diff --git a/awx/conf/apps.py b/awx/conf/apps.py
index 8f9980dde9..62ad0085df 100644
--- a/awx/conf/apps.py
+++ b/awx/conf/apps.py
@@ -15,5 +15,8 @@ class ConfConfig(AppConfig):
         self.module.autodiscover()
         from .settings import SettingsWrapper
         SettingsWrapper.initialize()
-        configure_logging(settings.LOGGING_CONFIG, settings.LOGGING)
+        if settings.LOG_AGGREGATOR_ENABLED:
+            LOGGING = settings.LOGGING
+            LOGGING['handlers']['http_receiver']['class'] = 'awx.main.utils.handlers.HTTPSHandler'
+            configure_logging(settings.LOGGING_CONFIG, LOGGING)
         # checks.register(SettingsWrapper._check_settings)
diff --git a/awx/main/conf.py b/awx/main/conf.py
index 527f262334..1a4d7cb0ea 100644
--- a/awx/main/conf.py
+++ b/awx/main/conf.py
@@ -296,3 +296,12 @@ register(
     category=_('Logging'),
     category_slug='logging',
 )
+register(
+    'LOG_AGGREGATOR_ENABLED',
+    field_class=fields.BooleanField,
+    default=False,
+    label=_('Flag denoting whether to use the external logger system'),
+    help_text=_('If not set, only normal settings data will be used to configure loggers.'),
+    category=_('Logging'),
+    category_slug='logging',
+)
diff --git a/awx/main/management/commands/run_socketio_service.py b/awx/main/management/commands/run_socketio_service.py
index 6a6404f2b4..9b7e5a61d2 100644
--- a/awx/main/management/commands/run_socketio_service.py
+++ b/awx/main/management/commands/run_socketio_service.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ from socketio import socketio_manage
 from socketio.server import SocketIOServer
 from socketio.namespace import BaseNamespace
 
-logger = logging.getLogger('awx.main.consumers')
+logger = logging.getLogger('awx.main.commands.run_socketio_service')
 
 
 class SocketSession(object):
diff --git a/awx/main/tasks.py b/awx/main/tasks.py
index 4f6e647b0c..71d65df772 100644
--- a/awx/main/tasks.py
+++ b/awx/main/tasks.py
@@ -92,7 +92,12 @@ def clear_cache_keys(cache_keys):
     cache.delete_many(set_of_keys)
     for setting_key in set_of_keys:
         if setting_key.startswith('LOG_AGGREGATOR_'):
-            configure_logging(settings.LOGGING_CONFIG, settings.LOGGING)
+            LOGGING = settings.LOGGING
+            if settings.LOG_AGGREGATOR_ENABLED:
+                LOGGING['handlers']['http_receiver']['class'] = 'awx.main.utils.handlers.HTTPSHandler'
+            else:
+                LOGGING['handlers']['http_receiver']['class'] = 'awx.main.utils.handlers.HTTPSNullHandler'
+            configure_logging(settings.LOGGING_CONFIG, LOGGING)
             break
 
 
diff --git a/awx/main/utils/handlers.py b/awx/main/utils/handlers.py
index 23f23c4d5e..28b7c26af7 100644
--- a/awx/main/utils/handlers.py
+++ b/awx/main/utils/handlers.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ from requests_futures.sessions import FuturesSession
 
 # custom
 from django.conf import settings as django_settings
+from django.utils.log import NullHandler
 
 # AWX external logging handler, generally designed to be used
 # with the accompanying LogstashHandler, derives from python-logstash library
@@ -36,6 +37,13 @@ def unused_callback(sess, resp):
     pass
 
 
+class HTTPSNullHandler(NullHandler):
+    "Placeholder null handler to allow loading without database access"
+
+    def __init__(self, host, **kwargs):
+        return super(HTTPSNullHandler, self).__init__()
+
+
 class HTTPSHandler(logging.Handler):
     def __init__(self, fqdn=False, **kwargs):
         super(HTTPSHandler, self).__init__()
diff --git a/awx/settings/defaults.py b/awx/settings/defaults.py
index 1174de726e..ac193c1507 100644
--- a/awx/settings/defaults.py
+++ b/awx/settings/defaults.py
@@ -825,6 +825,8 @@ TOWER_URL_BASE = "https://towerhost"
 
 TOWER_SETTINGS_MANIFEST = {}
 
+LOG_AGGREGATOR_ENABLED = False
+
 # Logging configuration.
 LOGGING = {
     'version': 1,
@@ -869,7 +871,7 @@ LOGGING = {
             'formatter': 'simple',
         },
         'http_receiver': {
-            'class': 'awx.main.utils.handlers.HTTPSHandler',
+            'class': 'awx.main.utils.handlers.HTTPSNullHandler',
             'level': 'INFO',
             'formatter': 'json',
             'host': '',