diff --git a/components/camel-docker/src/main/java/org/apache/camel/component/docker/DockerClientProfile.java b/components/camel-docker/src/main/java/org/apache/camel/component/docker/DockerClientProfile.java
index 3da5320bc4c9c..1e8bfc9b977c4 100644
--- a/components/camel-docker/src/main/java/org/apache/camel/component/docker/DockerClientProfile.java
+++ b/components/camel-docker/src/main/java/org/apache/camel/component/docker/DockerClientProfile.java
@@ -142,9 +142,13 @@ public void setMaxPerRouteConnections(Integer maxPerRouteConnections) {
 
     public String toUrl() throws DockerException {
         ObjectHelper.notNull(this.host, "host");
-        ObjectHelper.notNull(this.port, "port");
 
-        return ((this.socket) ? "unix" : "tcp") + "://" + host + ":" + port;
+        if(this.socket) {
+        	return "unix" + ":///" + host ;
+        } else {
+            ObjectHelper.notNull(this.port, "port");
+        	return "tcp" + "://" + host + ":" + port;
+        }
     }
 
     public Boolean isTlsVerify() {
diff --git a/components/camel-docker/src/main/java/org/apache/camel/component/docker/DockerConfiguration.java b/components/camel-docker/src/main/java/org/apache/camel/component/docker/DockerConfiguration.java
index 1adf0aaf75a01..7ba6e07443d81 100644
--- a/components/camel-docker/src/main/java/org/apache/camel/component/docker/DockerConfiguration.java
+++ b/components/camel-docker/src/main/java/org/apache/camel/component/docker/DockerConfiguration.java
@@ -61,8 +61,8 @@ public class DockerConfiguration implements Cloneable {
     private boolean followRedirectFilter;
     @UriParam(label = "security", defaultValue = "false")
     private boolean tlsVerify;
-    @UriParam(label = "advanced", defaultValue = "true")
-    private boolean socket;
+    @UriParam(label = "advanced", defaultValue = "false")
+    private boolean socketEnabled;
     @UriParam(label = "advanced", defaultValue = "com.github.dockerjava.jaxrs.JerseyDockerCmdExecFactory")
     private String cmdExecFactory = "com.github.dockerjava.jaxrs.JerseyDockerCmdExecFactory";
     
@@ -245,14 +245,14 @@ public void setTlsVerify(boolean tlsVerify) {
     }
     
     public boolean isSocket() {
-        return socket;
+        return socketEnabled;
     }
 
     /**
      * Socket connection mode
      */
     public void setSocket(boolean socket) {
-        this.socket = socket;
+        this.socketEnabled = socket;
     }
 
     public String getCmdExecFactory() {
diff --git a/components/camel-docker/src/main/java/org/apache/camel/component/docker/DockerConstants.java b/components/camel-docker/src/main/java/org/apache/camel/component/docker/DockerConstants.java
index acf5668e4603d..4882fd03250ac 100644
--- a/components/camel-docker/src/main/java/org/apache/camel/component/docker/DockerConstants.java
+++ b/components/camel-docker/src/main/java/org/apache/camel/component/docker/DockerConstants.java
@@ -239,6 +239,8 @@ public final class DockerConstants {
         DOCKER_DEFAULT_PARAMETERS.put(DOCKER_SERVER_ADDRESS, String.class);
         DOCKER_DEFAULT_PARAMETERS.put(DOCKER_USERNAME, String.class);
         DOCKER_DEFAULT_PARAMETERS.put(DOCKER_CMD_EXEC_FACTORY, String.class);
+        DOCKER_DEFAULT_PARAMETERS.put(DOCKER_SOCKET_ENABLED, Boolean.class);
+
     }
 
     private DockerConstants() {
diff --git a/components/camel-docker/src/test/java/org/apache/camel/component/docker/DockerClientProfileTest.java b/components/camel-docker/src/test/java/org/apache/camel/component/docker/DockerClientProfileTest.java
index 0f4999491433a..227b9511ef670 100644
--- a/components/camel-docker/src/test/java/org/apache/camel/component/docker/DockerClientProfileTest.java
+++ b/components/camel-docker/src/test/java/org/apache/camel/component/docker/DockerClientProfileTest.java
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 
+import org.apache.camel.component.docker.exception.DockerException;
+
 /**
  * Validates the {@link DockerClientProfile}
  */
@@ -62,4 +64,31 @@ public void clientProfileTest() {
         assertEquals(clientProfile1, clientProfile2);
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testSocket() throws DockerException {
+        String host = "var/run/docker.sock";
+        String email = "docker@camel.apache.org";
+        String username = "user";
+        String password = "password";
+        Integer port = 2241;
+        Integer requestTimeout = 40;
+        boolean secure = true;
+        String certPath = "/docker/cert/path";
+        String cmdExecFactory = DockerConstants.DEFAULT_CMD_EXEC_FACTORY;
+
+        DockerClientProfile clientProfile1 = new DockerClientProfile();
+        clientProfile1.setHost(host);
+        clientProfile1.setEmail(email);
+        clientProfile1.setUsername(username);
+        clientProfile1.setPassword(password);
+        clientProfile1.setPort(port);
+        clientProfile1.setSocket(true);
+        clientProfile1.setRequestTimeout(requestTimeout);
+        clientProfile1.setSecure(secure);
+        clientProfile1.setCertPath(certPath);
+        clientProfile1.setCmdExecFactory(cmdExecFactory);
+        
+        assertEquals("unix://", "unix:///var/run/docker.sock", clientProfile1.toUrl());
+    }
+
 }