diff --git a/pkg/kubecfg/kubecfg.go b/pkg/kubecfg/kubecfg.go
index a64eece05f7..9058fbba0dc 100644
--- a/pkg/kubecfg/kubecfg.go
+++ b/pkg/kubecfg/kubecfg.go
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/api"
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/client"
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/labels"
+	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/util"
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/util/wait"
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/version"
 	"github.com/golang/glog"
@@ -174,6 +175,9 @@ func portsFromString(spec string) []api.Port {
 
 // RunController creates a new replication controller named 'name' which creates 'replicas' pods running 'image'.
 func RunController(image, name string, replicas int, client client.Interface, portSpec string, servicePort int) error {
+	if servicePort > 0 && !util.IsDNSLabel(name) {
+		return fmt.Errorf("Service creation requested, but an invalid name for a service was provided (%s). Service names must be valid DNS labels.", name)
+	}
 	controller := &api.ReplicationController{
 		JSONBase: api.JSONBase{
 			ID: name,