diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 2e7635e29..12beaf5eb 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -379,24 +379,15 @@ AC_FUNC_VPRINTF
 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(\
     atexit \
     gettimeofday \
-    inet_ntop \
-    inet_pton \
-    inet_aton \
     memmove \
-    sigaction \
-    sigwait \
-    sigsuspend \
-    stpcpy \
-    strcasecmp \
-    strtoul \
-    stricmp \
     strerror \
+    inet_ntop inet_pton inet_aton \
+    sigaction sigwait sigsuspend \
+    stpcpy strcasecmp strtoul stricmp \
     writev \
-    utime \
-    utimes \
-    sem_timedwait \
-    pthread_yield \
-    sched_yield \
+    utime utimes sem_timedwait \
+    pthread_yield sched_yield \
+    getenv putenv setenv unsetenv \
 )
 
 AC_SEARCH_LIBS(gethostbyname, nsl)
diff --git a/lib/core/include/core_lib.h b/lib/core/include/core_lib.h
index 9cb592a50..67ce22730 100644
--- a/lib/core/include/core_lib.h
+++ b/lib/core/include/core_lib.h
@@ -114,6 +114,26 @@ CORE_DECLARE(void *) core_buffer_to_bcd(c_uint8_t *in, int in_len, void *out);
  */
 CORE_DECLARE(char *)core_cpystrn(char *dst, const char *src, size_t dst_size);
 
+/**
+ * Get the value of an environment variable
+ * @param value the returned value, allocated from @a pool
+ * @param envvar the name of the environment variable
+ */
+CORE_DECLARE(char *) core_env_get(const char *envvar);
+
+/**
+ * Set the value of an environment variable
+ * @param envvar the name of the environment variable
+ * @param value the value to set
+ */
+CORE_DECLARE(status_t) core_env_set(const char *envvar, const char *value);
+
+/**
+ * Delete a variable from the environment
+ * @param envvar the name of the environment variable
+ */
+CORE_DECLARE(status_t) core_env_delete(const char *envvar);
+
 /** @} */
 
 #ifdef __cplusplus
diff --git a/lib/core/src/misc.c b/lib/core/src/misc.c
index dc1a992cf..4734b9c53 100644
--- a/lib/core/src/misc.c
+++ b/lib/core/src/misc.c
@@ -143,3 +143,56 @@ char *core_cpystrn(char *dst, const char *src, size_t dst_size)
 
     return (d);
 }
+
+char *core_env_get(const char *envvar)
+{
+#ifdef HAVE_GETENV
+    return getenv(envvar);
+#else
+    return NULL;
+#endif
+}
+
+
+status_t core_env_set(const char *envvar, const char *value)
+{
+#if defined(HAVE_SETENV)
+
+    if (0 > setenv(envvar, value, 1))
+        return CORE_ENOMEM;
+    return CORE_OK;
+
+#elif defined(HAVE_PUTENV)
+
+    char buf[HUGE_STRING_LEN];
+
+    if (snprintf(buf, HUGE_STRING_LEN, "%s=%s", envvar, value) < 0)
+        return CORE_ENOMEM; 
+    if (0 > putenv(buf))
+        return CORE_ENOMEM;
+    return CORE_OK;
+
+#else
+    return CORE_ENOTIMPL;
+#endif
+}
+
+
+status_t core_env_delete(const char *envvar)
+{
+#ifdef HAVE_UNSETENV
+
+    unsetenv(envvar);
+    return CORE_OK;
+
+#else
+    /* hint: some platforms allow envvars to be unset via
+     *       putenv("varname")...  that isn't Single Unix spec,
+     *       but if your platform doesn't have unsetenv() it is
+     *       worth investigating and potentially adding a
+     *       configure check to decide when to use that form of
+     *       putenv() here
+     */
+    return CORE_ENOTIMPL;
+#endif
+}
diff --git a/lib/core/test/testmisc.c b/lib/core/test/testmisc.c
index dc0d005bb..80af4e1aa 100644
--- a/lib/core/test/testmisc.c
+++ b/lib/core/test/testmisc.c
@@ -137,6 +137,54 @@ static void misc_test7(abts_case *tc, void *data)
     ABTS_TRUE(tc, strcmp("001010123456819", out) == 0);
 }
 
+#define TEST_ENVVAR_NAME "core_test_envvar"
+#define TEST_ENVVAR2_NAME "core_test_envvar2"
+#define TEST_ENVVAR_VALUE "Just a value that we'll check"
+
+static void misc_test8(abts_case *tc, void *data)
+{
+    char *value;
+    status_t rv;
+
+    rv = core_env_set(TEST_ENVVAR_NAME, TEST_ENVVAR_VALUE);
+    ABTS_INT_EQUAL(tc, CORE_OK, rv);
+    value = core_env_get(TEST_ENVVAR_NAME);
+    ABTS_PTR_NOTNULL(tc, value);
+    ABTS_STR_EQUAL(tc, TEST_ENVVAR_VALUE, value);
+
+    rv = core_env_delete(TEST_ENVVAR_NAME);
+    ABTS_INT_EQUAL(tc, CORE_OK, rv);
+    value = core_env_get(TEST_ENVVAR_NAME);
+    ABTS_PTR_NULL(tc, value);
+
+    rv = core_env_set(TEST_ENVVAR_NAME, "");
+    ABTS_INT_EQUAL(tc, CORE_OK, rv);
+    value = core_env_get(TEST_ENVVAR_NAME);
+    ABTS_PTR_NOTNULL(tc, value);
+    ABTS_STR_EQUAL(tc, "", value);
+
+    rv = core_env_delete(TEST_ENVVAR_NAME);
+    ABTS_INT_EQUAL(tc, CORE_OK, rv);
+    value = core_env_get(TEST_ENVVAR_NAME);
+    ABTS_PTR_NULL(tc, value);
+
+    rv = core_env_set(TEST_ENVVAR2_NAME, TEST_ENVVAR_VALUE);
+    ABTS_INT_EQUAL(tc, CORE_OK, rv);
+    value = core_env_get(TEST_ENVVAR2_NAME);
+    ABTS_PTR_NOTNULL(tc, value);
+    ABTS_STR_EQUAL(tc, TEST_ENVVAR_VALUE, value);
+    value = core_env_get(TEST_ENVVAR_NAME);
+    ABTS_PTR_NULL(tc, value);
+    value = core_env_get(TEST_ENVVAR2_NAME);
+    ABTS_PTR_NOTNULL(tc, value);
+    ABTS_STR_EQUAL(tc, TEST_ENVVAR_VALUE, value);
+
+    rv = core_env_delete(TEST_ENVVAR2_NAME);
+    ABTS_INT_EQUAL(tc, CORE_OK, rv);
+    value = core_env_get(TEST_ENVVAR2_NAME);
+    ABTS_PTR_NULL(tc, value);
+}
+
 abts_suite *testmisc(abts_suite *suite)
 {
     suite = ADD_SUITE(suite)
@@ -148,6 +196,7 @@ abts_suite *testmisc(abts_suite *suite)
     abts_run_test(suite, misc_test5, NULL);
     abts_run_test(suite, misc_test6, NULL);
     abts_run_test(suite, misc_test7, NULL);
+    abts_run_test(suite, misc_test8, NULL);
 
     return suite;
 }
diff --git a/src/app/init.c b/src/app/init.c
index ed04966fc..029e8765e 100644
--- a/src/app/init.c
+++ b/src/app/init.c
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 #include "core_debug.h"
 #include "core_thread.h"
 #include "core_file.h"
+#include "core_lib.h"
 
 #include "context.h"
 
@@ -48,6 +49,10 @@ status_t app_will_initialize(const char *config_path, const char *log_path)
 
     if (context_self()->db_uri)
     {
+        /* Override configuration if DB_URI environment variable is existed */
+        if (core_env_get("DB_URI"))
+            context_self()->db_uri = core_env_get("DB_URI");
+
         rv = context_db_init(context_self()->db_uri);
         if (rv != CORE_OK) return rv;
         d_print("  MongoDB URI : '%s'\n", context_self()->db_uri);