diff --git a/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/README.md b/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/README.md
index c84b20ae2..bbb558c4b 100644
--- a/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/README.md
+++ b/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/README.md
@@ -50,7 +50,8 @@ export MDB_USER_PASSWORD="mdb-user-password-CHANGE-ME"
 # user for MongoDB Search to connect to the replica set to synchronise data from
 export MDB_SEARCH_SYNC_USER_PASSWORD="search-sync-user-password-CHANGE-ME"
 
-export MDB_SEARCH_HOSTNAME="mdbs-search"
+export MDB_SEARCH_SERVICE_NAME="mdbs-search"
+export MDB_SEARCH_HOSTNAME="mdbs-search.example.com"
 
 # External MongoDB replica set members - REPLACE THESE VALUES with your actual external MongoDB hosts
 # For testing purposes, these point to the MongoDB Community resource created by test.sh
diff --git a/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/code_snippets/04_0322_create_search_loadbalancer_service.sh b/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/code_snippets/04_0322_create_search_loadbalancer_service.sh
index b89db8838..26167b64e 100644
--- a/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/code_snippets/04_0322_create_search_loadbalancer_service.sh
+++ b/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/code_snippets/04_0322_create_search_loadbalancer_service.sh
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ kubectl apply --context "${K8S_CTX}" -n "${MDB_NS}" -f - <<YAML
 apiVersion: v1
 kind: Service
 metadata:
-  name: ${MDB_SEARCH_HOSTNAME}
+  name: ${MDB_SEARCH_SERVICE_NAME}
 spec:
   type: LoadBalancer
   selector:
@@ -13,11 +13,11 @@ spec:
       targetPort: 27027
 YAML
 
-echo "Waiting for external IP to be assigned to service ${MDB_SEARCH_HOSTNAME}..."
+echo "Waiting for external IP to be assigned to service ${MDB_SEARCH_SERVICE_NAME}..."
 TIMEOUT=120  # 2 minutes timeout
 ELAPSED=0
 while [ ${ELAPSED} -lt ${TIMEOUT} ]; do
-  EXTERNAL_IP=$(kubectl get service "${MDB_SEARCH_HOSTNAME}" --context "${K8S_CTX}" -n "${MDB_NS}" -o jsonpath='{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].ip}' 2>/dev/null)
+  EXTERNAL_IP=$(kubectl get service "${MDB_SEARCH_SERVICE_NAME}" --context "${K8S_CTX}" -n "${MDB_NS}" -o jsonpath='{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].ip}' 2>/dev/null)
   if [ -n "${EXTERNAL_IP}" ] && [ "${EXTERNAL_IP}" != "null" ]; then
     echo "External IP assigned: ${EXTERNAL_IP}"
     break
diff --git a/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/code_snippets/04_0323_update_coredns_configmap.sh b/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/code_snippets/04_0323_update_coredns_configmap.sh
index c5f457101..a79e6b123 100644
--- a/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/code_snippets/04_0323_update_coredns_configmap.sh
+++ b/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/code_snippets/04_0323_update_coredns_configmap.sh
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
-SEARCH_IP=$(kubectl --context "${K8S_CTX}" -n "${MDB_NS}" get svc "${MDB_SEARCH_HOSTNAME}" -o jsonpath='{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].ip}')
+SEARCH_IP=$(kubectl --context "${K8S_CTX}" -n "${MDB_NS}" get svc "${MDB_SEARCH_SERVICE_NAME}" -o jsonpath='{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].ip}')
 if [ -z "${SEARCH_IP}" ]; then
-  SEARCH_IP=$(kubectl --context "${K8S_CTX}" -n "${MDB_NS}" get svc "${MDB_SEARCH_HOSTNAME}" -o jsonpath='{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].hostname}')
+  SEARCH_IP=$(kubectl --context "${K8S_CTX}" -n "${MDB_NS}" get svc "${MDB_SEARCH_SERVICE_NAME}" -o jsonpath='{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].hostname}')
 fi
 
 if [ -z "${SEARCH_IP}" ]; then
-  echo "Error: Could not get LoadBalancer external IP/hostname for service ${MDB_SEARCH_HOSTNAME}"
+  echo "Error: Could not get LoadBalancer external IP/hostname for service ${MDB_SEARCH_SERVICE_NAME}"
   exit 1
 fi
 
diff --git a/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/env_variables.sh b/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/env_variables.sh
index df241dcf4..83cf2e257 100644
--- a/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/env_variables.sh
+++ b/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/env_variables.sh
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ export MDB_ADMIN_USER_PASSWORD="admin-user-password-CHANGE-ME"
 export MDB_USER_PASSWORD="mdb-user-password-CHANGE-ME"
 export MDB_SEARCH_SYNC_USER_PASSWORD="search-sync-user-password-CHANGE-ME"
 
-export MDB_SEARCH_HOSTNAME="mdbs-search"
+export MDB_SEARCH_SERVICE_NAME="mdbs-search"
+export MDB_SEARCH_HOSTNAME="mdbs-search.example.com"
 
 # External MongoDB replica set members - REPLACE THESE VALUES with your actual external MongoDB hosts
 # In production, replace with your actual external MongoDB replica set members