diff --git a/backend/src/agent/persistence/client/pipeline_client.go b/backend/src/agent/persistence/client/pipeline_client.go
index 9c60e8d7f10..38768008953 100644
--- a/backend/src/agent/persistence/client/pipeline_client.go
+++ b/backend/src/agent/persistence/client/pipeline_client.go
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 const (
-	addressTemp = "%s.%s.svc.cluster.local:%s"
+	addressTemp = "%s:%s"
 )
 
 type PipelineClientInterface interface {
@@ -48,15 +48,14 @@ type PipelineClient struct {
 }
 
 func NewPipelineClient(
-	namespace string,
 	initializeTimeout time.Duration,
 	timeout time.Duration,
 	basePath string,
 	mlPipelineServiceName string,
 	mlPipelineServiceHttpPort string,
 	mlPipelineServiceGRPCPort string) (*PipelineClient, error) {
-	httpAddress := fmt.Sprintf(addressTemp, mlPipelineServiceName, namespace, mlPipelineServiceHttpPort)
-	grpcAddress := fmt.Sprintf(addressTemp, mlPipelineServiceName, namespace, mlPipelineServiceGRPCPort)
+	httpAddress := fmt.Sprintf(addressTemp, mlPipelineServiceName, mlPipelineServiceHttpPort)
+	grpcAddress := fmt.Sprintf(addressTemp, mlPipelineServiceName, mlPipelineServiceGRPCPort)
 	err := util.WaitForAPIAvailable(initializeTimeout, basePath, httpAddress)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.Wrapf(err,
diff --git a/backend/src/agent/persistence/main.go b/backend/src/agent/persistence/main.go
index 88ffa4e49be..b8765593596 100644
--- a/backend/src/agent/persistence/main.go
+++ b/backend/src/agent/persistence/main.go
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"flag"
-	"os"
 	"time"
 
 	workflowclientSet "github.com/argoproj/argo/pkg/client/clientset/versioned"
@@ -34,7 +33,6 @@ import (
 var (
 	masterURL                   string
 	kubeconfig                  string
-	namespace                   string
 	initializeTimeout           time.Duration
 	timeout                     time.Duration
 	mlPipelineAPIServerName     string
@@ -47,7 +45,6 @@ var (
 const (
 	kubeconfigFlagName                  = "kubeconfig"
 	masterFlagName                      = "master"
-	namespaceFlagName                   = "namespace"
 	initializationTimeoutFlagName       = "initializeTimeout"
 	timeoutFlagName                     = "timeout"
 	mlPipelineAPIServerBasePathFlagName = "mlPipelineAPIServerBasePath"
@@ -81,7 +78,6 @@ func main() {
 	workflowInformerFactory := workflowinformers.NewSharedInformerFactory(workflowClient, time.Second*30)
 
 	pipelineClient, err := client.NewPipelineClient(
-		namespace,
 		initializeTimeout,
 		timeout,
 		mlPipelineAPIServerBasePath,
@@ -109,7 +105,6 @@ func main() {
 func init() {
 	flag.StringVar(&kubeconfig, kubeconfigFlagName, "", "Path to a kubeconfig. Only required if out-of-cluster.")
 	flag.StringVar(&masterURL, masterFlagName, "", "The address of the Kubernetes API server. Overrides any value in kubeconfig. Only required if out-of-cluster.")
-	flag.StringVar(&namespace, namespaceFlagName, os.Getenv("POD_NAMESPACE"), "The namespace the ML pipeline API server is deployed to")
 	flag.DurationVar(&initializeTimeout, initializationTimeoutFlagName, 2*time.Minute, "Duration to wait for initialization of the ML pipeline API server.")
 	flag.DurationVar(&timeout, timeoutFlagName, 1*time.Minute, "Duration to wait for calls to complete.")
 	flag.StringVar(&mlPipelineAPIServerName, mlPipelineAPIServerNameFlagName, "ml-pipeline", "Name of the ML pipeline API server.")