diff --git a/awx/main/tasks.py b/awx/main/tasks.py
index d41f21b087..374f9f9f22 100644
--- a/awx/main/tasks.py
+++ b/awx/main/tasks.py
@@ -1822,7 +1822,7 @@ class RunInventoryUpdate(BaseTask):
                 cp.set(section, 'ssl_verify', "false")
 
             cloudforms_opts = dict(inventory_update.source_vars_dict.items())
-            for opt in ['version', 'purge_actions', 'clean_group_keys', 'nest_tags', 'suffix']:
+            for opt in ['version', 'purge_actions', 'clean_group_keys', 'nest_tags', 'suffix', 'prefer_ipv4']:
                 if opt in cloudforms_opts:
                     cp.set(section, opt, cloudforms_opts[opt])
 
diff --git a/awx/main/tests/unit/test_tasks.py b/awx/main/tests/unit/test_tasks.py
index c80dbda6f9..d83dea71dd 100644
--- a/awx/main/tests/unit/test_tasks.py
+++ b/awx/main/tests/unit/test_tasks.py
@@ -1757,6 +1757,8 @@ class TestInventoryUpdateCredentials(TestJobExecution):
             self.instance.credential, 'password'
         )
 
+        self.instance.source_vars = '{"prefer_ipv4": True}'
+
         def run_pexpect_side_effect(*args, **kwargs):
             args, cwd, env, stdout = args
             config = ConfigParser.ConfigParser()
@@ -1765,6 +1767,7 @@ class TestInventoryUpdateCredentials(TestJobExecution):
             assert config.get('cloudforms', 'username') == 'bob'
             assert config.get('cloudforms', 'password') == 'secret'
             assert config.get('cloudforms', 'ssl_verify') == 'false'
+            assert config.get('cloudforms', 'prefer_ipv4') == 'True'
 
             cache_path = config.get('cache', 'path')
             assert cache_path.startswith(env['AWX_PRIVATE_DATA_DIR'])
diff --git a/awx/plugins/inventory/cloudforms.ini.example b/awx/plugins/inventory/cloudforms.ini.example
index dc055c1fb7..30b9aa609e 100644
--- a/awx/plugins/inventory/cloudforms.ini.example
+++ b/awx/plugins/inventory/cloudforms.ini.example
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ nest_tags = False
 # Note: This suffix *must* include the leading '.' as it is appended to the hostname as is
 # suffix = .example.org
 
+# If true, will try and use an IPv4 address for the ansible_ssh_host rather than just the first IP address in the list
+prefer_ipv4 = False
+
 [cache]
 
 # Maximum time to trust the cache in seconds
diff --git a/awx/plugins/inventory/cloudforms.py b/awx/plugins/inventory/cloudforms.py
index 25b8d23159..0cdefc93c9 100755
--- a/awx/plugins/inventory/cloudforms.py
+++ b/awx/plugins/inventory/cloudforms.py
@@ -182,6 +182,11 @@ class CloudFormsInventory(object):
         else:
             self.cloudforms_suffix = None
 
+        if config.has_option('cloudforms', 'prefer_ipv4'):
+            self.cloudforms_prefer_ipv4 = config.getboolean('cloudforms', 'prefer_ipv4')
+        else:
+            self.cloudforms_prefer_ipv4 = False
+
         # Ansible related
         try:
             group_patterns = config.get('ansible', 'group_patterns')
@@ -362,7 +367,15 @@ class CloudFormsInventory(object):
 
             # Set ansible_ssh_host to the first available ip address
             if 'ipaddresses' in host and host['ipaddresses'] and isinstance(host['ipaddresses'], list):
-                host['ansible_ssh_host'] = host['ipaddresses'][0]
+                # If no preference for IPv4, just use the first entry
+                if not self.cloudforms_prefer_ipv4:
+                    host['ansible_ssh_host'] = host['ipaddresses'][0]
+                else:
+                    # Before we search for an IPv4 address, set using the first entry in case we don't find any
+                    host['ansible_ssh_host'] = host['ipaddresses'][0]
+                    for currenthost in host['ipaddresses']:
+                        if '.' in currenthost:
+                            host['ansible_ssh_host'] = currenthost
 
             # Create additional groups
             for key in ('location', 'type', 'vendor'):