diff --git a/jaeger-production-template.yml b/jaeger-production-template.yml
index 907457b..44a3722 100644
--- a/jaeger-production-template.yml
+++ b/jaeger-production-template.yml
@@ -48,6 +48,12 @@ items:
           volumeMounts:
           - name: jaeger-configuration-volume
             mountPath: /conf
+          env:
+          - name: SPAN_STORAGE_TYPE
+            valueFrom:
+              configMapKeyRef:
+                name: jaeger-configuration
+                key: span-storage-type
         volumes:
           - configMap:
               name: jaeger-configuration
@@ -128,6 +134,12 @@ items:
           volumeMounts:
           - name: jaeger-configuration-volume
             mountPath: /conf
+          env:
+          - name: SPAN_STORAGE_TYPE
+            valueFrom:
+              configMapKeyRef:
+                name: jaeger-configuration
+                key: span-storage-type
         volumes:
           - configMap:
               name: jaeger-configuration
diff --git a/production-elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml b/production-elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml
index ed8d831..ccfc152 100644
--- a/production-elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml
+++ b/production-elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #
-# Copyright 2017 The Jaeger Authors
+# Copyright 2017-2018 The Jaeger Authors
 #
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except
 # in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
@@ -23,9 +23,8 @@ items:
       app: jaeger
       jaeger-infra: configuration
   data:
+    span-storage-type: elasticsearch
     collector: |
-      span-storage:
-        type: elasticsearch
       es:
         server-urls: http://elasticsearch:9200
         username: elastic
@@ -34,8 +33,6 @@ items:
         zipkin:
           http-port: 9411
     query: |
-      span-storage:
-        type: elasticsearch
       es:
         server-urls: http://elasticsearch:9200
         username: elastic
diff --git a/production/cassandra.yml b/production/cassandra.yml
index 0786c23..23e345f 100644
--- a/production/cassandra.yml
+++ b/production/cassandra.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #
-# Copyright 2017 The Jaeger Authors
+# Copyright 2017-2018 The Jaeger Authors
 #
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except
 # in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ items:
       app: jaeger
       jaeger-infra: configuration
   data:
+    span-storage-type: cassandra
     collector: |
       collector:
         zipkin: