diff --git a/doc/source/admin/components.rst b/doc/source/admin/components.rst
index 99817f71d6..b20aba7224 100644
--- a/doc/source/admin/components.rst
+++ b/doc/source/admin/components.rst
@@ -522,6 +522,15 @@ The following sections of ``zuul.conf`` are used by the executor:
       The executor will observe system load and determine whether
       to accept more jobs every 30 seconds.
 
+   .. attr:: hostname
+      :default: hostname of the server
+
+      The executor needs to know its hostname under which it is reachable by
+      zuul-web. Otherwise live console log streaming doesn't work. In most cases
+      This is automatically detected correctly. But when running in environments
+      where it cannot determine its hostname correctly this can be overridden
+      here.
+
 .. attr:: merger
 
    .. attr:: git_user_email
diff --git a/tests/fixtures/zuul-executor-hostname.conf b/tests/fixtures/zuul-executor-hostname.conf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7db144d8ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/fixtures/zuul-executor-hostname.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+[gearman]
+server=127.0.0.1
+
+[statsd]
+# note, use 127.0.0.1 rather than localhost to avoid getting ipv6
+# see: https://github.com/jsocol/pystatsd/issues/61
+server=127.0.0.1
+
+[scheduler]
+tenant_config=main.yaml
+
+[merger]
+git_dir=/tmp/zuul-test/merger-git
+git_user_email=zuul@example.com
+git_user_name=zuul
+
+[executor]
+git_dir=/tmp/zuul-test/executor-git
+hostname=test-executor-hostname.openstack.org
+
+[connection gerrit]
+driver=gerrit
+server=review.example.com
+user=jenkins
+sshkey=fake_id_rsa_path
+
+[connection smtp]
+driver=smtp
+server=localhost
+port=25
+default_from=zuul@example.com
+default_to=you@example.com
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_executor.py b/tests/unit/test_executor.py
index 9c45645ef3..ac7ae346c9 100755
--- a/tests/unit/test_executor.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_executor.py
@@ -401,3 +401,12 @@ class TestAnsibleJob(ZuulTestCase):
         node['ssh_port'] = 22022
         keys = self.test_job.getHostList({'nodes': [node]})[0]['host_keys']
         self.assertEqual(keys[0], '[localhost]:22022 fake-host-key')
+
+
+class TestExecutorHostname(ZuulTestCase):
+    config_file = 'zuul-executor-hostname.conf'
+    tenant_config_file = 'config/single-tenant/main.yaml'
+
+    def test_executor_hostname(self):
+        self.assertEqual('test-executor-hostname.openstack.org',
+                         self.executor_server.hostname)
diff --git a/zuul/executor/server.py b/zuul/executor/server.py
index 5998922e63..524386f7ed 100644
--- a/zuul/executor/server.py
+++ b/zuul/executor/server.py
@@ -1535,7 +1535,8 @@ class ExecutorServer(object):
         self.jobdir_root = jobdir_root
         # TODOv3(mordred): make the executor name more unique --
         # perhaps hostname+pid.
-        self.hostname = socket.gethostname()
+        self.hostname = get_default(self.config, 'executor', 'hostname',
+                                    socket.gethostname())
         self.log_streaming_port = log_streaming_port
         self.merger_lock = threading.Lock()
         self.run_lock = threading.Lock()