diff --git a/orte/mca/plm/base/plm_base_frame.c b/orte/mca/plm/base/plm_base_frame.c
index 9fc9752b41b..b494b0b1565 100644
--- a/orte/mca/plm/base/plm_base_frame.c
+++ b/orte/mca/plm/base/plm_base_frame.c
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
  *                         All rights reserved.
  * Copyright (c) 2011-2013 Los Alamos National Security, LLC.
  *                         All rights reserved.
- * Copyright (c) 2015      Research Organization for Information Science
+ * Copyright (c) 2015-2017 Research Organization for Information Science
  *                         and Technology (RIST). All rights reserved.
  * $COPYRIGHT$
  *
@@ -52,6 +52,19 @@ orte_plm_globals_t orte_plm_globals = {0};
 orte_plm_base_module_t orte_plm = {0};
 
 
+static int mca_plm_base_register(mca_base_register_flag_t flags)
+{
+    orte_plm_globals.node_regex_threshold = 1024;
+    (void) mca_base_var_register("orte", "pml", "base", "node_regex_threshold",
+                                 "Only pass the node regex on the orted command line if smaller than this threshold",
+                                 MCA_BASE_VAR_TYPE_SIZE_T, NULL, 0,
+                                 MCA_BASE_VAR_FLAG_INTERNAL,
+                                 OPAL_INFO_LVL_9,
+                                 MCA_BASE_VAR_SCOPE_READONLY,
+                                 &orte_plm_globals.node_regex_threshold);
+    return ORTE_SUCCESS;
+}
+
 static int orte_plm_base_close(void)
 {
     int rc;
@@ -88,5 +101,5 @@ static int orte_plm_base_open(mca_base_open_flag_t flags)
     return mca_base_framework_components_open(&orte_plm_base_framework, flags);
 }
 
-MCA_BASE_FRAMEWORK_DECLARE(orte, plm, NULL, NULL, orte_plm_base_open, orte_plm_base_close,
+MCA_BASE_FRAMEWORK_DECLARE(orte, plm, NULL, mca_plm_base_register, orte_plm_base_open, orte_plm_base_close,
                            mca_plm_base_static_components, 0);
diff --git a/orte/mca/plm/base/plm_base_launch_support.c b/orte/mca/plm/base/plm_base_launch_support.c
index 9932706a64d..4aa45fd3233 100644
--- a/orte/mca/plm/base/plm_base_launch_support.c
+++ b/orte/mca/plm/base/plm_base_launch_support.c
@@ -1567,7 +1567,7 @@ int orte_plm_base_orted_append_basic_args(int *argc, char ***argv,
     }
     /* if this is too long, then we'll have to do it with
      * a phone home operation instead */
-    if (strlen(param) < ORTE_MAX_REGEX_CMD_LENGTH) {
+    if (strlen(param) < orte_plm_globals.node_regex_threshold) {
         opal_argv_append(argc, argv, "-"OPAL_MCA_CMD_LINE_ID);
         opal_argv_append(argc, argv, "orte_node_regex");
         opal_argv_append(argc, argv, param);
diff --git a/orte/mca/plm/base/plm_private.h b/orte/mca/plm/base/plm_private.h
index 047a508394c..3a58c351b34 100644
--- a/orte/mca/plm/base/plm_private.h
+++ b/orte/mca/plm/base/plm_private.h
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
  * Copyright (c) 2011-2013 Los Alamos National Security, LLC.
  *                         All rights reserved.
  * Copyright (c) 2017      Intel, Inc.  All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2017      Research Organization for Information Science
+ *                         and Technology (RIST). All rights reserved.
  * $COPYRIGHT$
  *
  * Additional copyrights may follow
@@ -59,6 +61,7 @@ typedef struct {
     opal_buffer_t tree_spawn_cmd;
     /* daemon nodes assigned at launch */
     bool daemon_nodes_assigned_at_launch;
+    size_t node_regex_threshold;
 } orte_plm_globals_t;
 /**
  * Global instance of PLM framework data
diff --git a/orte/util/nidmap.h b/orte/util/nidmap.h
index e8c6f59bc21..3be3f71dbf9 100644
--- a/orte/util/nidmap.h
+++ b/orte/util/nidmap.h
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@
  * Copyright (c) 2004-2005 The Regents of the University of California.
  *                         All rights reserved.
  * Copyright (c) 2014-2017 Intel, Inc.  All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2017      Research Organization for Information Science
+ *                         and Technology (RIST). All rights reserved.
  * $COPYRIGHT$
  *
  * Additional copyrights may follow
@@ -37,8 +39,6 @@
 
 BEGIN_C_DECLS
 
-#define ORTE_MAX_REGEX_CMD_LENGTH   1024
-
 #define ORTE_MAX_NODE_PREFIX        50
 #define ORTE_CONTIG_NODE_CMD        0x01
 #define ORTE_NON_CONTIG_NODE_CMD    0x02