diff --git a/cluster/cloud-provider.go b/cluster/cloud-provider.go
index fc8b75ec..70cbad79 100644
--- a/cluster/cloud-provider.go
+++ b/cluster/cloud-provider.go
@@ -2,9 +2,7 @@ package cluster
 
 import (
 	"context"
-	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
-	"strconv"
 
 	"github.com/docker/docker/api/types/container"
 	"github.com/rancher/rke/docker"
@@ -21,11 +19,7 @@ const (
 	CloudConfigEnv         = "RKE_CLOUD_CONFIG"
 )
 
-func deployCloudProviderConfig(ctx context.Context, uniqueHosts []*hosts.Host, cloudProvider v3.CloudProvider, alpineImage string, prsMap map[string]v3.PrivateRegistry) error {
-	cloudConfig, err := getCloudConfigFile(ctx, cloudProvider)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
+func deployCloudProviderConfig(ctx context.Context, uniqueHosts []*hosts.Host, alpineImage string, prsMap map[string]v3.PrivateRegistry, cloudConfig string) error {
 	for _, host := range uniqueHosts {
 		log.Infof(ctx, "[%s] Deploying cloud config file to node [%s]", CloudConfigServiceName, host.Address)
 		if err := doDeployConfigFile(ctx, host, cloudConfig, alpineImage, prsMap); err != nil {
@@ -35,36 +29,6 @@ func deployCloudProviderConfig(ctx context.Context, uniqueHosts []*hosts.Host, c
 	return nil
 }
 
-func getCloudConfigFile(ctx context.Context, cloudProvider v3.CloudProvider) (string, error) {
-	if len(cloudProvider.CloudConfig) == 0 {
-		return "", nil
-	}
-	tmpMap := make(map[string]interface{})
-	for key, value := range cloudProvider.CloudConfig {
-		tmpBool, err := strconv.ParseBool(value)
-		if err == nil {
-			tmpMap[key] = tmpBool
-			continue
-		}
-		tmpInt, err := strconv.ParseInt(value, 10, 64)
-		if err == nil {
-			tmpMap[key] = tmpInt
-			continue
-		}
-		tmpFloat, err := strconv.ParseFloat(value, 64)
-		if err == nil {
-			tmpMap[key] = tmpFloat
-			continue
-		}
-		tmpMap[key] = value
-	}
-	jsonString, err := json.MarshalIndent(tmpMap, "", "\n")
-	if err != nil {
-		return "", err
-	}
-	return string(jsonString), nil
-}
-
 func doDeployConfigFile(ctx context.Context, host *hosts.Host, cloudConfig, alpineImage string, prsMap map[string]v3.PrivateRegistry) error {
 	// remove existing container. Only way it's still here is if previous deployment failed
 	if err := docker.DoRemoveContainer(ctx, host.DClient, CloudConfigDeployer, host.Address); err != nil {
diff --git a/cluster/cluster.go b/cluster/cluster.go
index d1a5ddff..cd2cbde8 100644
--- a/cluster/cluster.go
+++ b/cluster/cluster.go
@@ -2,8 +2,10 @@ package cluster
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"net"
+	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/rancher/rke/authz"
@@ -42,6 +44,7 @@ type Cluster struct {
 	K8sWrapTransport                 k8s.WrapTransport
 	UseKubectlDeploy                 bool
 	UpdateWorkersOnly                bool
+	CloudConfigFile                  string
 }
 
 const (
@@ -54,6 +57,9 @@ const (
 	LocalNodeAddress           = "127.0.0.1"
 	LocalNodeHostname          = "localhost"
 	LocalNodeUser              = "root"
+	CloudProvider              = "CloudProvider"
+	AzureCloudProvider         = "azure"
+	AWSCloudProvider           = "aws"
 )
 
 func (c *Cluster) DeployControlPlane(ctx context.Context) error {
@@ -165,7 +171,11 @@ func ParseCluster(
 		}
 		c.PrivateRegistriesMap[pr.URL] = pr
 	}
-
+	// parse the cluster config file
+	c.CloudConfigFile, err = c.parseCloudConfig(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Failed to parse cloud config file: %v", err)
+	}
 	return c, nil
 }
 
@@ -317,7 +327,13 @@ func (c *Cluster) PrePullK8sImages(ctx context.Context) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func ConfigureCluster(ctx context.Context, rkeConfig v3.RancherKubernetesEngineConfig, crtBundle map[string]pki.CertificatePKI, clusterFilePath, configDir string, k8sWrapTransport k8s.WrapTransport, useKubectl bool) error {
+func ConfigureCluster(
+	ctx context.Context,
+	rkeConfig v3.RancherKubernetesEngineConfig,
+	crtBundle map[string]pki.CertificatePKI,
+	clusterFilePath, configDir string,
+	k8sWrapTransport k8s.WrapTransport,
+	useKubectl bool) error {
 	// dialer factories are not needed here since we are not uses docker only k8s jobs
 	kubeCluster, err := ParseCluster(ctx, &rkeConfig, clusterFilePath, configDir, nil, nil, k8sWrapTransport)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -343,3 +359,43 @@ func (c *Cluster) getEtcdProcessHostMap(readyEtcdHosts []*hosts.Host) map[*hosts
 	}
 	return etcdProcessHostMap
 }
+
+func (c *Cluster) parseCloudConfig(ctx context.Context) (string, error) {
+	// check for azure cloud provider
+	if c.AzureCloudProvider.TenantID != "" {
+		c.CloudProvider.Name = AzureCloudProvider
+		jsonString, err := json.MarshalIndent(c.AzureCloudProvider, "", "\n")
+		if err != nil {
+			return "", err
+		}
+		return string(jsonString), nil
+	}
+	if len(c.CloudProvider.CloudConfig) == 0 {
+		return "", nil
+	}
+	// handle generic cloud config
+	tmpMap := make(map[string]interface{})
+	for key, value := range c.CloudProvider.CloudConfig {
+		tmpBool, err := strconv.ParseBool(value)
+		if err == nil {
+			tmpMap[key] = tmpBool
+			continue
+		}
+		tmpInt, err := strconv.ParseInt(value, 10, 64)
+		if err == nil {
+			tmpMap[key] = tmpInt
+			continue
+		}
+		tmpFloat, err := strconv.ParseFloat(value, 64)
+		if err == nil {
+			tmpMap[key] = tmpFloat
+			continue
+		}
+		tmpMap[key] = value
+	}
+	jsonString, err := json.MarshalIndent(tmpMap, "", "\n")
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	return string(jsonString), nil
+}
diff --git a/cluster/defaults.go b/cluster/defaults.go
index ae7aab25..9cce36ce 100644
--- a/cluster/defaults.go
+++ b/cluster/defaults.go
@@ -175,6 +175,12 @@ func (c *Cluster) setClusterNetworkDefaults() {
 			CalicoCloudProvider: DefaultNetworkCloudProvider,
 		}
 	}
+	if c.CalicoNetworkProvider.CloudProvider != "" {
+		networkPluginConfigDefaultsMap[CalicoCloudProvider] = c.CalicoNetworkProvider.CloudProvider
+	}
+	if c.FlannelNetworkProvider.Iface != "" {
+		networkPluginConfigDefaultsMap[FlannelIface] = c.FlannelNetworkProvider.Iface
+	}
 	for k, v := range networkPluginConfigDefaultsMap {
 		setDefaultIfEmptyMapValue(c.Network.Options, k, v)
 	}
diff --git a/cluster/hosts.go b/cluster/hosts.go
index 032758cc..c9945087 100644
--- a/cluster/hosts.go
+++ b/cluster/hosts.go
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ func (c *Cluster) SetUpHosts(ctx context.Context) error {
 		}
 		log.Infof(ctx, "[certificates] Successfully deployed kubernetes certificates to Cluster nodes")
 		if c.CloudProvider.Name != "" {
-			if err := deployCloudProviderConfig(ctx, hosts, c.CloudProvider, c.SystemImages.Alpine, c.PrivateRegistriesMap); err != nil {
+			if err := deployCloudProviderConfig(ctx, hosts, c.SystemImages.Alpine, c.PrivateRegistriesMap, c.CloudConfigFile); err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
 			log.Infof(ctx, "[%s] Successfully deployed kubernetes cloud config to Cluster nodes", CloudConfigServiceName)
diff --git a/cluster/network.go b/cluster/network.go
index 969b728d..a1630cef 100644
--- a/cluster/network.go
+++ b/cluster/network.go
@@ -94,8 +94,6 @@ const (
 	Calicoctl = "Calicoctl"
 
 	FlannelInterface = "FlannelInterface"
-	CloudProvider    = "CloudProvider"
-	AWSCloudProvider = "aws"
 	RBACConfig       = "RBACConfig"
 )
 
diff --git a/cluster/plan.go b/cluster/plan.go
index 7ea71dfe..e92a006f 100644
--- a/cluster/plan.go
+++ b/cluster/plan.go
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ import (
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 
+	b64 "encoding/base64"
+
 	"github.com/rancher/rke/hosts"
 	"github.com/rancher/rke/pki"
 	"github.com/rancher/rke/services"
@@ -52,10 +54,15 @@ func BuildRKEConfigNodePlan(ctx context.Context, myCluster *Cluster, host *hosts
 
 		portChecks = append(portChecks, BuildPortChecksFromPortList(host, EtcdPortList, ProtocolTCP)...)
 	}
+	cloudConfig := v3.File{
+		Name:     CloudConfigPath,
+		Contents: b64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString([]byte(myCluster.CloudConfigFile)),
+	}
 	return v3.RKEConfigNodePlan{
 		Address:    host.Address,
 		Processes:  processes,
 		PortChecks: portChecks,
+		Files:      []v3.File{cloudConfig},
 	}
 }