diff --git a/common/dbconnector.cpp b/common/dbconnector.cpp
index dc080d9b2..c8c9ae7e9 100644
--- a/common/dbconnector.cpp
+++ b/common/dbconnector.cpp
@@ -27,7 +27,14 @@ void SonicDBConfig::initialize(const string &file)
         throw runtime_error("SonicDBConfig already initialized");
     }
 
-    ifstream i(file);
+    string filename = file;
+    if ( filename == "" )
+    {
+        const auto env = getenv(SONIC_DB_CONFIG_FILE_ENV_VAL);
+        filename = env ? string(env) : DEFAULT_SONIC_DB_CONFIG_FILE;
+    }
+
+    ifstream i(filename);
     if (i.good())
     {
         try
@@ -68,8 +75,8 @@ void SonicDBConfig::initialize(const string &file)
     }
     else
     {
-        SWSS_LOG_ERROR("Sonic database config file doesn't exist at %s\n", file.c_str());
-        throw runtime_error("Sonic database config file doesn't exist at " + file);
+        SWSS_LOG_ERROR("Sonic database config file doesn't exist at %s\n", filename.c_str());
+        throw runtime_error("Sonic database config file doesn't exist at " + filename);
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/common/dbconnector.h b/common/dbconnector.h
index 62fbbde96..72bb81360 100644
--- a/common/dbconnector.h
+++ b/common/dbconnector.h
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ class SonicDBInfo
 class SonicDBConfig
 {
 public:
-    static void initialize(const std::string &file = DEFAULT_SONIC_DB_CONFIG_FILE);
+    static void initialize(const std::string &file = "");
     static std::string getDbInst(const std::string &dbName);
     static int getDbId(const std::string &dbName);
     static std::string getSeparator(const std::string &dbName);
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ class SonicDBConfig
 
 private:
     static constexpr const char *DEFAULT_SONIC_DB_CONFIG_FILE = "/var/run/redis/sonic-db/database_config.json";
+    static constexpr const char *SONIC_DB_CONFIG_FILE_ENV_VAL = "SONIC_DB_CONFIG_FILE";
     // { instName, { unix_socket_path, {hostname, port} } }
     static std::unordered_map<std::string, std::pair<std::string, std::pair<std::string, int>>> m_inst_info;
     // { dbName, {instName, dbId} }