diff --git a/mgmt/RecordsConfig.cc b/mgmt/RecordsConfig.cc
index fb898022d75..c954788d663 100644
--- a/mgmt/RecordsConfig.cc
+++ b/mgmt/RecordsConfig.cc
@@ -1086,7 +1086,7 @@ static const RecordElement RecordsConfig[] =
   //       # how often should the hostdb be synced (seconds)
   {RECT_CONFIG, "proxy.config.cache.hostdb.sync_frequency", RECD_INT, "120", RECU_RESTART_TS, RR_NULL, RECC_NULL, NULL, RECA_NULL}
   ,
-  {RECT_CONFIG, "proxy.config.hostdb.host_file.path", RECD_STRING, NULL, RECU_DYNAMIC, RR_NULL, RECC_NULL, NULL, RECA_NULL}
+  {RECT_CONFIG, "proxy.config.hostdb.host_file.path", RECD_STRING, "/etc/hosts", RECU_DYNAMIC, RR_NULL, RECC_NULL, NULL, RECA_NULL}
   ,
   {RECT_CONFIG, "proxy.config.hostdb.host_file.interval", RECD_INT, "86400", RECU_DYNAMIC, RR_NULL, RECC_NULL, NULL, RECA_NULL}
   ,