diff --git a/debian/koha-common.default b/debian/koha-common.default
index 5c553e2b9f..bbe7524ab7 100644
--- a/debian/koha-common.default
+++ b/debian/koha-common.default
@@ -34,4 +34,27 @@ INDEXER_TIMEOUT=5
 #
 # INDEXER_PARAMS=""
 
+# Elasticsearch default options. Specifying the command line options to
+# koha-elasticsearch will override these
+
+# Should biblios be indexed by default?
+ES_INDEX_BIBLIOS="yes"
+# Should authorities be indexed by default?
+ES_INDEX_AUTHORITIES="yes"
+# How many records should be batched for committing to elasticsearch at one time. You
+# might want to decrease this if you're having issues with memory.
+# Equivalent to '--commit'
+ES_COMMIT_SIZE=5000
+# Now many parallel processes to use for indexing. If you have CPU
+# cores to spare, this might be worth increasing.
+# Equivalent to '--processes'
+ES_NUMBER_OF_PROCESSES=1
+# Should the output be verbose by default?
+# Equivalent to '--verbose'
+ES_VERBOSE="no"
+# A string that's supplied as a "where" query that can limit the records being idexed.
+# You probably don't want to use this by default expect in some sort of special case.
+# Equivalent to '--where'
+#ES_WHERE_QUERY_SQL=""
+
 ## End of general koha-common default options
diff --git a/debian/scripts/koha-elasticsearch b/debian/scripts/koha-elasticsearch
index e9a0a1ba10..5a9d6811a9 100755
--- a/debian/scripts/koha-elasticsearch
+++ b/debian/scripts/koha-elasticsearch
@@ -131,16 +131,25 @@ run_rebuild_elasticsearch()
     fi
 }
 
-# Default parameters
-biblios="yes"
-authorities="yes"
+# Default parameters from koha-common.default
+biblios=$ES_INDEX_BIBLIOS         # the 'only' variants are skipped because they don't actually control
+authorities=$ES_INDEX_AUTHORITIES # anything and are just for setting stuff internally.
+commit_size=$ES_COMMIT_SIZE
+processes=$ES_NUMBER_OF_PROCESSES
+verbose=$ES_VERBOSE
+where=$ES_WHERE_QUERY_SQL
+
+# Default parameters if all else fails
+: ${biblios:="yes"}
+: ${authorities:="yes"}
+: ${commit_size:=5000}
+: ${processes:=1}
+: ${verbose:="no"}
+: ${where:=""}
+
 biblios_only="no"
 authorities_only="no"
-commit_size=5000
-processes=1
-verbose="no"
 op=""
-where=""
 
 # Read parameters
 while [ -n "$*" ]; do