diff --git a/dm/worker/config.go b/dm/worker/config.go
index 0c7d9ef049..4d300dceb7 100644
--- a/dm/worker/config.go
+++ b/dm/worker/config.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
+	"net"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/BurntSushi/toml"
@@ -46,11 +47,13 @@ func NewConfig() *Config {
 	fs.BoolVar(&cfg.printVersion, "V", false, "prints version and exit")
 	fs.BoolVar(&cfg.printSampleConfig, "print-sample-config", false, "print sample config file of dm-worker")
 	fs.StringVar(&cfg.ConfigFile, "config", "", "path to config file")
-	fs.StringVar(&cfg.WorkerAddr, "worker-addr", "", "worker API server and status addr")
+	fs.StringVar(&cfg.WorkerAddr, "worker-addr", "", "listen address for client traffic")
+	fs.StringVar(&cfg.AdvertiseAddr, "advertise-addr", "", `advertise address for client traffic (default "${worker-addr}")`)
 	fs.StringVar(&cfg.LogLevel, "L", "info", "log level: debug, info, warn, error, fatal")
 	fs.StringVar(&cfg.LogFile, "log-file", "", "log file path")
 	//fs.StringVar(&cfg.LogRotate, "log-rotate", "day", "log file rotate type, hour/day")
-	fs.StringVar(&cfg.Join, "join", "", "join to an existing cluster (usage: cluster's '${advertise-client-urls}'")
+	// NOTE: add `advertise-addr` for dm-master if needed.
+	fs.StringVar(&cfg.Join, "join", "", `join to an existing cluster (usage: dm-master cluster's "${master-addr}")`)
 	fs.StringVar(&cfg.Name, "name", "", "human-readable name for DM-worker member")
 	return cfg
 }
@@ -64,8 +67,9 @@ type Config struct {
 	LogFile   string `toml:"log-file" json:"log-file"`
 	LogRotate string `toml:"log-rotate" json:"log-rotate"`
 
-	Join       string `toml:"join" json:"join" `
-	WorkerAddr string `toml:"worker-addr" json:"worker-addr"`
+	Join          string `toml:"join" json:"join" `
+	WorkerAddr    string `toml:"worker-addr" json:"worker-addr"`
+	AdvertiseAddr string `toml:"advertise-addr" json:"advertise-addr"`
 
 	ConfigFile string `json:"config-file"`
 
@@ -145,6 +149,28 @@ func (c *Config) Parse(arguments []string) error {
 		return terror.ErrWorkerInvalidFlag.Generate(c.flagSet.Arg(0))
 	}
 
+	return c.adjust()
+}
+
+// adjust adjusts the config.
+func (c *Config) adjust() error {
+	host, _, err := net.SplitHostPort(c.WorkerAddr)
+	if err != nil {
+		return terror.ErrWorkerHostPortNotValid.Delegate(err, c.WorkerAddr)
+	}
+
+	if c.AdvertiseAddr == "" {
+		if host == "" || host == "0.0.0.0" {
+			return terror.ErrWorkerHostPortNotValid.Generatef("worker-addr (%s) must include the 'host' part (should not be '0.0.0.0') when advertise-addr is not set", c.WorkerAddr)
+		}
+		c.AdvertiseAddr = c.WorkerAddr
+	} else {
+		host, _, err = net.SplitHostPort(c.AdvertiseAddr)
+		if err != nil || host == "" || host == "0.0.0.0" {
+			return terror.ErrWorkerHostPortNotValid.AnnotateDelegate(err, "advertise-addr (%s) must include the 'host' part and should not be '0.0.0.0'", c.AdvertiseAddr)
+		}
+	}
+
 	return nil
 }
 
diff --git a/dm/worker/dm-worker.toml b/dm/worker/dm-worker.toml
index 638ef7c59c..657efa4c98 100644
--- a/dm/worker/dm-worker.toml
+++ b/dm/worker/dm-worker.toml
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ log-file = "dm-worker.log"
 
 #dm-worker listen address
 worker-addr = ":8262"
+advertise-addr = "127.0.0.1:8262"
 join = "127.0.0.1:8291"
 
 
diff --git a/dm/worker/join.go b/dm/worker/join.go
index b8b0e9327c..633a310391 100644
--- a/dm/worker/join.go
+++ b/dm/worker/join.go
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ func (s *Server) JoinMaster(endpoints []string) error {
 	defer cancel()
 	req := &pb.RegisterWorkerRequest{
 		Name:    s.cfg.Name,
-		Address: s.cfg.WorkerAddr,
+		Address: s.cfg.AdvertiseAddr,
 	}
 	resp, err := client.RegisterWorker(ctx, req)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ func (s *Server) KeepAlive() (bool, error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return false, err
 	}
-	k := common.WorkerKeepAliveKeyAdapter.Encode(s.cfg.WorkerAddr, s.cfg.Name)
+	k := common.WorkerKeepAliveKeyAdapter.Encode(s.cfg.AdvertiseAddr, s.cfg.Name)
 	_, err = s.etcdClient.Put(cliCtx, k, time.Now().String(), clientv3.WithLease(lease.ID))
 	if err != nil {
 		return false, err
diff --git a/dm/worker/server.go b/dm/worker/server.go
index 0c789cc51a..029748a5ef 100644
--- a/dm/worker/server.go
+++ b/dm/worker/server.go
@@ -75,12 +75,6 @@ func NewServer(cfg *Config) *Server {
 // Start starts to serving
 func (s *Server) Start() error {
 	var err error
-
-	_, _, err = s.splitHostPort()
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
 	s.rootLis, err = net.Listen("tcp", s.cfg.WorkerAddr)
 	if err != nil {
 		return terror.ErrWorkerStartService.Delegate(err)
@@ -700,10 +694,10 @@ func (s *Server) OperateMysqlWorker(ctx context.Context, req *pb.MysqlWorkerRequ
 	}
 	if resp.Result {
 		op1 := clientv3.OpPut(common.UpstreamConfigKeyAdapter.Encode(cfg.SourceID), req.Config)
-		op2 := clientv3.OpPut(common.UpstreamBoundWorkerKeyAdapter.Encode(s.cfg.WorkerAddr), cfg.SourceID)
+		op2 := clientv3.OpPut(common.UpstreamBoundWorkerKeyAdapter.Encode(s.cfg.AdvertiseAddr), cfg.SourceID)
 		if req.Op == pb.WorkerOp_StopWorker {
 			op1 = clientv3.OpDelete(common.UpstreamConfigKeyAdapter.Encode(cfg.SourceID))
-			op2 = clientv3.OpDelete(common.UpstreamBoundWorkerKeyAdapter.Encode(s.cfg.WorkerAddr))
+			op2 = clientv3.OpDelete(common.UpstreamBoundWorkerKeyAdapter.Encode(s.cfg.AdvertiseAddr))
 		}
 		resp.Msg = s.retryWriteEctd(op1, op2)
 		// Because etcd was deployed with master in a single process, if we can not write data into etcd, most probably
@@ -722,12 +716,3 @@ func makeCommonWorkerResponse(reqErr error) *pb.CommonWorkerResponse {
 	}
 	return resp
 }
-
-func (s *Server) splitHostPort() (host, port string, err error) {
-	// WorkerAddr's format may be "host:port" or ":port"
-	host, port, err = net.SplitHostPort(s.cfg.WorkerAddr)
-	if err != nil {
-		err = terror.ErrWorkerHostPortNotValid.Delegate(err, s.cfg.WorkerAddr)
-	}
-	return
-}
diff --git a/dm/worker/server_test.go b/dm/worker/server_test.go
index a0c844fa07..5d347ea341 100644
--- a/dm/worker/server_test.go
+++ b/dm/worker/server_test.go
@@ -78,15 +78,8 @@ func (t *testServer) TestServer(c *C) {
 	}()
 
 	s := NewServer(cfg)
-
-	workerAddr := cfg.WorkerAddr
-	s.cfg.WorkerAddr = ""
-	err = s.Start()
-	c.Assert(terror.ErrWorkerHostPortNotValid.Equal(err), IsTrue)
-	s.Close()
-	s.cfg.WorkerAddr = workerAddr
-
 	go func() {
+		defer s.Close()
 		err1 := s.Start()
 		c.Assert(err1, IsNil)
 	}()
@@ -98,7 +91,7 @@ func (t *testServer) TestServer(c *C) {
 	t.testOperateWorker(c, s, dir, true)
 
 	// check infos have be written into ETCD success.
-	t.testInfosInEtcd(c, hostName, workerAddr, dir)
+	t.testInfosInEtcd(c, hostName, cfg.AdvertiseAddr, dir)
 
 	// check worker would retry connecting master rather than stop worker directly.
 	ETCD = t.testRetryConnectMaster(c, s, ETCD, etcdDir, hostName)
diff --git a/tests/_utils/run_dm_worker b/tests/_utils/run_dm_worker
index 387f863e63..9ddc32d2b7 100755
--- a/tests/_utils/run_dm_worker
+++ b/tests/_utils/run_dm_worker
@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@ PWD=$(pwd)
 echo "[$(date)] <<<<<< START DM-WORKER on port $port, config: $conf >>>>>>"
 cd $workdir
 $binary -test.coverprofile="$TEST_DIR/cov.$TEST_NAME.worker.$port.$(date +"%s").out" DEVEL \
-    --worker-addr=:$port \
+    --worker-addr=0.0.0.0:$port \
+    --advertise-addr=127.0.0.1:$port \
     --log-file="$workdir/log/dm-worker.log" -L=info --config="$conf" \
     >> $workdir/log/stdout.log 2>&1 &
 cd $PWD