diff --git a/bin/hbase b/bin/hbase
index 57485a68f0d..350abefcbc7 100755
--- a/bin/hbase
+++ b/bin/hbase
@@ -106,6 +106,11 @@ if [ "$MAVEN_HOME" != "" ]; then
   MVN=${MAVEN_HOME}/bin/mvn
 fi
 
+# override default settings for this command, if applicable
+if [ -f "$HBASE_HOME/conf/hbase-env-$COMMAND.sh" ]; then
+  . "$HBASE_HOME/conf/hbase-env-$COMMAND.sh"
+fi
+
 # check envvars which might override default args
 if [ "$HBASE_HEAPSIZE" != "" ]; then
   #echo "run with heapsize $HBASE_HEAPSIZE"