diff --git a/pkg/metric/statsd.go b/pkg/metric/statsd.go
index 969701c..b8316a1 100644
--- a/pkg/metric/statsd.go
+++ b/pkg/metric/statsd.go
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ package metric
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"os"
+	"github.com/pantheon-systems/pauditd/pkg/system"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ func Configure(config *viper.Viper) error {
 		statsSampleRate = float32(sampleRate)
 	}
 
-	hostname, _ := os.Hostname()
+	hostname := system.GetHostname()
 	simpleHostName := strings.Split(hostname, ".")[0]
 	statsPrefix := fmt.Sprintf("pauditd.%s", simpleHostName)
 	client, err = statsd.New(
diff --git a/pkg/output/httptransformer/notification_serivce_transformer.go b/pkg/output/httptransformer/notification_serivce_transformer.go
index e896148..374b75a 100644
--- a/pkg/output/httptransformer/notification_serivce_transformer.go
+++ b/pkg/output/httptransformer/notification_serivce_transformer.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package httptransformer
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
+	"github.com/pantheon-systems/pauditd/pkg/system"
 	"os"
 	"regexp"
 	"strings"
@@ -89,10 +90,7 @@ func (t NotificationServiceTransformer) Transform(traceID uuid.UUID, body []byte
 }
 
 func getHostname() string {
-	host, err := os.Hostname()
-	if err != nil {
-		return ""
-	}
+	host := system.GetHostname()
 
 	// we want to normallize the hostname,
 	// only the first part
diff --git a/pkg/system/host_data_provider.go b/pkg/system/host_data_provider.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4f841d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/system/host_data_provider.go
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+package system
+
+import (
+	"os"
+)
+
+const (
+	hostnameEnv string = "NODENAME"
+)
+
+// GetHostname retrieves the hostname of the system, if no hostname
+// is available we return empty string
+func GetHostname() string {
+	var err error
+
+	host, ok := os.LookupEnv(hostnameEnv)
+	if !ok {
+		host, err = os.Hostname()
+		if err != nil {
+			return ""
+		}
+	}
+
+	return host
+}
diff --git a/pkg/system/host_data_provider_test.go b/pkg/system/host_data_provider_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ce42d3f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/system/host_data_provider_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+package system_test
+
+import (
+	"github.com/pantheon-systems/pauditd/pkg/system"
+	"os"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+)
+
+func Test_GetHostnameWithEnvVar(t *testing.T) {
+	testName := "test-node-name"
+
+	os.Setenv("NODENAME", testName)
+
+	hostname := system.GetHostname()
+
+	assert.Equal(t, testName, hostname)
+}