diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index e8b70dc33..63acdadaf 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ TEST_DEPS_DIR   ?= _build/test/lib
 REL_DIR         ?= _build/default/rel
 DEPS             = $(patsubst $(TEST_DEPS_DIR)/%, %, $(wildcard $(TEST_DEPS_DIR)/*))
 TEST_DEPS        = $(filter-out $(TEST_IGNORE), $(DEPS))
+DEVREL_NODE     ?= dev
 
 RIAK_CORE_STAT_PREFIX = riak
 export RIAK_CORE_STAT_PREFIX
@@ -109,12 +110,12 @@ $(eval stagedevrel : $(foreach n,$(SEQ),stagedev$(n)))
 $(eval devrel : $(foreach n,$(SEQ),dev$(n)))
 
 dev% : all
-	rel/gen_dev dev$* rel/vars/dev_vars.config.src rel/vars/$*_vars.config
-	$(REBAR) release -o dev/dev$* --overlay_vars rel/vars/$*_vars.config
+	rel/gen_dev $(DEVREL_NODE)$* rel/vars/dev_vars.config.src rel/vars/$*_vars.config $*
+	$(REBAR) release -o dev/$(DEVREL_NODE)$* --overlay_vars rel/vars/$*_vars.config
 
 stagedev% : all
-	rel/gen_dev dev$* rel/vars/dev_vars.config.src rel/vars/$*_vars.config
-	$(REBAR) as dev release -o dev/dev$* --overlay_vars rel/vars/$*_vars.config
+	rel/gen_dev $(DEVREL_NODE)$* rel/vars/dev_vars.config.src rel/vars/$*_vars.config $*
+	$(REBAR) as dev release -o dev/$(DEVREL_NODE)$* --overlay_vars rel/vars/$*_vars.config
 
 perfdev : all
 	perfdev/bin/riak stop || :
diff --git a/rel/gen_dev b/rel/gen_dev
index 6104c58aa..30dc56e9c 100755
--- a/rel/gen_dev
+++ b/rel/gen_dev
@@ -5,17 +5,17 @@
 # Generate an overlay config for devNNN from vars.src and write to vars
 #
 
-NAME=$1
+NAME=${NAME:-$1}
 TEMPLATE=$2
 VARFILE=$3
+NUMBER=$4
+PORT_BASE=${PORT_BASE:-10000}
 
 ## Allocate some ports per node
 ##   .
 ##   .7 - http
 NODE="$NAME@127.0.0.1"
-
-NUMBER=${NAME##dev}
-BASE=$((10000 + 10 * $NUMBER))
+BASE=$(($PORT_BASE + 10 * $NUMBER))
 YZSOLRJMXPORT=$(($BASE + 3))
 YZSOLRPORT=$(($BASE + 4))
 CM_PORT=$(($BASE + 6))