diff --git a/lib/beaker/hypervisor/vmpooler.rb b/lib/beaker/hypervisor/vmpooler.rb
index 04340e5..6b44f69 100644
--- a/lib/beaker/hypervisor/vmpooler.rb
+++ b/lib/beaker/hypervisor/vmpooler.rb
@@ -247,6 +247,10 @@ module Beaker
           @logger.debug "No disks to add for #{hostname}"
         end
       end
+
+      # Override SSH connection method if not already explicitly configured.
+      # IP addresses can change across reboots with vmpooler so prefer DNS based resolution
+      @hosts.each {|h| h[:connection_method] ||= 'vmhostname'}
     end
 
     def cleanup
diff --git a/spec/beaker/hypervisor/vmpooler_spec.rb b/spec/beaker/hypervisor/vmpooler_spec.rb
index 067fc12..bbfccf5 100644
--- a/spec/beaker/hypervisor/vmpooler_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/beaker/hypervisor/vmpooler_spec.rb
@@ -142,6 +142,31 @@ module Beaker
                           /Vmpooler\.provision - requested VM templates \[[^\,]*\] not available/
              ) # should be only one item in the list, no commas
       end
+
+      it 'ignores the ssh connection type when explicitly configured' do
+        hosts = make_hosts
+        hosts.each {|h| h[:connection_method] = 'explicit_connection_type'}
+
+        vmpooler = Beaker::Vmpooler.new( hosts, make_opts )
+        vmpooler.provision
+
+        hosts = vmpooler.instance_variable_get( :@hosts )
+        hosts.each do | host |
+          expect(host[:connection_method]).to be === 'explicit_connection_type'
+        end
+      end
+
+      it 'sets the ssh connection type to vmhostname when not explicitly configured' do
+        #p make_hosts
+        vmpooler = Beaker::Vmpooler.new( make_hosts, make_opts )
+        vmpooler.provision
+
+        hosts = vmpooler.instance_variable_get( :@hosts )
+        hosts.each do | host |
+         # p host
+          expect(host[:connection_method]).to be === 'vmhostname'
+        end
+      end
     end
 
     describe "#cleanup" do