diff --git a/src/qemu/libvirtd_qemu.aug b/src/qemu/libvirtd_qemu.aug
index e985d22ec4..e7db7fe2be 100644
--- a/src/qemu/libvirtd_qemu.aug
+++ b/src/qemu/libvirtd_qemu.aug
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ module Libvirtd_qemu =
    let network_entry = str_entry "migration_address"
                  | int_entry "migration_port_min"
                  | int_entry "migration_port_max"
+                 | str_entry "migration_host"
 
    let log_entry = bool_entry "log_timestamp"
 
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu.conf b/src/qemu/qemu.conf
index 42f812dc25..18ce2a8490 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu.conf
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu.conf
@@ -450,12 +450,19 @@
 #seccomp_sandbox = 1
 
 
-
 # Override the listen address for all incoming migrations. Defaults to
 # 0.0.0.0, or :: if both host and qemu are capable of IPv6.
 #migration_address = "127.0.0.1"
 
 
+# The default hostname or IP address which will be used by a migration
+# source for transferring migration data to this host.  The migration
+# source has to be able to resolve this hostname and connect to it so
+# setting "localhost" will not work.  By default, the host's configured
+# hostname is used.
+#migration_host = "host.example.com"
+
+
 # Override the port range used for incoming migrations.
 #
 # Minimum must be greater than 0, however when QEMU is not running as root,
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_conf.c b/src/qemu/qemu_conf.c
index 400c99ca51..f273056d31 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_conf.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_conf.c
@@ -576,6 +576,7 @@ int virQEMUDriverConfigLoadFile(virQEMUDriverConfigPtr cfg,
 
     GET_VALUE_LONG("seccomp_sandbox", cfg->seccompSandbox);
 
+    GET_VALUE_STR("migration_host", cfg->migrateHost);
     GET_VALUE_STR("migration_address", cfg->migrationAddress);
 
     GET_VALUE_BOOL("log_timestamp", cfg->logTimestamp);
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_conf.h b/src/qemu/qemu_conf.h
index 5d2983af3a..78b08e55c8 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_conf.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_conf.h
@@ -163,6 +163,7 @@ struct _virQEMUDriverConfig {
 
     int seccompSandbox;
 
+    char *migrateHost;
     /* The default for -incoming */
     char *migrationAddress;
     int migrationPortMin;
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_migration.c b/src/qemu/qemu_migration.c
index f0df1a6044..d6271fb57a 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_migration.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_migration.c
@@ -2640,6 +2640,8 @@ qemuMigrationPrepareDirect(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     int ret = -1;
     virURIPtr uri = NULL;
     bool well_formed_uri = true;
+    virQEMUDriverConfigPtr cfg = virQEMUDriverGetConfig(driver);
+    const char *migrateHost = cfg->migrateHost;
 
     VIR_DEBUG("driver=%p, dconn=%p, cookiein=%s, cookieinlen=%d, "
               "cookieout=%p, cookieoutlen=%p, uri_in=%s, uri_out=%p, "
@@ -2653,8 +2655,9 @@ qemuMigrationPrepareDirect(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     /* The URI passed in may be NULL or a string "tcp://somehostname:port".
      *
      * If the URI passed in is NULL then we allocate a port number
-     * from our pool of port numbers and return a URI of
-     * "tcp://ourhostname:port".
+     * from our pool of port numbers, and if the migrateHost is configured,
+     * we return a URI of "tcp://migrateHost:port", otherwise return a URI
+     * of "tcp://ourhostname:port".
      *
      * If the URI passed in is not NULL then we try to parse out the
      * port number and use that (note that the hostname is assumed
@@ -2664,8 +2667,17 @@ qemuMigrationPrepareDirect(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
         if (virPortAllocatorAcquire(driver->migrationPorts, &port) < 0)
             goto cleanup;
 
-        if ((hostname = virGetHostname()) == NULL)
-            goto cleanup;
+        if (migrateHost != NULL) {
+            if (virSocketAddrIsNumeric(migrateHost) &&
+                virSocketAddrParse(NULL, migrateHost, AF_UNSPEC) < 0)
+                goto cleanup;
+
+           if (VIR_STRDUP(hostname, migrateHost) < 0)
+                goto cleanup;
+        } else {
+            if ((hostname = virGetHostname()) == NULL)
+                goto cleanup;
+        }
 
         if (STRPREFIX(hostname, "localhost")) {
             virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s",
@@ -2747,6 +2759,7 @@ qemuMigrationPrepareDirect(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
  cleanup:
     virURIFree(uri);
     VIR_FREE(hostname);
+    virObjectUnref(cfg);
     if (ret != 0) {
         VIR_FREE(*uri_out);
         if (autoPort)
diff --git a/src/qemu/test_libvirtd_qemu.aug.in b/src/qemu/test_libvirtd_qemu.aug.in
index 30a425793e..7796acc1d8 100644
--- a/src/qemu/test_libvirtd_qemu.aug.in
+++ b/src/qemu/test_libvirtd_qemu.aug.in
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ module Test_libvirtd_qemu =
 { "keepalive_count" = "5" }
 { "seccomp_sandbox" = "1" }
 { "migration_address" = "127.0.0.1" }
+{ "migration_host" = "host.example.com" }
 { "migration_port_min" = "49152" }
 { "migration_port_max" = "49215" }
 { "log_timestamp" = "0" }