diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-common/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/common/config/AsterixPropertiesAccessor.java b/asterixdb/asterix-common/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/common/config/AsterixPropertiesAccessor.java
index ea1ee31..61cb618 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-common/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/common/config/AsterixPropertiesAccessor.java
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-common/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/common/config/AsterixPropertiesAccessor.java
@@ -286,7 +286,14 @@
             p = asterixConfigurationParams.get(property);
             value = (p == null) ? null : p.getValue();
         } else {
-            value = cfg.getString("asterix", property);
+            value = cfg.getString("app", property);
+            if (value == null) {
+                value = cfg.getString("asterix", property);
+                if (value != null) {
+                    LOGGER.warn("[asterix] config section deprecated and will be removed in a future release;" +
+                            " please update to [app] (found: " + property + ')');
+                }
+            }
         }
         if (value == null) {
             return defaultValue;
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-server/src/main/samples/local/conf/cc.conf b/asterixdb/asterix-server/src/main/samples/local/conf/cc.conf
index 5ef1cbf..b5f05d3 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-server/src/main/samples/local/conf/cc.conf
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-server/src/main/samples/local/conf/cc.conf
@@ -17,5 +17,5 @@
 [cc]
 cluster.address = 127.0.0.1
 
-[asterix]
+[app]
 log.level=INFO
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-server/src/test/resources/NCServiceExecutionIT/cc.conf b/asterixdb/asterix-server/src/test/resources/NCServiceExecutionIT/cc.conf
index c4c76e6..c69873c 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-server/src/test/resources/NCServiceExecutionIT/cc.conf
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-server/src/test/resources/NCServiceExecutionIT/cc.conf
@@ -20,6 +20,6 @@
 cluster.address = 127.0.0.1
 app.class=org.apache.asterix.hyracks.bootstrap.CCApplicationEntryPoint
 
-[asterix]
+[app]
 storage.memorycomponent.globalbudget = 1073741824