diff --git a/elasticsearch5/src/main/java/com/yahoo/ycsb/db/elasticsearch5/ElasticsearchClient.java b/elasticsearch5/src/main/java/com/yahoo/ycsb/db/elasticsearch5/ElasticsearchClient.java
index a76f2094beece72d4dde8408eef37be3661119a7..52c4177654bbbaa5d9216b12de685a3479d10e96 100644
--- a/elasticsearch5/src/main/java/com/yahoo/ycsb/db/elasticsearch5/ElasticsearchClient.java
+++ b/elasticsearch5/src/main/java/com/yahoo/ycsb/db/elasticsearch5/ElasticsearchClient.java
@@ -94,7 +94,14 @@ public class ElasticsearchClient extends DB {
 
     // if properties file contains elasticsearch user defined properties
     // add it to the settings file (will overwrite the defaults).
-    settings.put(props);
+    for (final Entry<Object, Object> e : props.entrySet()) {
+      if (e.getKey() instanceof String) {
+        final String key = (String) e.getKey();
+        if (key.startsWith("es.setting.")) {
+          settings.put(key.substring("es.setting.".length()), e.getValue());
+        }
+      }
+    }
     final String clusterName = settings.get("cluster.name");
     System.err.println("Elasticsearch starting node = " + clusterName);
     System.err.println("Elasticsearch node path.home = " + settings.get("path.home"));