diff --git a/datadog/__init__.py b/datadog/__init__.py
index bd0e83ff4..f78f3fd48 100644
--- a/datadog/__init__.py
+++ b/datadog/__init__.py
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@
 
 def initialize(api_key=None, app_key=None, host_name=None, api_host=None,
                statsd_host=None, statsd_port=None, statsd_use_default_route=False,
-               statsd_socket_path=None, statsd_namespace=None, return_raw_response=False, **kwargs):
+               statsd_socket_path=None, statsd_namespace=None, return_raw_response=False,
+               hostname_from_config=True, **kwargs):
     """
     Initialize and configure Datadog.api and Datadog.statsd modules
 
@@ -41,9 +42,13 @@ def initialize(api_key=None, app_key=None, host_name=None, api_host=None,
     :param app_key: Datadog application key
     :type app_key: string
 
+    :param host_name: Set a specific hostname
+    :type host_name: string
+
     :param proxies: Proxy to use to connect to Datadog API;
                     for example, 'proxies': {'http': "http:<user>:<pass>@<ip>:<port>/"}
     :type proxies: dictionary mapping protocol to the URL of the proxy.
+
     :param api_host: Datadog API endpoint
     :type api_host: url
 
@@ -72,6 +77,9 @@ def initialize(api_key=None, app_key=None, host_name=None, api_host=None,
     :param return_raw_response: Whether or not to return the raw response object in addition \
         to the decoded response content (default: False)
     :type return_raw_response: boolean
+
+    :param hostname_from_config: Set the hostname from the Datadog agent config (agent 5). Will be deprecated
+    :type hostname_from_config: boolean
     """
     # API configuration
     api._api_key = api_key or api._api_key or os.environ.get('DATADOG_API_KEY', os.environ.get('DD_API_KEY'))
@@ -80,7 +88,8 @@ def initialize(api_key=None, app_key=None, host_name=None, api_host=None,
         api._application_key or
         os.environ.get('DATADOG_APP_KEY', os.environ.get('DD_APP_KEY'))
     )
-    api._host_name = host_name or api._host_name or get_hostname()
+    api._hostname_from_config = hostname_from_config
+    api._host_name = host_name or api._host_name or get_hostname(hostname_from_config)
     api._api_host = api_host or api._api_host or os.environ.get('DATADOG_HOST', 'https://api.datadoghq.com')
 
     # Statsd configuration
diff --git a/datadog/api/__init__.py b/datadog/api/__init__.py
index f33498ea0..31ca0bc5b 100644
--- a/datadog/api/__init__.py
+++ b/datadog/api/__init__.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 _api_version = 'v1'
 _api_host = None
 _host_name = None
+_hostname_from_config = True
 _cacert = True
 
 # HTTP(S) settings
diff --git a/datadog/util/hostname.py b/datadog/util/hostname.py
index 0c39670c4..bb9e7478e 100644
--- a/datadog/util/hostname.py
+++ b/datadog/util/hostname.py
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ def is_valid_hostname(hostname):
     return True
 
 
-def get_hostname():
+def get_hostname(hostname_from_config):
     """
     Get the canonical host name this agent should identify as. This is
     the authoritative source of the host name for the agent.
@@ -52,12 +52,16 @@ def get_hostname():
 
     # first, try the config
     try:
-        config = get_config()
-        config_hostname = config.get('hostname')
-        if config_hostname and is_valid_hostname(config_hostname):
-            return config_hostname
+        if hostname_from_config:
+            config = get_config()
+            config_hostname = config.get('hostname')
+            if config_hostname and is_valid_hostname(config_hostname):
+                log.warning("Hostname lookup from agent configuration will be deprecated "
+                            "in an upcoming version of datadogpy. Set hostname_from_config to False "
+                            "to get rid of this warning")
+                return config_hostname
     except CfgNotFound:
-        log.info("No agent or invalid configuration file found")
+        log.warning("No agent or invalid configuration file found")
 
     # Try to get GCE instance name
     if hostname is None:
diff --git a/tests/unit/api/test_api.py b/tests/unit/api/test_api.py
index c4ffd1431..7792c9349 100644
--- a/tests/unit/api/test_api.py
+++ b/tests/unit/api/test_api.py
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ def test_default_values(self):
             self.assertIsNone(api._api_key)
             self.assertIsNone(api._application_key)
             self.assertEqual(api._api_host, "https://api.datadoghq.com")
-            self.assertEqual(api._host_name, util.hostname.get_hostname())
+            self.assertEqual(api._host_name, util.hostname.get_hostname(api._hostname_from_config))
 
     def test_env_var_values(self):
         with EnvVars(
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ def test_env_var_values(self):
             self.assertEqual(api._api_key, "API_KEY_ENV")
             self.assertEqual(api._application_key, "APP_KEY_ENV")
             self.assertEqual(api._api_host, "HOST_ENV")
-            self.assertEqual(api._host_name, util.hostname.get_hostname())
+            self.assertEqual(api._host_name, util.hostname.get_hostname(api._hostname_from_config))
 
             del os.environ["DATADOG_API_KEY"]
             del os.environ["DATADOG_APP_KEY"]
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ def test_precedence(self):
             self.assertEqual(api._api_key, "API_KEY_ENV")
             self.assertEqual(api._application_key, "APP_KEY_ENV")
             self.assertEqual(api._api_host, "HOST_ENV")
-            self.assertEqual(api._host_name, util.hostname.get_hostname())
+            self.assertEqual(api._host_name, util.hostname.get_hostname(api._hostname_from_config))
 
             # Initialize again to check given parameters take precedence over already set value and env vars
             initialize(api_key="API_KEY", app_key="APP_KEY", api_host="HOST", host_name="HOSTNAME")