diff --git a/Tank/Plugins/Monitoring.py b/Tank/Plugins/Monitoring.py
index bb57619..b1a096f 100644
--- a/Tank/Plugins/Monitoring.py
+++ b/Tank/Plugins/Monitoring.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 '''Module to provide target monitoring'''
 
 from Tank.MonCollector.collector import MonitoringCollector, \
-    MonitoringDataListener, MonitoringDataDecoder
+    MonitoringDataListener, MonitoringDataDecoder, Config
 from Tank.Plugins.ConsoleOnline import ConsoleOnlinePlugin, AbstractInfoWidget
 from Tank.Plugins.Phantom import PhantomPlugin
 from tankcore import AbstractPlugin
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import traceback
 from Tank.Plugins.Autostop import AutostopPlugin, AbstractCriteria
 import tankcore
 import fnmatch
+from lxml import etree
 
 class MonitoringPlugin(AbstractPlugin):
     '''
@@ -35,13 +36,21 @@ class MonitoringPlugin(AbstractPlugin):
         return __file__
     
     def configure(self):
-        self.config = self.get_option("config", 'auto')
+        self.config = self.get_option("config", 'auto').strip()
         self.default_target = self.get_option("default_target", 'localhost')
-        self.monitoring.ssh_timeout=tankcore.expand_to_seconds(self.get_option('ssh_timeout', "5s"))
+        self.monitoring.ssh_timeout = tankcore.expand_to_seconds(self.get_option('ssh_timeout', "5s"))
 
         if self.config == 'none' or self.config == 'auto':
             self.die_on_fail = False
         else:
+            if self.config[0] == '<':                    
+                xmlfile = self.core.mkstemp(".xml", "monitoring_")
+                self.core.add_artifact_file(xmlfile)
+                xml=open(xmlfile, 'w')
+                xml.write(self.config)
+                xml.close()
+                self.config=xmlfile
+            
             if not os.path.exists(self.config):
                 raise OSError("Monitoring config file not found: %s" % self.config)         
                     
diff --git a/Tests/MonitoringTest.py b/Tests/MonitoringTest.py
index fa2f0e0..d03c0bf 100644
--- a/Tests/MonitoringTest.py
+++ b/Tests/MonitoringTest.py
@@ -74,6 +74,26 @@ class  MonitoringCollectorTestCase(TankTestCase):
         self.assertEquals(-1, mon.is_test_finished())
         mon.end_test(0)
         mon.post_process(0)
+
+    def test_plugin_inline_config(self):
+        core = self.get_core()
+        core.artifacts_base_dir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+        core.load_configs(['config/monitoring.conf'])
+        core.load_plugins()
+        core.plugins_configure()
+        core.plugins_prepare_test()
+        mon = MonitoringPlugin(core)
+        mon.monitoring.ssh_wrapper_class = SSHEmulator
+        core.set_option(mon.SECTION, 'config', "<Monitoring>\n<Host address='[target]'/>\n</Monitoring>")
+        mon.configure()
+        mon.prepare_test()
+        mon.start_test()
+        self.assertEquals(-1, mon.is_test_finished())
+        self.assertNotEquals(None, mon.monitoring)
+        time.sleep(1)
+        self.assertEquals(-1, mon.is_test_finished())
+        mon.end_test(0)
+        mon.post_process(0)
     
     def test_widget(self):
         core = self.get_core()