diff --git a/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/server.go b/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/server.go
index f578ee677b4..51f4bfd2162 100644
--- a/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/server.go
+++ b/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/server.go
@@ -630,8 +630,18 @@ func defaultOptions(s *options.ServerRunOptions) error {
 	if err := s.SecureServing.MaybeDefaultWithSelfSignedCerts(s.GenericServerRunOptions.AdvertiseAddress.String(), []string{"kubernetes.default.svc", "kubernetes.default", "kubernetes"}, []net.IP{apiServerServiceIP}); err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("error creating self-signed certificates: %v", err)
 	}
-	if err := s.CloudProvider.DefaultExternalHost(s.GenericServerRunOptions); err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("error setting the external host value: %v", err)
+
+	if len(s.GenericServerRunOptions.ExternalHost) == 0 {
+		if len(s.GenericServerRunOptions.AdvertiseAddress) > 0 {
+			s.GenericServerRunOptions.ExternalHost = s.GenericServerRunOptions.AdvertiseAddress.String()
+		} else {
+			if hostname, err := os.Hostname(); err == nil {
+				s.GenericServerRunOptions.ExternalHost = hostname
+			} else {
+				return fmt.Errorf("error finding host name: %v", err)
+			}
+		}
+		glog.Infof("external host was not specified, using %v", s.GenericServerRunOptions.ExternalHost)
 	}
 
 	s.Authentication.ApplyAuthorization(s.Authorization)
diff --git a/pkg/kubeapiserver/options/BUILD b/pkg/kubeapiserver/options/BUILD
index 4c8d3d517cd..6d26b666571 100644
--- a/pkg/kubeapiserver/options/BUILD
+++ b/pkg/kubeapiserver/options/BUILD
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ go_library(
     deps = [
         "//pkg/api/legacyscheme:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/client/informers/informers_generated/internalversion:go_default_library",
-        "//pkg/cloudprovider:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/kubeapiserver/authenticator:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/kubeapiserver/authorizer:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/kubeapiserver/authorizer/modes:go_default_library",
@@ -29,7 +28,6 @@ go_library(
         "//vendor/github.com/golang/glog:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/github.com/pborman/uuid:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/github.com/spf13/pflag:go_default_library",
-        "//vendor/k8s.io/api/core/v1:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime/schema:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/net:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server:go_default_library",
diff --git a/pkg/kubeapiserver/options/cloudprovider.go b/pkg/kubeapiserver/options/cloudprovider.go
index 310acb592ce..9b8119fb072 100644
--- a/pkg/kubeapiserver/options/cloudprovider.go
+++ b/pkg/kubeapiserver/options/cloudprovider.go
@@ -17,15 +17,7 @@ limitations under the License.
 package options
 
 import (
-	"fmt"
-	"os"
-
-	"github.com/golang/glog"
 	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
-
-	"k8s.io/api/core/v1"
-	genericoptions "k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/options"
-	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/cloudprovider"
 )
 
 type CloudProviderOptions struct {
@@ -49,44 +41,3 @@ func (s *CloudProviderOptions) AddFlags(fs *pflag.FlagSet) {
 	fs.StringVar(&s.CloudConfigFile, "cloud-config", s.CloudConfigFile,
 		"The path to the cloud provider configuration file. Empty string for no configuration file.")
 }
-
-func (s *CloudProviderOptions) DefaultExternalHost(genericoptions *genericoptions.ServerRunOptions) error {
-	if len(genericoptions.ExternalHost) != 0 {
-		return nil
-	}
-
-	if cloudprovider.IsCloudProvider(s.CloudProvider) {
-		glog.Info("--external-hostname was not specified. Trying to get it from the cloud provider.")
-
-		cloud, err := cloudprovider.InitCloudProvider(s.CloudProvider, s.CloudConfigFile)
-		if err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("%q cloud provider could not be initialized: %v", s.CloudProvider, err)
-		}
-		instances, supported := cloud.Instances()
-		if !supported {
-			return fmt.Errorf("%q cloud provider has no instances", s.CloudProvider)
-		}
-		hostname, err := os.Hostname()
-		if err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("failed to get hostname: %v", err)
-		}
-		nodeName, err := instances.CurrentNodeName(hostname)
-		if err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("failed to get NodeName from %q cloud provider: %v", s.CloudProvider, err)
-		}
-		addrs, err := instances.NodeAddresses(nodeName)
-		if err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("failed to get external host address from %q cloud provider: %v", s.CloudProvider, err)
-		} else {
-			for _, addr := range addrs {
-				if addr.Type == v1.NodeExternalIP {
-					genericoptions.ExternalHost = addr.Address
-					glog.Warning("[Deprecated] Getting host address using cloud provider is " +
-						"now deprecated. Please use --external-hostname explicitly")
-				}
-			}
-		}
-	}
-
-	return nil
-}
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/config.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/config.go
index 877071ad3b2..fe912a94d24 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/config.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/config.go
@@ -338,13 +338,17 @@ type CompletedConfig struct {
 // Complete fills in any fields not set that are required to have valid data and can be derived
 // from other fields. If you're going to `ApplyOptions`, do that first. It's mutating the receiver.
 func (c *Config) Complete(informers informers.SharedInformerFactory) CompletedConfig {
-	if len(c.ExternalAddress) == 0 && c.PublicAddress != nil {
-		hostAndPort := c.PublicAddress.String()
-		if c.ReadWritePort != 0 {
-			hostAndPort = net.JoinHostPort(hostAndPort, strconv.Itoa(c.ReadWritePort))
-		}
-		c.ExternalAddress = hostAndPort
+	host := c.ExternalAddress
+	if host == "" && c.PublicAddress != nil {
+		host = c.PublicAddress.String()
 	}
+	if !strings.Contains(host, ":") {
+		if c.ReadWritePort != 0 {
+			host = net.JoinHostPort(host, strconv.Itoa(c.ReadWritePort))
+		}
+	}
+	c.ExternalAddress = host
+
 	if c.OpenAPIConfig != nil && c.OpenAPIConfig.SecurityDefinitions != nil {
 		// Setup OpenAPI security: all APIs will have the same authentication for now.
 		c.OpenAPIConfig.DefaultSecurity = []map[string][]string{}