) ([]
 	}
 
 	if upNodeCount == 0 {
+		if options.SkipDownDatabase {
+			return []NodeInfo{}, rfc7807.New(rfc7807.FetchDownDatabase)
+		}
+
 		return vcc.fetchNodeStateFromDownDB(options)
 	}