diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 10637794..d4fc3acf 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/).
 ### Added
 
 - Added `wwctl overlay import --overwrite` to overwrite existing overlay file.
+- wwclient uses `WW_IPADDR`, if set, to contact the Warewulf server. #1788
 
 ### Fixed
 
diff --git a/internal/app/wwclient/root.go b/internal/app/wwclient/root.go
index 4530b754..24cf04ff 100644
--- a/internal/app/wwclient/root.go
+++ b/internal/app/wwclient/root.go
@@ -193,8 +193,12 @@ func CobraRunE(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) (err error) {
 		}
 	}()
 	var finishedInitialSync bool = false
+	ipaddr := os.Getenv("WW_IPADDR")
+	if ipaddr == "" {
+		ipaddr = conf.Ipaddr
+	}
 	for {
-		updateSystem(conf.Ipaddr, conf.Warewulf.Port, wwid, tag, localUUID)
+		updateSystem(ipaddr, conf.Warewulf.Port, wwid, tag, localUUID)
 		if !finishedInitialSync {
 			// ignore error and status here, as this wouldn't change anything
 			_, _ = daemon.SdNotify(false, daemon.SdNotifyReady)
diff --git a/overlays/wwclient/internal/wwclient_test.go b/overlays/wwclient/internal/wwclient_test.go
index 328a7634..34871d2b 100644
--- a/overlays/wwclient/internal/wwclient_test.go
+++ b/overlays/wwclient/internal/wwclient_test.go
@@ -57,5 +57,6 @@ Filename: warewulf/init.d/80-wwclient
 # Only start if the systemd is not available
 test -e /usr/lib/systemd/systemd && exit 0
 echo "Starting wwclient"
+if [ -r /etc/default/wwclient ]; then . /etc/default/wwclient; fi
 nohup /warewulf/wwclient >/var/log/wwclient.log 2>&1 </dev/null &
 `
diff --git a/overlays/wwclient/rootfs/etc/systemd/system/wwclient.service b/overlays/wwclient/rootfs/etc/systemd/system/wwclient.service
index 388fd28d..c057e1b8 100644
--- a/overlays/wwclient/rootfs/etc/systemd/system/wwclient.service
+++ b/overlays/wwclient/rootfs/etc/systemd/system/wwclient.service
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ After=local-fs.target
 
 [Service]
 Type=notify
+EnvironmentFile=-/etc/default/wwclient
 ExecStart=/warewulf/wwclient
 ExecReload=/bin/kill -s SIGHUP "$MAINPID"
 PIDFile=/var/run/wwclient.pid
diff --git a/overlays/wwclient/rootfs/warewulf/init.d/80-wwclient.ww b/overlays/wwclient/rootfs/warewulf/init.d/80-wwclient.ww
index 508fe0fa..00e40678 100644
--- a/overlays/wwclient/rootfs/warewulf/init.d/80-wwclient.ww
+++ b/overlays/wwclient/rootfs/warewulf/init.d/80-wwclient.ww
@@ -5,4 +5,5 @@
 # Only start if the systemd is not available
 test -e /usr/lib/systemd/systemd && exit 0
 echo "Starting wwclient"
+if [ -r /etc/default/wwclient ]; then . /etc/default/wwclient; fi
 nohup {{ .Paths.WWClientdir }}/wwclient >/var/log/wwclient.log 2>&1 </dev/null &
diff --git a/userdocs/overlays/overlays.rst b/userdocs/overlays/overlays.rst
index eee44bbc..fdaf12eb 100644
--- a/userdocs/overlays/overlays.rst
+++ b/userdocs/overlays/overlays.rst
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ A node or profile can configure an overlay in two different ways:
 .. code-block:: shell
 
    wwctl profile set default \
-     --system-overlays="wwinit,,wwclient,fstab,hostname,ssh.host_keys,systemd.netname,NetworkManager" \
+     --system-overlays="wwinit,wwclient,fstab,hostname,ssh.host_keys,systemd.netname,NetworkManager" \
      --runime-overlays="hosts,ssh.authorized_keys"
 
 Multiple overlays can be applied to a single node, and overlays from multiple
@@ -202,6 +202,10 @@ All configured overlays are provisioned initially along with the node image
 itself; but **wwclient** periodically fetches and applies the runtime overlay to
 allow configuration of some settings without a reboot.
 
+wwclient will contat the ``ipaddr`` value from ``warewulf.conf`` by default.
+This can be overridden by specifying a ``WW_IPADDR`` environment variable, which
+can be set via an overlay in ``/etc/default/wwclient``.
+
 Network interfaces
 ------------------