diff --git a/bin/graceful_stop.sh b/bin/graceful_stop.sh
index 89446532101..05919ce72d6 100755
--- a/bin/graceful_stop.sh
+++ b/bin/graceful_stop.sh
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ moving regions"
   echo " maxthreads xx  Limit the number of threads used by the region mover. Default value is 1."
   echo " movetimeout xx Timeout for moving regions. If regions are not moved by the timeout value,\
 exit with error. Default value is INT_MAX."
-  echo " hostname       Hostname of server we are to stop"
+  echo " hostname       Hostname to stop; match what HBase uses; pass 'localhost' if local to avoid ssh"
   echo " e|failfast     Set -e so exit immediately if any command exits with non-zero status"
   echo " nob|nobalancer Do not manage balancer states. This is only used as optimization in \
 rolling_restart.sh to avoid multiple calls to hbase shell"
@@ -108,6 +108,10 @@ localhostname=`/bin/hostname -f`
 if [ "$localhostname" == "$hostname" ]; then
   local=true
 fi
+if [ "$localhostname" == "$hostname" ] || [ "$hostname" == "localhost" ]; then
+  local=true
+  hostname=$localhostname
+fi
 
 if [ "$nob" == "true"  ]; then
   log "[ $0 ] skipping disabling balancer -nob argument is used"