diff --git a/discovery/cmd/kubernetes-discoverer/main.go b/discovery/cmd/kubernetes-discoverer/main.go
index 371c577c..0bc03998 100644
--- a/discovery/cmd/kubernetes-discoverer/main.go
+++ b/discovery/cmd/kubernetes-discoverer/main.go
@@ -80,9 +80,10 @@ func main() {
 	}
 
 	// Verify cluster name is passed
-	if clusterName == "" {
-		log.Fatalf("The Kubernetes cluster name must be provided using the `--cluster-name` flag")
+	if util.IsInvalidClusterName(clusterName) {
+		log.Fatalf("The Kubernetes cluster name must be provided using the `--cluster-name` flag or the one passed is invalid")
 	}
+	log.Infof("ClusterName is: %s", clusterName)
 
 	// Discovered cluster is passed
 	if discovererKubeCfgFile == "" {
diff --git a/discovery/cmd/openstack-discoverer/main.go b/discovery/cmd/openstack-discoverer/main.go
index 29ba31a1..d5126c2a 100644
--- a/discovery/cmd/openstack-discoverer/main.go
+++ b/discovery/cmd/openstack-discoverer/main.go
@@ -85,9 +85,11 @@ func main() {
 	discovererMetrics = localmetrics.NewMetrics()
 	discovererMetrics.RegisterPrometheus()
 
-	if clusterName == "" {
-		log.Fatal("The OpenStack cluster name must be provided using the --cluster-name flag")
+	// Verify cluster name is passed
+	if util.IsInvalidClusterName(clusterName) {
+		log.Fatalf("The Kubernetes cluster name must be provided using the `--cluster-name` flag or the one passed is invalid")
 	}
+	log.Infof("ClusterName is: %s", clusterName)
 
 	gimbalKubeClient, err := k8s.NewClient(gimbalKubeCfgFile, log)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/discovery/pkg/util/log_format.go b/discovery/pkg/util/util.go
similarity index 70%
rename from discovery/pkg/util/log_format.go
rename to discovery/pkg/util/util.go
index 9c4c166f..705b7d48 100644
--- a/discovery/pkg/util/log_format.go
+++ b/discovery/pkg/util/util.go
@@ -13,7 +13,12 @@ limitations under the License.
 
 package util
 
-import "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
+import (
+	"log"
+	"regexp"
+
+	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
+)
 
 // GetFormatter returns a textformatter to customize logs
 func GetFormatter() *logrus.TextFormatter {
@@ -21,3 +26,12 @@ func GetFormatter() *logrus.TextFormatter {
 		FullTimestamp: true,
 	}
 }
+
+// IsInvalidClusterName returns true if valid cluster name
+func IsInvalidClusterName(clustername string) bool {
+	matched, err := regexp.MatchString("^[a-z]([-a-z0-9]*[a-z0-9])?$", clustername)
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	return !matched
+}
diff --git a/discovery/pkg/util/util_test.go b/discovery/pkg/util/util_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..37583654
--- /dev/null
+++ b/discovery/pkg/util/util_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+// Copyright © 2018 Heptio
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package util
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+)
+
+func TestTranslateService(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name        string
+		clusterName string
+		expected    bool
+	}{
+		{
+			name:        "empty string",
+			clusterName: "",
+			expected:    true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "simple",
+			clusterName: "mycluster",
+			expected:    false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "hyphen",
+			clusterName: "my-cluster",
+			expected:    false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "underscore",
+			clusterName: "my_cluster",
+			expected:    true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "multiple underscores",
+			clusterName: "my----cluster",
+			expected:    false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "can't start with underscores",
+			clusterName: "-mycluster",
+			expected:    true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "can't end with underscores",
+			clusterName: "mycluster-",
+			expected:    true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "special chars",
+			clusterName: "!@!mycl^%$uster**",
+			expected:    true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "special chars with hyphen & underscore",
+			clusterName: "!@!my-cl^%$ust_er**",
+			expected:    true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "whitespace",
+			clusterName: "  my cluster  ",
+			expected:    true,
+		},
+	}
+	for _, tc := range tests {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			got := IsInvalidClusterName(tc.clusterName)
+			assert.EqualValues(t, tc.expected, got)
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/docs/kubernetes-discoverer.md b/docs/kubernetes-discoverer.md
index ac3491cf..c75c3b57 100644
--- a/docs/kubernetes-discoverer.md
+++ b/docs/kubernetes-discoverer.md
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ Arguments are available to customize the discoverer, most have defaults but othe
 | num-threads  | 2  |  Specify number of threads to use when processing queue items
 | gimbal-kubecfg-file  | ""  | Location of kubecfg file for access to Kubernetes cluster hosting Gimbal
 | discover-kubecfg-file | ""  | Location of kubecfg file for access to remote Kubernetes cluster to watch for services / endpoints 
-| cluster-name  | ""  |   Name of cluster scraping for services & endpoints 
+| cluster-name  | ""  |   Name of cluster scraping for services & endpoints (Cannot start or end with a hyphen and must be lowercase alpha-numeric)
 | debug | false | Enable debug logging 
 
 ### Credentials
diff --git a/docs/openstack-discoverer.md b/docs/openstack-discoverer.md
index c2d47d44..1083a04c 100644
--- a/docs/openstack-discoverer.md
+++ b/docs/openstack-discoverer.md
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ Arguments are available to customize the discoverer, most have defaults but othe
 | version  |  false | Show version, build information and quit  
 | num-threads  | 2  |  Specify number of threads to use when processing queue items
 | gimbal-kubecfg-file  | ""  | Location of kubecfg file for access to Kubernetes cluster hosting Gimbal
-| cluster-name  | ""  |   Name of cluster scraping for services & endpoints 
+| cluster-name  | ""  |   Name of cluster scraping for services & endpoints (Cannot start or end with a hyphen and must be lowercase alpha-numeric)
 | debug | false | Enable debug logging 
 | reconciliation-period | 30s | The interval of time between reconciliation loop runs 
 | http-client-timeout | 5s | The HTTP client request timeout