diff --git a/src/coreclr/clrfeatures.cmake b/src/coreclr/clrfeatures.cmake
index 078b4e73ac8044..4a1f2b7225d54e 100644
--- a/src/coreclr/clrfeatures.cmake
+++ b/src/coreclr/clrfeatures.cmake
@@ -27,3 +27,7 @@ endif(NOT DEFINED FEATURE_STANDALONE_GC)
 if(NOT DEFINED FEATURE_AUTO_TRACE)
   set(FEATURE_AUTO_TRACE 0)
 endif(NOT DEFINED FEATURE_AUTO_TRACE)
+
+if(NOT DEFINED FEATURE_EVENTPIPE_STARTUP)
+  set(FEATURE_EVENTPIPE_STARTUP 0)
+endif(NOT DEFINED FEATURE_EVENTPIPE_STARTUP)
diff --git a/src/coreclr/src/inc/eventtracebase.h b/src/coreclr/src/inc/eventtracebase.h
index 2d5b3054c0ab4b..cde996a92185e2 100644
--- a/src/coreclr/src/inc/eventtracebase.h
+++ b/src/coreclr/src/inc/eventtracebase.h
@@ -234,6 +234,16 @@ extern UINT32 g_nClrInstanceId;
 #if defined(HOST_UNIX) && (defined(FEATURE_EVENT_TRACE) || defined(FEATURE_EVENTSOURCE_XPLAT))
 #define KEYWORDZERO 0x0
 
+#define DEF_LTTNG_KEYWORD_ENABLED 1
+#ifdef FEATURE_EVENT_TRACE
+#include "clrproviders.h"
+#endif // FEATURE_EVENT_TRACE
+#include "clrconfig.h"
+
+#endif // defined(HOST_UNIX) && (defined(FEATURE_EVENT_TRACE) || defined(FEATURE_EVENTSOURCE_XPLAT))
+
+#if defined(FEATURE_PERFTRACING)
+
 /***************************************/
 /* Tracing levels supported by CLR ETW */
 /***************************************/
@@ -244,12 +254,6 @@ extern UINT32 g_nClrInstanceId;
 #define TRACE_LEVEL_INFORMATION 4   // Includes non-error cases such as Entry-Exit
 #define TRACE_LEVEL_VERBOSE     5   // Detailed traces from intermediate steps
 
-#define DEF_LTTNG_KEYWORD_ENABLED 1
-#ifdef FEATURE_EVENT_TRACE
-#include "clrproviders.h"
-#endif
-#include "clrconfig.h"
-
 class XplatEventLoggerConfiguration
 {
 public:
@@ -284,6 +288,10 @@ class XplatEventLoggerConfiguration
 
         auto levelComponent = GetNextComponentString(keywordsComponent.End + 1);
         _level = ParseLevel(levelComponent);
+
+        auto argumentComponent = GetNextComponentString(levelComponent.End + 1);
+        _argument = ParseArgument(argumentComponent);
+
         _isValid = true;
     }
 
@@ -297,16 +305,21 @@ class XplatEventLoggerConfiguration
         return _provider;
     }
 
-    ULONGLONG GetEnabledKeywordsMask() const
+    uint64_t GetEnabledKeywordsMask() const
     {
         return _enabledKeywords;
     }
 
-    UINT GetLevel() const
+    uint32_t GetLevel() const
     {
         return _level;
     }
 
+    LPCWSTR GetArgument() const
+    {
+        return _argument;
+    }
+
 private:
     struct ComponentSpan
     {
@@ -322,9 +335,8 @@ class XplatEventLoggerConfiguration
 
     ComponentSpan GetNextComponentString(LPCWSTR start) const
     {
-        static WCHAR ComponentDelimiter = W(':');
-
-        auto end = wcschr(start, ComponentDelimiter);
+        const WCHAR ComponentDelimiter = W(':');
+        const WCHAR * end = wcschr(start, ComponentDelimiter);
         if (end == nullptr)
         {
             end = start + wcslen(start);
@@ -333,22 +345,22 @@ class XplatEventLoggerConfiguration
         return ComponentSpan(start, end);
     }
 
-    LPCWSTR ParseProviderName(ComponentSpan const & component) const
+    NewArrayHolder<WCHAR> ParseProviderName(ComponentSpan const & component) const
     {
-        auto providerName = (WCHAR*)nullptr;
+        NewArrayHolder<WCHAR> providerName = nullptr;
         if ((component.End - component.Start) != 0)
         {
             auto const length = component.End - component.Start;
             providerName = new WCHAR[length + 1];
-            memset(providerName, '\0', (length + 1) * sizeof(WCHAR));
             wcsncpy(providerName, component.Start, length);
+            providerName[length] = '\0';
         }
         return providerName;
     }
 
-    ULONGLONG ParseEnabledKeywordsMask(ComponentSpan const & component) const
+    uint64_t ParseEnabledKeywordsMask(ComponentSpan const & component) const
     {
-        auto enabledKeywordsMask = (ULONGLONG)(-1);
+        auto enabledKeywordsMask = (uint64_t)(-1);
         if ((component.End - component.Start) != 0)
         {
             enabledKeywordsMask = _wcstoui64(component.Start, nullptr, 16);
@@ -356,9 +368,9 @@ class XplatEventLoggerConfiguration
         return enabledKeywordsMask;
     }
 
-    UINT ParseLevel(ComponentSpan const & component) const
+    uint32_t ParseLevel(ComponentSpan const & component) const
     {
-        auto level = TRACE_LEVEL_VERBOSE;
+        int level = TRACE_LEVEL_VERBOSE; // Verbose
         if ((component.End - component.Start) != 0)
         {
             level = _wtoi(component.Start);
@@ -366,11 +378,28 @@ class XplatEventLoggerConfiguration
         return level;
     }
 
-    LPCWSTR _provider;
-    ULONGLONG _enabledKeywords;
-    UINT _level;
+    NewArrayHolder<WCHAR> ParseArgument(ComponentSpan const & component) const
+    {
+        NewArrayHolder<WCHAR> argument = nullptr;
+        if ((component.End - component.Start) != 0)
+        {
+            auto const length = component.End - component.Start;
+            argument = new WCHAR[length + 1];
+            wcsncpy(argument, component.Start, length);
+            argument[length] = '\0';
+        }
+        return argument;
+    }
+
+    NewArrayHolder<WCHAR> _provider;
+    uint64_t _enabledKeywords;
+    uint32_t _level;
+    NewArrayHolder<WCHAR> _argument;
     bool _isValid;
 };
+#endif // FEATURE_PERFTRACING
+
+#if defined(HOST_UNIX) && (defined(FEATURE_EVENT_TRACE) || defined(FEATURE_EVENTSOURCE_XPLAT))
 
 class XplatEventLoggerController
 {
@@ -497,7 +526,7 @@ class XplatEventLogger
         }
         while (configToParse != nullptr)
         {
-            static WCHAR comma = W(',');
+            const WCHAR comma = W(',');
             auto end = wcschr(configToParse, comma);
             configuration.Parse(configToParse);
             XplatEventLoggerController::UpdateProviderContext(configuration);
diff --git a/src/coreclr/src/vm/eventpipe.cpp b/src/coreclr/src/vm/eventpipe.cpp
index 0c4581fe523e03..06d0ed7ac2c90e 100644
--- a/src/coreclr/src/vm/eventpipe.cpp
+++ b/src/coreclr/src/vm/eventpipe.cpp
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 #include "sampleprofiler.h"
 #include "win32threadpool.h"
 #include "ceemain.h"
+#include "configuration.h"
 
 #ifdef TARGET_UNIX
 #include "pal.h"
@@ -94,12 +95,118 @@ void EventPipe::Initialize()
 #endif
     }
 
-
     {
         CrstHolder _crst(GetLock());
         if (tracingInitialized)
             s_state = EventPipeState::Initialized;
     }
+#ifdef FEATURE_EVENTPIPE_STARTUP
+    EnableViaEnvironmentVariables();
+#endif // FEATURE_EVENTPIPE_STARTUP
+}
+
+//
+// If EventPipe environment variables are specified, parse them and start a session
+// 
+void EventPipe::EnableViaEnvironmentVariables()
+{
+    STANDARD_VM_CONTRACT;
+    if (CLRConfig::GetConfigValue(CLRConfig::INTERNAL_EnableEventPipe) != 0)
+    {
+        CLRConfigStringHolder eventpipeConfig(CLRConfig::GetConfigValue(CLRConfig::INTERNAL_EventPipeConfig));
+        CLRConfigStringHolder configOutputPath(CLRConfig::GetConfigValue(CLRConfig::INTERNAL_EventPipeOutputPath));
+        uint32_t eventpipeCircularBufferMB = CLRConfig::GetConfigValue(CLRConfig::INTERNAL_EventPipeCircularMB);
+        LPCWSTR outputPath = nullptr;
+
+        if (configOutputPath == NULL)
+        {
+            outputPath = W("trace.nettrace");
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            outputPath = configOutputPath;
+        }
+        auto configuration = XplatEventLoggerConfiguration();
+        LPWSTR configToParse = eventpipeConfig;
+        int providerCnt = 0;
+
+        // Create EventPipeProviderConfiguration and start tracing.
+        NewHolder<EventPipeProviderConfiguration> pProviders = nullptr;
+
+        // If COMPlus_EnableEventPipe is set to 1 but no configuration was specified, enable EventPipe session
+        // with the default provider configurations.
+        if (configToParse == nullptr || *configToParse == L'\0')
+        {
+            providerCnt = 2;
+            pProviders = new EventPipeProviderConfiguration[providerCnt];
+            pProviders[0] = EventPipeProviderConfiguration(W("Microsoft-Windows-DotNETRuntime"), 0x4c14fccbd, 5, nullptr);
+            pProviders[1] = EventPipeProviderConfiguration(W("Microsoft-Windows-DotNETRuntimePrivate"), 0x4002000b, 5, nullptr);
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            // Count how many providers there are to parse
+            static WCHAR comma = W(',');
+            while (*configToParse != '\0')
+            {
+                providerCnt += 1;
+                auto end = wcschr(configToParse, comma);
+                if (end == nullptr)
+                {
+                    break;
+                }
+                configToParse = end + 1;
+            }
+            configToParse = eventpipeConfig;
+            pProviders = new EventPipeProviderConfiguration[providerCnt];
+            int i = 0;
+            while (*configToParse != '\0')
+            {
+                auto end = wcschr(configToParse, comma);
+                configuration.Parse(configToParse);
+
+                // if we find any invalid configuration, do not trace.
+                if (!configuration.IsValid())
+                {
+                    return;
+                }
+                // SampleProfiler can't be enabled on startup yet.
+                else if (wcscmp(W("Microsoft-DotNETCore-SampleProfiler"), configuration.GetProviderName()) == 0)
+                {
+                    providerCnt -= 1;
+                }
+                else
+                {
+                    pProviders[i++] = EventPipeProviderConfiguration(
+                        configuration.GetProviderName(),
+                        configuration.GetEnabledKeywordsMask(),
+                        configuration.GetLevel(),
+                        configuration.GetArgument()
+                    );
+                }
+
+                if (end == nullptr)
+                {
+                    break;
+                }
+                configToParse = end + 1;
+            }
+        }
+
+        if (providerCnt != 0)
+        {
+            uint64_t sessionID = EventPipe::Enable(
+                outputPath,
+                eventpipeCircularBufferMB,
+                pProviders,
+                providerCnt,
+                EventPipeSessionType::File,
+                EventPipeSerializationFormat::NetTraceV4,
+                true,
+                nullptr
+            );
+            EventPipe::StartStreaming(sessionID);
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 void EventPipe::Shutdown()
diff --git a/src/coreclr/src/vm/eventpipe.h b/src/coreclr/src/vm/eventpipe.h
index aa1c10cfd94454..a638ca118cd065 100644
--- a/src/coreclr/src/vm/eventpipe.h
+++ b/src/coreclr/src/vm/eventpipe.h
@@ -47,6 +47,9 @@ class EventPipe
     // Initialize the event pipe.
     static void Initialize();
 
+    // Initialize environment variable based session
+    static void EnableViaEnvironmentVariables();
+
     // Shutdown the event pipe.
     static void Shutdown();