diff --git a/cns/requestcontroller/kubecontroller/crdrequestcontroller_test.go b/cns/requestcontroller/kubecontroller/crdrequestcontroller_test.go
index 1d451320ca..753d19c7eb 100644
--- a/cns/requestcontroller/kubecontroller/crdrequestcontroller_test.go
+++ b/cns/requestcontroller/kubecontroller/crdrequestcontroller_test.go
@@ -592,7 +592,7 @@ func TestInitRequestController(t *testing.T) {
 						},
 					},
 					SubnetAddressSpace: subnetRange,
-					Version:            "1",
+					Version:            1,
 				},
 			},
 		},
diff --git a/cns/requestcontroller/kubecontroller/crdtranslator.go b/cns/requestcontroller/kubecontroller/crdtranslator.go
index cb0a79d62e..4a57a68030 100644
--- a/cns/requestcontroller/kubecontroller/crdtranslator.go
+++ b/cns/requestcontroller/kubecontroller/crdtranslator.go
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ func CRDStatusToNCRequest(crdStatus nnc.NodeNetworkConfigStatus) (cns.CreateNetw
 		ncRequest.SecondaryIPConfigs = make(map[string]cns.SecondaryIPConfig)
 		ncRequest.NetworkContainerid = nc.ID
 		ncRequest.NetworkContainerType = cns.Docker
-		ncRequest.Version = nc.Version
+		ncRequest.Version = strconv.FormatInt(nc.Version, 10)
 
 		if ip = net.ParseIP(nc.PrimaryIP); ip == nil {
 			return ncRequest, fmt.Errorf("Invalid PrimaryIP %s:", nc.PrimaryIP)
diff --git a/cns/requestcontroller/kubecontroller/crdtranslator_test.go b/cns/requestcontroller/kubecontroller/crdtranslator_test.go
index e34053950e..7fcb6fbffc 100644
--- a/cns/requestcontroller/kubecontroller/crdtranslator_test.go
+++ b/cns/requestcontroller/kubecontroller/crdtranslator_test.go
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package kubecontroller
 
 import (
-	"strconv"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/Azure/azure-container-networking/cns"
@@ -18,7 +17,7 @@ const (
 	subnetAddressSpace = "10.0.0.0/24"
 	subnetPrefixLen    = 24
 	testSecIp1         = "10.0.0.2"
-	version            = "1"
+	version            = 1
 )
 
 func TestStatusToNCRequestMalformedPrimaryIP(t *testing.T) {
@@ -237,8 +236,7 @@ func TestStatusToNCRequestSuccess(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("Expected %v as the secondary IP config but got %v", testSecIp1, secondaryIP.IPAddress)
 	}
 
-	ncVersionInInt, _ := strconv.Atoi(version)
-	if secondaryIP.NCVersion != ncVersionInInt {
-		t.Fatalf("Expected %d as the secondary IP config NC version but got %v", ncVersionInInt, secondaryIP.NCVersion)
+	if secondaryIP.NCVersion != version {
+		t.Fatalf("Expected %d as the secondary IP config NC version but got %v", version, secondaryIP.NCVersion)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/nodenetworkconfig/api/v1alpha/nodenetworkconfig.go b/nodenetworkconfig/api/v1alpha/nodenetworkconfig.go
index 57722fde59..f33e7ac3c4 100644
--- a/nodenetworkconfig/api/v1alpha/nodenetworkconfig.go
+++ b/nodenetworkconfig/api/v1alpha/nodenetworkconfig.go
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ type NetworkContainer struct {
 	IPAssignments      []IPAssignment `json:"ipAssignments,omitempty"`
 	DefaultGateway     string         `json:"defaultGateway,omitempty"`
 	SubnetAddressSpace string         `json:"subnetAddressSpace,omitempty"`
-	Version            string         `json:"version,omitempty"`
+	Version            int64          `json:"version,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // IPAssignment groups an IP address and Name. Name is a UUID set by the the IP address assigner.
diff --git a/nodenetworkconfig/manifests/acn.azure.com_nodenetworkconfigs.yaml b/nodenetworkconfig/manifests/acn.azure.com_nodenetworkconfigs.yaml
index a94868af2e..21747bfc64 100644
--- a/nodenetworkconfig/manifests/acn.azure.com_nodenetworkconfigs.yaml
+++ b/nodenetworkconfig/manifests/acn.azure.com_nodenetworkconfigs.yaml
@@ -76,7 +76,8 @@ spec:
                   subnetName:
                     type: string
                   version:
-                    type: string
+                    format: int64
+                    type: integer
                 type: object
               type: array
             scaler: