diff --git a/federation/cluster/common.sh b/federation/cluster/common.sh
index bfb7392c8f0..ad3a9e5bc79 100644
--- a/federation/cluster/common.sh
+++ b/federation/cluster/common.sh
@@ -52,6 +52,20 @@ function create-federation-api-objects {
     export FEDERATION_CONTROLLER_MANAGER_IMAGE_REPO="${FEDERATION_PUSH_REPO_BASE}/federation-controller-manager"
     export FEDERATION_CONTROLLER_MANAGER_IMAGE_TAG="${FEDERATION_IMAGE_TAG:-$(cat ${KUBE_ROOT}/_output/${KUBE_BUILD_STAGE}/server/${KUBE_PLATFORM}-${KUBE_ARCH}/kubernetes/server/bin/federation-controller-manager.docker_tag)}"
 
+    if [[ -z "${FEDERATION_DNS_PROVIDER:-}" ]]; then
+      # Set the appropriate value based on cloud provider.
+      if [[ "$KUBERNETES_PROVIDER" == "gce" || "${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}" == "gke" ]]; then
+        echo "setting dns provider to google-clouddns"
+        export FEDERATION_DNS_PROVIDER="google-clouddns"
+      elif [[ "${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}" == "aws" ]]; then
+        echo "setting dns provider to aws-route53"
+        export FEDERATION_DNS_PROVIDER="aws-route53"
+      else
+        echo "Must set FEDERATION_DNS_PROVIDER env var"
+        exit 1
+      fi
+    fi
+
     export FEDERATION_SERVICE_CIDR=${FEDERATION_SERVICE_CIDR:-"10.10.0.0/24"}
 
     #Only used for providers that require a nodeport service (vagrant for now)
diff --git a/federation/cmd/federation-controller-manager/app/options/options.go b/federation/cmd/federation-controller-manager/app/options/options.go
index f25b16daaa7..05863e92953 100644
--- a/federation/cmd/federation-controller-manager/app/options/options.go
+++ b/federation/cmd/federation-controller-manager/app/options/options.go
@@ -19,9 +19,12 @@ limitations under the License.
 package options
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
+
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/federation/pkg/dnsprovider"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/api/unversioned"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/apis/componentconfig"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/client/leaderelection"
@@ -35,7 +38,7 @@ type ControllerManagerConfiguration struct {
 	// dnsProvider is the provider for dns services.
 	DnsProvider string `json:"dnsProvider"`
 	// dnsConfigFile is the path to the dns provider configuration file.
-	DnsConfigFile string `json:"ndsConfigFile"`
+	DnsConfigFile string `json:"dnsConfigFile"`
 	// concurrentServiceSyncs is the number of services that are
 	// allowed to sync concurrently. Larger number = more responsive service
 	// management, but more CPU (and network) load.
@@ -95,5 +98,7 @@ func (s *CMServer) AddFlags(fs *pflag.FlagSet) {
 	fs.StringVar(&s.ContentType, "kube-api-content-type", s.ContentType, "ContentType of requests sent to apiserver. Passing application/vnd.kubernetes.protobuf is an experimental feature now.")
 	fs.Float32Var(&s.APIServerQPS, "federated-api-qps", s.APIServerQPS, "QPS to use while talking with federation apiserver")
 	fs.IntVar(&s.APIServerBurst, "federated-api-burst", s.APIServerBurst, "Burst to use while talking with federation apiserver")
+	fs.StringVar(&s.DnsProvider, "dns-provider", s.DnsProvider, "DNS provider. Valid values are: "+fmt.Sprintf("%q", dnsprovider.RegisteredDnsProviders()))
+	fs.StringVar(&s.DnsConfigFile, "dns-provider-config", s.DnsConfigFile, "Path to config file for configuring DNS provider.")
 	leaderelection.BindFlags(&s.LeaderElection, fs)
 }
diff --git a/federation/cmd/federation-controller-manager/app/plugins.go b/federation/cmd/federation-controller-manager/app/plugins.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a17d46d8f50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/federation/cmd/federation-controller-manager/app/plugins.go
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2016 The Kubernetes Authors All rights reserved.
+
+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 app
+
+// This file exists to force the desired plugin implementations to be linked.
+// This should probably be part of some configuration fed into the build for a
+// given binary target.
+import (
+	// DNS providers
+	_ "k8s.io/kubernetes/federation/pkg/dnsprovider/providers/aws/route53"
+	_ "k8s.io/kubernetes/federation/pkg/dnsprovider/providers/google/clouddns"
+)
diff --git a/federation/manifests/federation-controller-manager-deployment.yaml b/federation/manifests/federation-controller-manager-deployment.yaml
index 0589b00a5cc..82b973e481c 100644
--- a/federation/manifests/federation-controller-manager-deployment.yaml
+++ b/federation/manifests/federation-controller-manager-deployment.yaml
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ spec:
         command:
         - /usr/local/bin/federation-controller-manager
         - --master=https://{{.FEDERATION_APISERVER_DEPLOYMENT_NAME}}:443
+        - --dns-provider={{.FEDERATION_DNS_PROVIDER}}
+        - --dns-provider-config={{.FEDERATION_DNS_PROVIDER_CONFIG}}
         ports:
         - containerPort: 443
           name: https
diff --git a/federation/pkg/dnsprovider/plugins.go b/federation/pkg/dnsprovider/plugins.go
index 71dbf65268b..8b790391611 100644
--- a/federation/pkg/dnsprovider/plugins.go
+++ b/federation/pkg/dnsprovider/plugins.go
@@ -62,6 +62,17 @@ func GetDnsProvider(name string, config io.Reader) (Interface, error) {
 	return f(config)
 }
 
+// Returns a list of registered dns providers.
+func RegisteredDnsProviders() []string {
+	registeredProviders := make([]string, len(providers))
+	i := 0
+	for provider := range providers {
+		registeredProviders[i] = provider
+		i = i + 1
+	}
+	return registeredProviders
+}
+
 // InitDnsProvider creates an instance of the named DNS provider.
 func InitDnsProvider(name string, configFilePath string) (Interface, error) {
 	var dns Interface
diff --git a/hack/verify-flags/known-flags.txt b/hack/verify-flags/known-flags.txt
index 6b601fba7da..4411ef7069a 100644
--- a/hack/verify-flags/known-flags.txt
+++ b/hack/verify-flags/known-flags.txt
@@ -99,6 +99,8 @@ deserialization-cache-size
 dest-file
 disable-filter
 dns-port
+dns-provider
+dns-provider-config
 docker-email
 docker-endpoint
 docker-exec-handler