diff --git a/pkg/cloudprovider/providers/aws/aws.go b/pkg/cloudprovider/providers/aws/aws.go
index adad77bfeda..6e7bfa21194 100644
--- a/pkg/cloudprovider/providers/aws/aws.go
+++ b/pkg/cloudprovider/providers/aws/aws.go
@@ -772,7 +772,7 @@ func (aws *AWSCloud) ExternalID(name string) (string, error) {
 		if err != nil {
 			return "", err
 		}
-		if instance == nil || !isAlive(instance) {
+		if instance == nil {
 			return "", cloudprovider.InstanceNotFound
 		}
 		return orEmpty(instance.InstanceId), nil
@@ -817,28 +817,9 @@ func (aws *AWSCloud) InstanceType(name string) (string, error) {
 	}
 }
 
-// Check if the instance is alive (running or pending)
-// We typically ignore instances that are not alive
-func isAlive(instance *ec2.Instance) bool {
-	if instance.State == nil {
-		glog.Warning("Instance state was unexpectedly nil: ", instance)
-		return false
-	}
-	stateName := orEmpty(instance.State.Name)
-	switch stateName {
-	case "shutting-down", "terminated", "stopping", "stopped":
-		return false
-	case "pending", "running":
-		return true
-	default:
-		glog.Errorf("Unknown EC2 instance state: %s", stateName)
-		return false
-	}
-}
-
 // Return a list of instances matching regex string.
 func (s *AWSCloud) getInstancesByRegex(regex string) ([]string, error) {
-	filters := []*ec2.Filter{}
+	filters := []*ec2.Filter{newEc2Filter("instance-state-name", "running")}
 	filters = s.addFilters(filters)
 	request := &ec2.DescribeInstancesInput{
 		Filters: filters,
@@ -864,11 +845,6 @@ func (s *AWSCloud) getInstancesByRegex(regex string) ([]string, error) {
 
 	matchingInstances := []string{}
 	for _, instance := range instances {
-		// TODO: Push filtering down into EC2 API filter?
-		if !isAlive(instance) {
-			continue
-		}
-
 		// Only return fully-ready instances when listing instances
 		// (vs a query by name, where we will return it if we find it)
 		if orEmpty(instance.State.Name) == "pending" {
@@ -2365,54 +2341,37 @@ func (a *AWSCloud) getInstancesByIDs(instanceIDs []*string) (map[string]*ec2.Ins
 }
 
 // Fetches instances by node names; returns an error if any cannot be found.
-// This is currently implemented by fetching all the instances, because this is currently called for all nodes (i.e. the majority)
-// In practice, the breakeven vs looping through and calling getInstanceByNodeName is probably around N=2.
+// This is implemented with a multi value filter on the node names, fetching the desired instances with a single query.
 func (a *AWSCloud) getInstancesByNodeNames(nodeNames []string) ([]*ec2.Instance, error) {
-	allInstances, err := a.getAllInstances()
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+	names := aws.StringSlice(nodeNames)
+
+	nodeNameFilter := &ec2.Filter{
+		Name:   aws.String("private-dns-name"),
+		Values: names,
 	}
 
-	nodeNamesMap := make(map[string]int, len(nodeNames))
-	for i, nodeName := range nodeNames {
-		nodeNamesMap[nodeName] = i
+	filters := []*ec2.Filter{
+		nodeNameFilter,
+		newEc2Filter("instance-state-name", "running"),
 	}
 
-	instances := make([]*ec2.Instance, len(nodeNames))
-	for _, instance := range allInstances {
-		nodeName := aws.StringValue(instance.PrivateDnsName)
-		if nodeName == "" {
-			if isAlive(instance) {
-				glog.V(2).Infof("ignoring ec2 instance with no PrivateDnsName: %q", aws.StringValue(instance.InstanceId))
-			}
-			continue
-		}
-		i, found := nodeNamesMap[nodeName]
-		if !found {
-			continue
-		}
-		instances[i] = instance
-	}
-
-	for i, instance := range instances {
-		if instance == nil {
-			nodeName := nodeNames[i]
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to find instance %q", nodeName)
-		}
-	}
-
-	return instances, nil
-}
-
-// Returns all instances that are tagged as being in this cluster.
-func (a *AWSCloud) getAllInstances() ([]*ec2.Instance, error) {
-	filters := []*ec2.Filter{}
 	filters = a.addFilters(filters)
 	request := &ec2.DescribeInstancesInput{
 		Filters: filters,
 	}
 
-	return a.ec2.DescribeInstances(request)
+	instances, err := a.ec2.DescribeInstances(request)
+	if err != nil {
+		glog.V(2).Infof("Failed to describe instances %v", nodeNames)
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	if len(instances) == 0 {
+		glog.V(3).Infof("Failed to find any instances %v", nodeNames)
+		return nil, nil
+	}
+
+	return instances, nil
 }
 
 // Returns the instance with the specified node name
@@ -2420,6 +2379,7 @@ func (a *AWSCloud) getAllInstances() ([]*ec2.Instance, error) {
 func (a *AWSCloud) findInstanceByNodeName(nodeName string) (*ec2.Instance, error) {
 	filters := []*ec2.Filter{
 		newEc2Filter("private-dns-name", nodeName),
+		newEc2Filter("instance-state-name", "running"),
 	}
 	filters = a.addFilters(filters)
 	request := &ec2.DescribeInstancesInput{
diff --git a/pkg/cloudprovider/providers/aws/aws_test.go b/pkg/cloudprovider/providers/aws/aws_test.go
index 58c6d062a66..253fe5c5f78 100644
--- a/pkg/cloudprovider/providers/aws/aws_test.go
+++ b/pkg/cloudprovider/providers/aws/aws_test.go
@@ -275,6 +275,20 @@ func instanceMatchesFilter(instance *ec2.Instance, filter *ec2.Filter) bool {
 		}
 		return contains(filter.Values, *instance.PrivateDnsName)
 	}
+
+	if name == "instance-state-name" {
+		return contains(filter.Values, *instance.State.Name)
+	}
+
+	if name == "tag:"+TagNameKubernetesCluster {
+		for _, tag := range instance.Tags {
+			if *tag.Key == TagNameKubernetesCluster {
+				return contains(filter.Values, *tag.Value)
+			}
+		}
+		return false
+	}
+
 	panic("Unknown filter name: " + name)
 }
 
@@ -937,3 +951,102 @@ func TestIpPermissionExistsHandlesMultipleGroupIdsWithUserIds(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("Should have not been considered equal since first is not in the second array of groups")
 	}
 }
+
+func TestFindInstanceByNodeNameExcludesTerminatedInstances(t *testing.T) {
+	awsServices := NewFakeAWSServices()
+
+	nodeName := "my-dns.internal"
+
+	var tag ec2.Tag
+	tag.Key = aws.String(TagNameKubernetesCluster)
+	tag.Value = aws.String(TestClusterId)
+	tags := []*ec2.Tag{&tag}
+
+	var runningInstance ec2.Instance
+	runningInstance.InstanceId = aws.String("i-running")
+	runningInstance.PrivateDnsName = aws.String(nodeName)
+	runningInstance.State = &ec2.InstanceState{Code: aws.Int64(16), Name: aws.String("running")}
+	runningInstance.Tags = tags
+
+	var terminatedInstance ec2.Instance
+	terminatedInstance.InstanceId = aws.String("i-terminated")
+	terminatedInstance.PrivateDnsName = aws.String(nodeName)
+	terminatedInstance.State = &ec2.InstanceState{Code: aws.Int64(48), Name: aws.String("terminated")}
+	terminatedInstance.Tags = tags
+
+	instances := []*ec2.Instance{&terminatedInstance, &runningInstance}
+	awsServices.instances = append(awsServices.instances, instances...)
+
+	c, err := newAWSCloud(strings.NewReader("[global]"), awsServices)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("Error building aws cloud: %v", err)
+		return
+	}
+
+	instance, err := c.findInstanceByNodeName(nodeName)
+
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("Failed to find instance: %v", err)
+		return
+	}
+
+	if *instance.InstanceId != "i-running" {
+		t.Errorf("Expected running instance but got %v", *instance.InstanceId)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestFindInstancesByNodeName(t *testing.T) {
+	awsServices := NewFakeAWSServices()
+
+	nodeNameOne := "my-dns.internal"
+	nodeNameTwo := "my-dns-two.internal"
+
+	var tag ec2.Tag
+	tag.Key = aws.String(TagNameKubernetesCluster)
+	tag.Value = aws.String(TestClusterId)
+	tags := []*ec2.Tag{&tag}
+
+	var runningInstance ec2.Instance
+	runningInstance.InstanceId = aws.String("i-running")
+	runningInstance.PrivateDnsName = aws.String(nodeNameOne)
+	runningInstance.State = &ec2.InstanceState{Code: aws.Int64(16), Name: aws.String("running")}
+	runningInstance.Tags = tags
+
+	var secondInstance ec2.Instance
+
+	secondInstance.InstanceId = aws.String("i-running")
+	secondInstance.PrivateDnsName = aws.String(nodeNameTwo)
+	secondInstance.State = &ec2.InstanceState{Code: aws.Int64(48), Name: aws.String("running")}
+	secondInstance.Tags = tags
+
+	var terminatedInstance ec2.Instance
+	terminatedInstance.InstanceId = aws.String("i-terminated")
+	terminatedInstance.PrivateDnsName = aws.String(nodeNameOne)
+	terminatedInstance.State = &ec2.InstanceState{Code: aws.Int64(48), Name: aws.String("terminated")}
+	terminatedInstance.Tags = tags
+
+	instances := []*ec2.Instance{&secondInstance, &runningInstance, &terminatedInstance}
+	awsServices.instances = append(awsServices.instances, instances...)
+
+	c, err := newAWSCloud(strings.NewReader("[global]"), awsServices)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("Error building aws cloud: %v", err)
+		return
+	}
+
+	nodeNames := []string{nodeNameOne}
+	returnedInstances, errr := c.getInstancesByNodeNames(nodeNames)
+
+	if errr != nil {
+		t.Errorf("Failed to find instance: %v", err)
+		return
+	}
+
+	if len(returnedInstances) != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("Expected a single isntance but found: %v", returnedInstances)
+	}
+
+	if *returnedInstances[0].PrivateDnsName != nodeNameOne {
+		t.Errorf("Expected node name %v but got %v", nodeNameOne, returnedInstances[0].PrivateDnsName)
+	}
+}