diff --git a/Changes b/Changes
index 0dc23e0e..f28a2ebb 100644
--- a/Changes
+++ b/Changes
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
   * Icon to copy Navbar search text to Device Search Options field (closes #11)
   * Typeahead on the main navbar search (for devices only)
+  * Support for have_nodeip_dns_col setting (closes #14)
 
   [ENHANCEMENTS]
 
diff --git a/Netdisco/lib/Netdisco/DB/Result/NodeIp.pm b/Netdisco/lib/Netdisco/DB/Result/NodeIp.pm
index ec0f51db..cbf60cb7 100644
--- a/Netdisco/lib/Netdisco/DB/Result/NodeIp.pm
+++ b/Netdisco/lib/Netdisco/DB/Result/NodeIp.pm
@@ -47,13 +47,16 @@ Calling the C<dns()> accessor will either return the content of that field if
 the field is configured and installed, or else perform a live DNS lookup on
 the IP field within the record (returning the first PTR, or undef).
 
+To enable this feature, set the C<HAVE_NODEIP_DNS_COL> environment variable to
+a true value. In the Netdisco web app you can activate the column using the
+C<have_nodeip_dns_col> application setting, instead.
+
 =cut
 
-# XXX uncomment the following two lines if you have a "dns" column XXX
-# XXX in your node_ip table which caches the host's name           XXX
-#__PACKAGE__->add_column("dns" =>
-#  { data_type => "text", is_nullable => 1, accessor => undef });
-# XXX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ XXX
+if ($ENV{HAVE_NODEIP_DNS_COL}) {
+  __PACKAGE__->add_column("dns" =>
+    { data_type => "text", is_nullable => 1, accessor => undef });
+}
 
 # some customize their node_ip table to have a dns column which
 # is the cached record at the time of discovery
diff --git a/Netdisco/lib/Netdisco/Web.pm b/Netdisco/lib/Netdisco/Web.pm
index a856250a..a4927f4d 100644
--- a/Netdisco/lib/Netdisco/Web.pm
+++ b/Netdisco/lib/Netdisco/Web.pm
@@ -2,7 +2,13 @@ package Netdisco::Web;
 
 use Dancer ':syntax';
 use Dancer::Plugin::Ajax;
-use Dancer::Plugin::DBIC;
+
+BEGIN {
+  if (setting('have_nodeip_dns_col')) {
+      $ENV{HAVE_NODEIP_DNS_COL} = 1;
+  }
+  use Dancer::Plugin::DBIC;
+}
 
 use Socket6 (); # to ensure dependency is met
 use HTML::Entities (); # to ensure dependency is met