diff --git a/doc/admin/deployment.md b/doc/admin/deployment.md
index 1bb443c1752..e90ce3ca3aa 100644
--- a/doc/admin/deployment.md
+++ b/doc/admin/deployment.md
@@ -176,6 +176,13 @@ host list.
 devices, taking into account any specified network device class preference
 (ethernet or infiniband).
 
+Note that there is currently a [bug](https://github.com/pmem/ndctl/issues/130)
+in `ndctl` that prevents the NUMA affinity of an nvdimm namespace from being
+correctly reported.
+This prevents generation of dual engine configs using `dmg config generate`
+command on CentOS7 operating systems, the issue has reportedly been fixed on
+CentOS8.
+
 #### Certificate Configuration
 
 The DAOS security framework relies on certificates to authenticate
@@ -1147,3 +1154,5 @@ each storage node.
 [^3]: [*https://www.open-mpi.org/faq/?category=running\#mpirun-hostfile*](https://www.open-mpi.org/faq/?category=running#mpirun-hostfile)
 
 [^4]: https://github.com/daos-stack/daos/tree/master/src/control/README.md
+
+[^5]: https://github.com/pmem/ndctl/issues/130
diff --git a/doc/release/release_notes_v1_0.md b/doc/release/release_notes_v1_0.md
index f143d3995cd..e4491532da3 100644
--- a/doc/release/release_notes_v1_0.md
+++ b/doc/release/release_notes_v1_0.md
@@ -274,7 +274,9 @@ that has been resolved in CentOS 8. Some DAOS nodes may not report the correct
 NUMA socket ID when running a "dmg storage scan." This appears to be a
 regression in the CentOS7.7 kernel rather than an ndctl issue. This is due to
 different versions of ndctl provisioning different JSON namespace details
-(storage scan command reads the "numa_node" field).
+(storage scan command reads the "numa_node" field). The regression also affects
+the operation of the "dmg config generate" command which isn't able to detect
+correct NUMA affinity for the PMem namespaces required for the config.
 
 ### PSM over OPA is not fully functional
 If you must evaluate DAOS on an OPA fabric, we recommend using IP over
diff --git a/src/control/cmd/dmg/auto.go b/src/control/cmd/dmg/auto.go
index fd3d19de68f..ab4033fd49a 100644
--- a/src/control/cmd/dmg/auto.go
+++ b/src/control/cmd/dmg/auto.go
@@ -42,10 +42,12 @@ type configGenCmd struct {
 func (cmd *configGenCmd) Execute(_ []string) error {
 	ctx := context.Background()
 
+	cmd.log.Debugf("configGenCmd input control config: %+v", cmd.config)
+
 	req := control.ConfigGenerateReq{
 		NrEngines: cmd.NrEngines,
 		MinNrSSDs: cmd.MinNrSSDs,
-		HostList:  cmd.hostlist,
+		HostList:  cmd.config.HostList,
 		Client:    cmd.ctlInvoker,
 		Log:       cmd.log,
 	}
@@ -68,7 +70,7 @@ func (cmd *configGenCmd) Execute(_ []string) error {
 
 	resp, err := control.ConfigGenerate(ctx, req)
 
-	if resp.Errors() != nil {
+	if resp != nil && resp.Errors() != nil {
 		// host level errors e.g. unresponsive daos_server process
 		var bld strings.Builder
 		if err := pretty.PrintResponseErrors(resp, &bld); err != nil {
diff --git a/src/control/cmd/dmg/main.go b/src/control/cmd/dmg/main.go
index b33df638780..acff9c21d20 100644
--- a/src/control/cmd/dmg/main.go
+++ b/src/control/cmd/dmg/main.go
@@ -223,8 +223,8 @@ func parseOpts(args []string, opts *cliOptions, invoker control.Invoker, log *lo
 			}
 			ctlCfg = control.DefaultConfig()
 		}
-		if opts.ConfigPath != "" {
-			log.Debugf("control config loaded from %s", opts.ConfigPath)
+		if ctlCfg.Path != "" {
+			log.Debugf("control config loaded from %s", ctlCfg.Path)
 		}
 
 		if opts.Insecure {
@@ -239,7 +239,9 @@ func parseOpts(args []string, opts *cliOptions, invoker control.Invoker, log *lo
 			ctlCmd.setInvoker(invoker)
 			if opts.HostList != "" {
 				if hlCmd, ok := cmd.(hostListSetter); ok {
-					hlCmd.setHostList(strings.Split(opts.HostList, ","))
+					hl := strings.Split(opts.HostList, ",")
+					hlCmd.setHostList(hl)
+					ctlCfg.HostList = hl
 				} else {
 					return errors.Errorf("this command does not accept a hostlist parameter (set it in %s or %s)",
 						control.UserConfigPath(), control.SystemConfigPath())
diff --git a/src/control/lib/control/auto.go b/src/control/lib/control/auto.go
index a57b3be2c4a..4a19aa04ead 100644
--- a/src/control/lib/control/auto.go
+++ b/src/control/lib/control/auto.go
@@ -67,7 +67,11 @@ type (
 //
 // Returns API response and error.
 func ConfigGenerate(ctx context.Context, req ConfigGenerateReq) (*ConfigGenerateResp, error) {
-	req.Log.Debugf("ConfigGenerate called with request %v", req)
+	req.Log.Debugf("ConfigGenerate called with request %+v", req)
+
+	if len(req.HostList) == 0 {
+		return nil, errors.New("no hosts specified")
+	}
 
 	nd, hostErrs, err := getNetworkDetails(ctx, req)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -89,12 +93,9 @@ func ConfigGenerate(ctx context.Context, req ConfigGenerateReq) (*ConfigGenerate
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	// TODO: change Validate() to take io.Writer
-	//	if err := cfg.Validate(&req.buf); err != nil {
-	//		return &ConfigGenerateResp{
-	//			Err: errors.Wrap(err, "validation failed on auto generated config"),
-	//		}, nil
-	//	}
+	if err := cfg.Validate(req.Log); err != nil {
+		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "validation failed on auto generated config")
+	}
 
 	return &ConfigGenerateResp{ConfigOut: cfg}, nil
 }
diff --git a/src/control/lib/control/config.go b/src/control/lib/control/config.go
index b0fd2832041..7e43bd4772c 100644
--- a/src/control/lib/control/config.go
+++ b/src/control/lib/control/config.go
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	ControlPort     int                       `yaml:"port"`
 	HostList        []string                  `yaml:"hostlist"`
 	TransportConfig *security.TransportConfig `yaml:"transport_config"`
+	Path            string                    `yaml:"-"`
 }
 
 // DefaultConfig returns a Config populated with default values. Only
@@ -82,5 +83,7 @@ func LoadConfig(cfgPath string) (*Config, error) {
 	if err := yaml.UnmarshalStrict(data, cfg); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
+	cfg.Path = cfgPath
+
 	return cfg, nil
 }
diff --git a/src/control/lib/control/config_test.go b/src/control/lib/control/config_test.go
index 276a389921f..e6610e46844 100644
--- a/src/control/lib/control/config_test.go
+++ b/src/control/lib/control/config_test.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 package control
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"path"
@@ -21,7 +22,12 @@ import (
 	"github.com/daos-stack/daos/src/control/security"
 )
 
-var testCfg = DefaultConfig()
+var (
+	testCfg       = DefaultConfig()
+	defCfgCmpOpts = []cmp.Option{
+		cmpopts.IgnoreUnexported(security.CertificateConfig{}),
+	}
+)
 
 func saveConfig(t *testing.T, cfg *Config, cfgPath string) {
 	t.Helper()
@@ -64,16 +70,14 @@ func TestControl_LoadSystemConfig(t *testing.T) {
 	restore := setDirs(t, "NONE", tmpDir)
 	defer restore(t)
 	saveConfig(t, testCfg, SystemConfigPath())
+	testCfg.Path = fmt.Sprintf("%s/%s", tmpDir, defaultConfigFile)
 
 	gotCfg, err := LoadConfig("")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
 
-	cmpOpts := []cmp.Option{
-		cmpopts.IgnoreUnexported(security.CertificateConfig{}),
-	}
-	if diff := cmp.Diff(testCfg, gotCfg, cmpOpts...); diff != "" {
+	if diff := cmp.Diff(testCfg, gotCfg, defCfgCmpOpts...); diff != "" {
 		t.Fatalf("loaded cfg doesn't match (-want, +got):\n%s\n", diff)
 	}
 }
@@ -85,16 +89,14 @@ func TestControl_LoadUserConfig(t *testing.T) {
 	restore := setDirs(t, tmpDir, "NONE")
 	defer restore(t)
 	saveConfig(t, testCfg, UserConfigPath())
+	testCfg.Path = fmt.Sprintf("%s/.%s", tmpDir, defaultConfigFile)
 
 	gotCfg, err := LoadConfig("")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
 
-	cmpOpts := []cmp.Option{
-		cmpopts.IgnoreUnexported(security.CertificateConfig{}),
-	}
-	if diff := cmp.Diff(testCfg, gotCfg, cmpOpts...); diff != "" {
+	if diff := cmp.Diff(testCfg, gotCfg, defCfgCmpOpts...); diff != "" {
 		t.Fatalf("loaded cfg doesn't match (-want, +got):\n%s\n", diff)
 	}
 }
@@ -107,16 +109,14 @@ func TestControl_LoadSpecifiedConfig(t *testing.T) {
 	defer restore(t)
 	testPath := path.Join(tmpDir, "test.yml")
 	saveConfig(t, testCfg, testPath)
+	testCfg.Path = testPath
 
 	gotCfg, err := LoadConfig(testPath)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
 
-	cmpOpts := []cmp.Option{
-		cmpopts.IgnoreUnexported(security.CertificateConfig{}),
-	}
-	if diff := cmp.Diff(testCfg, gotCfg, cmpOpts...); diff != "" {
+	if diff := cmp.Diff(testCfg, gotCfg, defCfgCmpOpts...); diff != "" {
 		t.Fatalf("loaded cfg doesn't match (-want, +got):\n%s\n", diff)
 	}
 }