diff --git a/test/e2e_node/e2e_node_suite_test.go b/test/e2e_node/e2e_node_suite_test.go
index b46015f8fce..1d5db9fa93a 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/e2e_node_suite_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e_node/e2e_node_suite_test.go
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ func registerNodeFlags(flags *flag.FlagSet) {
 	flags.StringVar(&framework.TestContext.SystemSpecName, "system-spec-name", "", "The name of the system spec (e.g., gke) that's used in the node e2e test. The system specs are in test/e2e_node/system/specs/. This is used by the test framework to determine which tests to run for validating the system requirements.")
 	flags.Var(cliflag.NewMapStringString(&framework.TestContext.ExtraEnvs), "extra-envs", "The extra environment variables needed for node e2e tests. Format: a list of key=value pairs, e.g., env1=val1,env2=val2")
 	flags.StringVar(&framework.TestContext.SriovdpConfigMapFile, "sriovdp-configmap-file", "", "The name of the SRIOV device plugin Config Map to load.")
-	flag.StringVar(&framework.TestContext.ClusterDNSDomain, "dns-domain", "cluster.local", "The DNS Domain of the cluster.")
+	flag.StringVar(&framework.TestContext.ClusterDNSDomain, "dns-domain", "", "The DNS Domain of the cluster.")
 }
 
 func init() {