diff --git a/Documentation/Tutorials/Administration-Tutorial.md b/Documentation/Tutorials/Administration-Tutorial.md
index 920c60f96..b6ea00964 100644
--- a/Documentation/Tutorials/Administration-Tutorial.md
+++ b/Documentation/Tutorials/Administration-Tutorial.md
@@ -48,6 +48,12 @@ Switch|Long Option|Description
 `-V`|`--version-full`|print version info and the commit ID the binary was built from
 `-?`|`--help`|show this help
 
+Additional command line arguments can be passed to MaxScale with a configuration file placed at `/etc/sysconfig/maxscale` on RPM installations and `/etc/default/maxscale` file on DEB installations. Set the arguments in a variable called `MAXSCALE_OPTIONS` and remember to surround the arguments with quotes. The file should only contain environment variable declarations.
+
+```
+MAXSCALE_OPTIONS="--logdir=/home/maxscale/logs --piddir=/tmp --syslog=no"
+```
+
 <a name="stopping"></a> 
 ### Stopping MaxScale
 
diff --git a/etc/init.d/maxscale.in b/etc/init.d/maxscale.in
index 2776d81e8..ea31e6c19 100755
--- a/etc/init.d/maxscale.in
+++ b/etc/init.d/maxscale.in
@@ -46,6 +46,9 @@ _RETVAL_STATUS_NOT_RUNNING=3
 # Source function library.
 . /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions
 
+# Source additional command line arguments.
+[ -f /etc/sysconfig/maxscale ] &&  . /etc/sysconfig/maxscale
+
 # we can rearrange this easily
 processname=maxscale
 servicename=maxscale
@@ -87,7 +90,7 @@ start() {
     chmod 0755 @MAXSCALE_VARDIR@/cache/maxscale
     chmod 0755 @MAXSCALE_VARDIR@/run/maxscale
 
-    daemon --pidfile $MAXSCALE_PIDFILE @CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX@/@MAXSCALE_BINDIR@/maxscale --user=maxscale >& /dev/null
+    daemon --pidfile $MAXSCALE_PIDFILE @CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX@/@MAXSCALE_BINDIR@/maxscale --user=maxscale $MAXSCALE_OPTIONS >& /dev/null
 
     RETVAL=$?
     [ $RETVAL -eq 0 ] && touch /var/lock/subsys/$servicename
diff --git a/etc/ubuntu/init.d/maxscale.in b/etc/ubuntu/init.d/maxscale.in
index 95ed0bcd9..a6985b4ba 100755
--- a/etc/ubuntu/init.d/maxscale.in
+++ b/etc/ubuntu/init.d/maxscale.in
@@ -40,12 +40,16 @@ _RETVAL_STATUS_NOT_RUNNING=3
 # Sanity checks.
 [ -x @CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX@/@MAXSCALE_BINDIR@/maxscale ] || exit $_RETVAL_NOT_INSTALLED
 
+# Source additional command line arguments.
+[ -f /etc/default/maxscale ] &&  . /etc/default/maxscale
+
 #################################
 # stop/start/status related vars
 #################################
 NAME=maxscale
 DAEMON=@CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX@/@MAXSCALE_BINDIR@/maxscale
-DAEMON_OPTS='--user=maxscale'
+DAEMON_OPTS='--user=maxscale $MAXSCALE_OPTIONS'
+
 # Source function library.
 . /lib/lsb/init-functions