diff --git a/cluster/centos/util.sh b/cluster/centos/util.sh
index 56ef18d2367..87fe4582968 100755
--- a/cluster/centos/util.sh
+++ b/cluster/centos/util.sh
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 # exit on any error
 set -e
 
-SSH_OPTS="-oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -oUserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -oLogLevel=ERROR"
+SSH_OPTS="-oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -oUserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -oLogLevel=ERROR -C"
 
 # Use the config file specified in $KUBE_CONFIG_FILE, or default to
 # config-default.sh.
diff --git a/cluster/photon-controller/config-default.sh b/cluster/photon-controller/config-default.sh
index 2cdf17afc9f..23ae87f7949 100755
--- a/cluster/photon-controller/config-default.sh
+++ b/cluster/photon-controller/config-default.sh
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ VM_USER=kube
 # will be reused, and the ssh keys will be different. This prevents us from seeing error
 # due to this, and it will not save the SSH key to the known_hosts file, so users will
 # still have standard ssh security checks.
-SSH_OPTS="-oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -oUserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -oLogLevel=ERROR"
+SSH_OPTS="-oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -oUserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -oLogLevel=ERROR -C"
 
 # Optional: Enable node logging.
 # Note: currently untested
diff --git a/cluster/ubuntu/util.sh b/cluster/ubuntu/util.sh
index 549d42905f9..ddd3c50be2c 100755
--- a/cluster/ubuntu/util.sh
+++ b/cluster/ubuntu/util.sh
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 # must implement to use cluster/kube-*.sh scripts.
 set -e
 
-SSH_OPTS="-oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -oUserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -oLogLevel=ERROR"
+SSH_OPTS="-oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -oUserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -oLogLevel=ERROR -C"
 
 MASTER=""
 MASTER_IP=""
diff --git a/cluster/vsphere/config-common.sh b/cluster/vsphere/config-common.sh
index acd44f0906a..3cd82618df3 100644
--- a/cluster/vsphere/config-common.sh
+++ b/cluster/vsphere/config-common.sh
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-SSH_OPTS="-oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -oUserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -oLogLevel=ERROR"
+SSH_OPTS="-oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -oUserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -oLogLevel=ERROR -C"
 
 # These need to be set
 #export GOVC_URL=