diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a314df3..4629ac0 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -163,6 +163,12 @@ Right now, the available environment variables are:
 
    Defaults to **8.8.8.8:53,8.8.4.4:53**, Googles' public [DNS service]
    (https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using).
+ - **CLOUD_PROVIDER** defines the specific cloud provider being used.
+   This is useful, for instance, if you're relying on kubernetes to set
+   load-balancers for your services.
+
+   Possible values are `gce`, `gke`, `aws`, `azure`, `vagrant`, `vsphere`,
+   `libvirt-coreos` and `juju`. Defaults to **vagrant**.
 
 So, in order to start, say, a Kubernetes cluster with 3 minion nodes, 2GB of RAM and 2 vCPUs per node one just would do...
 
diff --git a/Vagrantfile b/Vagrantfile
index ff00657..f693c76 100644
--- a/Vagrantfile
+++ b/Vagrantfile
@@ -88,6 +88,15 @@ DNS_REPLICAS = ENV['DNS_REPLICAS'] || 2
 DNS_DOMAIN = ENV['DNS_DOMAIN'] || "k8s.local"
 DNS_UPSTREAM_SERVERS = ENV['DNS_UPSTREAM_SERVERS'] || "8.8.8.8:53,8.8.4.4:53"
 
+tempCloudProvider = (ENV['CLOUD_PROVIDER'].to_s.downcase)
+case tempCloudProvider
+when "gce", "gke", "aws", "azure", "vagrant", "sphere", "libvirt-coreos", "juju"
+  CLOUD_PROVIDER = tempCloudProvider
+else
+    CLOUD_PROVIDER = 'vagrant'
+end
+puts "Cloud provider: #{CLOUD_PROVIDER}"
+
 (1..(NUM_INSTANCES.to_i + 1)).each do |i|
   if i == 1
     ETCD_SEED_CLUSTER = ""
@@ -321,6 +330,7 @@ Vagrant.configure(VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION) do |config|
           sed -i "s,__NAME__,#{hostname},g" /tmp/vagrantfile-user-data
           sed -i "s|__ETCD_SEED_CLUSTER__|#{ETCD_SEED_CLUSTER}|g" /tmp/vagrantfile-user-data
           sed -i "s|__MASTER_IP__|#{MASTER_IP}|g" /tmp/vagrantfile-user-data
+          sed -i "s,__CLOUDPROVIDER__,#{CLOUD_PROVIDER},g" /tmp/vagrantfile-user-data
           mv /tmp/vagrantfile-user-data /var/lib/coreos-vagrant/
         EOF
       end
diff --git a/master.yaml b/master.yaml
index cae70a8..d3e8852 100644
--- a/master.yaml
+++ b/master.yaml
@@ -170,6 +170,7 @@ coreos:
         --etcd_servers=http://127.0.0.1:2379 \
         --public_address_override=__MASTER_IP__ \
         --runtime_config=api/v1beta3 \
+        --cloud_provider=__CLOUDPROVIDER__ \
         --logtostderr=true
         Restart=always
         RestartSec=10