diff --git a/ctdb/config/ctdb.sysconfig b/ctdb/config/ctdb.sysconfig
index 7e775a2a797..6b7af67f647 100644
--- a/ctdb/config/ctdb.sysconfig
+++ b/ctdb/config/ctdb.sysconfig
@@ -148,6 +148,11 @@ CTDB_RECOVERY_LOCK="/some/place/on/shared/storage"
 # dump no stack traces.
 # CTDB_NFS_DUMP_STUCK_THREADS=5
 
+# Host to use for rpcinfo checks.  Using "localhost" causes
+# /etc/services to be read serveral times by rpcinfo, so this allows
+# optimisation.
+CTDB_RPCINFO_LOCALHOST="127.0.0.1"
+
 # When set to yes, the CTDB node will start in DISABLED mode and not host
 # any public ip addresses. The administrator needs to explicitely enable
 # the node with "ctdb enable"
diff --git a/ctdb/config/functions b/ctdb/config/functions
index d9c8a219305..087c6efb642 100755
--- a/ctdb/config/functions
+++ b/ctdb/config/functions
@@ -408,7 +408,9 @@ ctdb_check_rpc ()
     progname="$1"
     version="$2"
 
-    if ! ctdb_check_rpc_out=$(rpcinfo -u localhost $progname $version 2>&1) ; then
+    _localhost="${CTDB_RPCINFO_LOCALHOST:-127.0.0.1}"
+
+    if ! ctdb_check_rpc_out=$(rpcinfo -u $_localhost $progname $version 2>&1) ; then
 	ctdb_check_rpc_out="ERROR: $progname failed RPC check:
 $ctdb_check_rpc_out"
 	echo "$ctdb_check_rpc_out"