diff --git a/3.13/alpine/Dockerfile b/3.13/alpine/Dockerfile
index 5ae87d51..52ecdeb8 100644
--- a/3.13/alpine/Dockerfile
+++ b/3.13/alpine/Dockerfile
@@ -317,6 +317,10 @@ VOLUME $RABBITMQ_DATA_DIR
 # https://docs.docker.com/samples/library/ubuntu/#locales
 ENV LANG=C.UTF-8 LANGUAGE=C.UTF-8 LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
 
+# the rabbitmq-server startup script uses RUNNING_UNDER_SYSTEMD to determine if the erl command
+# should be started via exec, which results in beam.smp becoming PID 1 in the container
+ENV RUNNING_UNDER_SYSTEMD=true
+
 COPY --chown=rabbitmq:rabbitmq 10-defaults.conf 20-management_agent.disable_metrics_collector.conf /etc/rabbitmq/conf.d/
 COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /usr/local/bin/
 ENTRYPOINT ["docker-entrypoint.sh"]
diff --git a/3.13/ubuntu/Dockerfile b/3.13/ubuntu/Dockerfile
index cd60aae4..3554d435 100644
--- a/3.13/ubuntu/Dockerfile
+++ b/3.13/ubuntu/Dockerfile
@@ -318,6 +318,10 @@ VOLUME $RABBITMQ_DATA_DIR
 # https://docs.docker.com/samples/library/ubuntu/#locales
 ENV LANG=C.UTF-8 LANGUAGE=C.UTF-8 LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
 
+# the rabbitmq-server startup script uses RUNNING_UNDER_SYSTEMD to determine if the erl command
+# should be started via exec, which results in beam.smp becoming PID 1 in the container
+ENV RUNNING_UNDER_SYSTEMD=true
+
 COPY --chown=rabbitmq:rabbitmq 10-defaults.conf 20-management_agent.disable_metrics_collector.conf /etc/rabbitmq/conf.d/
 COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /usr/local/bin/
 ENTRYPOINT ["docker-entrypoint.sh"]
diff --git a/4.0/alpine/Dockerfile b/4.0/alpine/Dockerfile
index fa044d37..725cc227 100644
--- a/4.0/alpine/Dockerfile
+++ b/4.0/alpine/Dockerfile
@@ -317,6 +317,10 @@ VOLUME $RABBITMQ_DATA_DIR
 # https://docs.docker.com/samples/library/ubuntu/#locales
 ENV LANG=C.UTF-8 LANGUAGE=C.UTF-8 LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
 
+# the rabbitmq-server startup script uses RUNNING_UNDER_SYSTEMD to determine if the erl command
+# should be started via exec, which results in beam.smp becoming PID 1 in the container
+ENV RUNNING_UNDER_SYSTEMD=true
+
 COPY --chown=rabbitmq:rabbitmq 10-defaults.conf 20-management_agent.disable_metrics_collector.conf /etc/rabbitmq/conf.d/
 COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /usr/local/bin/
 ENTRYPOINT ["docker-entrypoint.sh"]
diff --git a/4.0/ubuntu/Dockerfile b/4.0/ubuntu/Dockerfile
index 63dc7e44..387c5baf 100644
--- a/4.0/ubuntu/Dockerfile
+++ b/4.0/ubuntu/Dockerfile
@@ -311,6 +311,10 @@ VOLUME $RABBITMQ_DATA_DIR
 # https://docs.docker.com/samples/library/ubuntu/#locales
 ENV LANG=C.UTF-8 LANGUAGE=C.UTF-8 LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
 
+# the rabbitmq-server startup script uses RUNNING_UNDER_SYSTEMD to determine if the erl command
+# should be started via exec, which results in beam.smp becoming PID 1 in the container
+ENV RUNNING_UNDER_SYSTEMD=true
+
 COPY --chown=rabbitmq:rabbitmq 10-defaults.conf 20-management_agent.disable_metrics_collector.conf /etc/rabbitmq/conf.d/
 COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /usr/local/bin/
 ENTRYPOINT ["docker-entrypoint.sh"]
diff --git a/4.1/alpine/Dockerfile b/4.1/alpine/Dockerfile
index 54e2b0fe..e3f80887 100644
--- a/4.1/alpine/Dockerfile
+++ b/4.1/alpine/Dockerfile
@@ -317,6 +317,10 @@ VOLUME $RABBITMQ_DATA_DIR
 # https://docs.docker.com/samples/library/ubuntu/#locales
 ENV LANG=C.UTF-8 LANGUAGE=C.UTF-8 LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
 
+# the rabbitmq-server startup script uses RUNNING_UNDER_SYSTEMD to determine if the erl command
+# should be started via exec, which results in beam.smp becoming PID 1 in the container
+ENV RUNNING_UNDER_SYSTEMD=true
+
 COPY --chown=rabbitmq:rabbitmq 10-defaults.conf 20-management_agent.disable_metrics_collector.conf /etc/rabbitmq/conf.d/
 COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /usr/local/bin/
 ENTRYPOINT ["docker-entrypoint.sh"]
diff --git a/4.1/ubuntu/Dockerfile b/4.1/ubuntu/Dockerfile
index b42ca812..2f150421 100644
--- a/4.1/ubuntu/Dockerfile
+++ b/4.1/ubuntu/Dockerfile
@@ -311,6 +311,10 @@ VOLUME $RABBITMQ_DATA_DIR
 # https://docs.docker.com/samples/library/ubuntu/#locales
 ENV LANG=C.UTF-8 LANGUAGE=C.UTF-8 LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
 
+# the rabbitmq-server startup script uses RUNNING_UNDER_SYSTEMD to determine if the erl command
+# should be started via exec, which results in beam.smp becoming PID 1 in the container
+ENV RUNNING_UNDER_SYSTEMD=true
+
 COPY --chown=rabbitmq:rabbitmq 10-defaults.conf 20-management_agent.disable_metrics_collector.conf /etc/rabbitmq/conf.d/
 COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /usr/local/bin/
 ENTRYPOINT ["docker-entrypoint.sh"]
diff --git a/4.2/alpine/Dockerfile b/4.2/alpine/Dockerfile
index 816ee301..4103ee7e 100644
--- a/4.2/alpine/Dockerfile
+++ b/4.2/alpine/Dockerfile
@@ -317,6 +317,10 @@ VOLUME $RABBITMQ_DATA_DIR
 # https://docs.docker.com/samples/library/ubuntu/#locales
 ENV LANG=C.UTF-8 LANGUAGE=C.UTF-8 LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
 
+# the rabbitmq-server startup script uses RUNNING_UNDER_SYSTEMD to determine if the erl command
+# should be started via exec, which results in beam.smp becoming PID 1 in the container
+ENV RUNNING_UNDER_SYSTEMD=true
+
 COPY --chown=rabbitmq:rabbitmq 10-defaults.conf 20-management_agent.disable_metrics_collector.conf /etc/rabbitmq/conf.d/
 COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /usr/local/bin/
 ENTRYPOINT ["docker-entrypoint.sh"]
diff --git a/4.2/ubuntu/Dockerfile b/4.2/ubuntu/Dockerfile
index 7df763b7..e4f67e69 100644
--- a/4.2/ubuntu/Dockerfile
+++ b/4.2/ubuntu/Dockerfile
@@ -311,6 +311,10 @@ VOLUME $RABBITMQ_DATA_DIR
 # https://docs.docker.com/samples/library/ubuntu/#locales
 ENV LANG=C.UTF-8 LANGUAGE=C.UTF-8 LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
 
+# the rabbitmq-server startup script uses RUNNING_UNDER_SYSTEMD to determine if the erl command
+# should be started via exec, which results in beam.smp becoming PID 1 in the container
+ENV RUNNING_UNDER_SYSTEMD=true
+
 COPY --chown=rabbitmq:rabbitmq 10-defaults.conf 20-management_agent.disable_metrics_collector.conf /etc/rabbitmq/conf.d/
 COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /usr/local/bin/
 ENTRYPOINT ["docker-entrypoint.sh"]
diff --git a/Dockerfile-alpine.template b/Dockerfile-alpine.template
index 92d29f1b..2d6d5837 100644
--- a/Dockerfile-alpine.template
+++ b/Dockerfile-alpine.template
@@ -324,6 +324,10 @@ VOLUME $RABBITMQ_DATA_DIR
 # https://docs.docker.com/samples/library/ubuntu/#locales
 ENV LANG=C.UTF-8 LANGUAGE=C.UTF-8 LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
 
+# the rabbitmq-server startup script uses RUNNING_UNDER_SYSTEMD to determine if the erl command
+# should be started via exec, which results in beam.smp becoming PID 1 in the container
+ENV RUNNING_UNDER_SYSTEMD=true
+
 COPY --chown=rabbitmq:rabbitmq 10-defaults.conf 20-management_agent.disable_metrics_collector.conf /etc/rabbitmq/conf.d/
 COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /usr/local/bin/
 ENTRYPOINT ["docker-entrypoint.sh"]
diff --git a/Dockerfile-ubuntu.template b/Dockerfile-ubuntu.template
index 07aee153..33ea98dd 100644
--- a/Dockerfile-ubuntu.template
+++ b/Dockerfile-ubuntu.template
@@ -327,6 +327,10 @@ VOLUME $RABBITMQ_DATA_DIR
 # https://docs.docker.com/samples/library/ubuntu/#locales
 ENV LANG=C.UTF-8 LANGUAGE=C.UTF-8 LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
 
+# the rabbitmq-server startup script uses RUNNING_UNDER_SYSTEMD to determine if the erl command
+# should be started via exec, which results in beam.smp becoming PID 1 in the container
+ENV RUNNING_UNDER_SYSTEMD=true
+
 COPY --chown=rabbitmq:rabbitmq 10-defaults.conf 20-management_agent.disable_metrics_collector.conf /etc/rabbitmq/conf.d/
 COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /usr/local/bin/
 ENTRYPOINT ["docker-entrypoint.sh"]