diff --git a/doc/deploy-all-in-one-node.rst b/doc/deploy-all-in-one-node.rst
index 04f62780daecb28230d2a5e952339c76d9170983..b59bbb1b583db89a041da9b7b02eebf569e45ac5 100644
--- a/doc/deploy-all-in-one-node.rst
+++ b/doc/deploy-all-in-one-node.rst
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ The guide assumes that you have build images using the following command.
 
 ::
 
-    tools/build.py -n 172.22.2.81:4000/kollaglue --base ubuntu --type source --push
+    tools/build.py --registry 172.22.2.81:4000 --base ubuntu --type source --push
 
 The IP, "172.22.2.81", is the host running private docker registry.
 To deploy a private docker registry,
diff --git a/doc/image-building.rst b/doc/image-building.rst
index ee18c153d0e3dcc393a45e4a465fde7b18a1cde7..d02c8322c75917e55957581ff6bef88e37f55188 100644
--- a/doc/image-building.rst
+++ b/doc/image-building.rst
@@ -56,14 +56,12 @@ want to push images to your dockerhub, change the namespace like:
 
    $ tools/build.py -n yourusername --push
 
-To push images to local registry, change the namespace, too. If the ip
-of the machine running local registry is ``172.22.2.81`` and the port
-which local registry listens to is ``4000``, use the following command
-to push images to local registry.
+To push images to local registry, use ``--registry`` flag like the
+following command:
 
 ::
 
-    tools/build.py --namespace 172.22.2.81:4000/kollaglue --push
+    tools/build.py --registry 172.22.2.81:4000 --push
 
 To trigger buid.py to pull images from local registry,
 the Docker configuration needs to be modified. See
@@ -180,7 +178,7 @@ To build and push images to local registry, use the following command:
 
 ::
 
-    tools/build.py --namespace 172.22.2.81:4000/kollaglue --push
+    tools/build.py --registry 172.22.2.81:4000 --push
 
 Kolla-ansible with Local Registry
 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
diff --git a/etc/kolla/kolla-build.conf b/etc/kolla/kolla-build.conf
index c4281248f2954071f6dbf38f07d5cc28896bf1c8..dc3e20816f8164f0f2f911c1b5be6de89f149dd6 100644
--- a/etc/kolla/kolla-build.conf
+++ b/etc/kolla/kolla-build.conf
@@ -42,6 +42,8 @@
 # Path to custome file to be addded at end of Dockerfiles for final images
 #include_footer = /path/to/footer_file
 
+# The registry host. The default registry host is Docker Hub.
+#registry = None
 
 # Provide location of sources for source install builds.
 # Example:
diff --git a/kolla/cmd/build.py b/kolla/cmd/build.py
index e6e43dd7003246cb6060809959230880377d54ad..55969c9bd20e3113dcbe8da3e6a6a4e8ea533705 100755
--- a/kolla/cmd/build.py
+++ b/kolla/cmd/build.py
@@ -225,7 +225,8 @@ def merge_args_and_config(settings_from_config_file):
         "keep": False,
         "push": False,
         "threads": 8,
-        "retries": 3
+        "retries": 3,
+        "registry": None
     }
     defaults.update(settings_from_config_file.items('kolla-build'))
     parser.set_defaults(**defaults)
@@ -285,6 +286,9 @@ def merge_args_and_config(settings_from_config_file):
     parser.add_argument('--template-only',
                         help=("Don't build images. Generate Dockerfile only"),
                         action='store_true')
+    parser.add_argument('--registry',
+                        help=("the docker registry host"),
+                        type=str)
     return vars(parser.parse_args())
 
 
@@ -294,7 +298,11 @@ class KollaWorker(object):
         self.base_dir = os.path.abspath(find_base_dir())
         LOG.debug("Kolla base directory: " + self.base_dir)
         self.images_dir = os.path.join(self.base_dir, 'docker')
-        self.namespace = config['namespace']
+        self.registry = config['registry']
+        if self.registry:
+            self.namespace = self.registry + '/' + config['namespace']
+        else:
+            self.namespace = config['namespace']
         self.base = config['base']
         self.base_tag = config['base_tag']
         self.install_type = config['install_type']