diff --git a/assembly/src/release/bin/activemq b/assembly/src/release/bin/activemq
index ce94aef915..100e0cd638 100755
--- a/assembly/src/release/bin/activemq
+++ b/assembly/src/release/bin/activemq
@@ -24,6 +24,12 @@
 # See also http://activemq.apache.org/activemq-command-line-tools-reference.html
 # for additional commandline arguments
 #
+# System variables for this script, like ACTIVEMQ_OPTS and ACTIVEMQ_OPTS_MEMORY,
+# can be configured in 'env' script located in this directory.
+#
+# For more information on configuring the script, see http://activemq.apache.org/unix-shell-script.html
+#
+#
 # Authors:
 # Marc Schoechlin <ms@256bit.org>
 
diff --git a/assembly/src/release/bin/env b/assembly/src/release/bin/env
index 74c5de11d0..436929308b 100644
--- a/assembly/src/release/bin/env
+++ b/assembly/src/release/bin/env
@@ -16,14 +16,16 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Configuration file for running Apache Active MQ as standalone provider
-#
-# This file overwrites the predefined settings of the sysv init-script
 
 
 # Set jvm memory configuration
-ACTIVEMQ_OPTS_MEMORY="-Xms1G -Xmx1G"
+if [ -z "$ACTIVEMQ_OPTS_MEMORY" ] ; then
+    ACTIVEMQ_OPTS_MEMORY="-Xms1G -Xmx1G"
+fi
 
-ACTIVEMQ_OPTS="$ACTIVEMQ_OPTS_MEMORY -Djava.util.logging.config.file=logging.properties -Djava.security.auth.login.config=$ACTIVEMQ_CONF/login.config"
+if [ -z "$ACTIVEMQ_OPTS" ] ; then
+    ACTIVEMQ_OPTS="$ACTIVEMQ_OPTS_MEMORY -Djava.util.logging.config.file=logging.properties -Djava.security.auth.login.config=$ACTIVEMQ_CONF/login.config"
+fi
 
 # Uncomment to enable audit logging
 #ACTIVEMQ_OPTS="$ACTIVEMQ_OPTS -Dorg.apache.activemq.audit=true"
@@ -65,7 +67,9 @@ ACTIVEMQ_SUNJMX_START="$ACTIVEMQ_SUNJMX_START -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote"
 ACTIVEMQ_SUNJMX_CONTROL=""
 
 # Specify the queue manager URL for using "browse" option of sysv initscript
-ACTIVEMQ_QUEUEMANAGERURL="--amqurl tcp://localhost:61616"
+if [ -z "$ACTIVEMQ_QUEUEMANAGERURL" ]; then
+    ACTIVEMQ_QUEUEMANAGERURL="--amqurl tcp://localhost:61616"
+fi
 
 # Set additional JSE arguments
 ACTIVEMQ_SSL_OPTS=""
@@ -75,7 +79,9 @@ ACTIVEMQ_SSL_OPTS=""
 
 # ActiveMQ tries to shutdown the broker by jmx,
 # after a specified number of seconds send SIGKILL
-ACTIVEMQ_KILL_MAXSECONDS=90
+if [ -z "$ACTIVEMQ_KILL_MAXSECONDS" ]; then
+    ACTIVEMQ_KILL_MAXSECONDS=30
+fi
 
 # Active MQ installation dirs
 # ACTIVEMQ_HOME="<Installationdir>/"