diff --git a/plugin/src/main/java/org/opensearch/ml/model/MLModelManager.java b/plugin/src/main/java/org/opensearch/ml/model/MLModelManager.java
index 6f27195b5c..b973801e4d 100644
--- a/plugin/src/main/java/org/opensearch/ml/model/MLModelManager.java
+++ b/plugin/src/main/java/org/opensearch/ml/model/MLModelManager.java
@@ -990,7 +990,7 @@ public void deployModel(
         mlStats.createModelCounterStatIfAbsent(modelId, ActionName.DEPLOY, ML_ACTION_REQUEST_COUNT).increment();
         List<String> workerNodes = mlTask.getWorkerNodes();
         if (modelCacheHelper.isModelDeployed(modelId)) {
-            if (!autoDeployModel && workerNodes != null && workerNodes.size() > 0) {
+            if (!autoDeployModel && workerNodes != null && !workerNodes.isEmpty()) {
                 log.info("Set new target node ids {} for model {}", Arrays.toString(workerNodes.toArray(new String[0])), modelId);
                 modelCacheHelper.setDeployToAllNodes(modelId, deployToAllNodes);
                 modelCacheHelper.setTargetWorkerNodes(modelId, workerNodes);
@@ -999,7 +999,7 @@ public void deployModel(
             listener.onResponse("successful");
             return;
         }
-        if (modelCacheHelper.getLocalDeployedModels().length >= maxModelPerNode) {
+        if (functionName != FunctionName.REMOTE && modelCacheHelper.getLocalDeployedModels().length >= maxModelPerNode) {
             listener.onFailure(new IllegalArgumentException("Exceed max local model per node limit"));
             return;
         }