diff --git a/elastalert/util.py b/elastalert/util.py
index 547e72040..25a3e04cd 100644
--- a/elastalert/util.py
+++ b/elastalert/util.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 import os
 import datetime
 import logging
-
 import dateutil.parser
 import dateutil.tz
 from auth import Auth
@@ -283,7 +282,6 @@ def elasticsearch_client(conf):
                                      profile_name=es_conn_conf['profile'])
 
     return Elasticsearch(host=es_conn_conf['es_host'],
-                         port=es_conn_conf['es_port'],
                          url_prefix=es_conn_conf['es_url_prefix'],
                          use_ssl=es_conn_conf['use_ssl'],
                          verify_certs=es_conn_conf['verify_certs'],
@@ -308,12 +306,17 @@ def build_es_conn_config(conf):
     parsed_conf['es_password'] = None
     parsed_conf['aws_region'] = None
     parsed_conf['profile'] = None
-    parsed_conf['es_host'] = os.environ.get('ES_HOST', conf['es_host'])
-    parsed_conf['es_port'] = int(os.environ.get('ES_PORT', conf['es_port']))
     parsed_conf['es_url_prefix'] = ''
     parsed_conf['es_conn_timeout'] = conf.get('es_conn_timeout', 20)
     parsed_conf['send_get_body_as'] = conf.get('es_send_get_body_as', 'GET')
 
+    if "es_host" in conf:
+        es_host = os.environ.get('ES_HOST', conf['es_host'])
+
+        if "es_host" in conf:
+            es_port = int(os.environ.get('ES_PORT', conf['es_port']))
+        parsed_conf['es_host'] = parse_host(es_host, es_port)
+
     if 'es_username' in conf:
         parsed_conf['es_username'] = os.environ.get('ES_USERNAME', conf['es_username'])
         parsed_conf['es_password'] = os.environ.get('ES_PASSWORD', conf['es_password'])
@@ -344,6 +347,18 @@ def build_es_conn_config(conf):
     return parsed_conf
 
 
+def parse_host(host, port="9200"):
+    """
+    Convet host str like "host1:port1, host2:port2" to list
+    """
+    if "," in host:
+        host_list = host.split(",")
+        host_list = [x.strip() for x in host_list]
+        return host_list
+    else:
+        return ["{host}:{port}".format(host=host, port=port)]
+
+
 def parse_duration(value):
     """Convert ``unit=num`` spec into a ``timedelta`` object."""
     unit, num = value.split('=')
diff --git a/tests/util_unit_test.py b/tests/util_unit_test.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..46ece8eda
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/util_unit_test.py
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+from unittest import TestCase
+
+from elastalert.util import parse_host
+
+
+class UtilsTest(TestCase):
+    def test_parse_host(self):
+        self.assertEqual(parse_host("localhost", port="9200"), ["localhost:9200"])
+        self.assertEqual(parse_host('host1:9200,host2:9200, host3:9300'), ["host1:9200",
+                                                                           "host2:9200",
+                                                                           "host3:9300"])