diff --git a/apis/cloudservers/src/main/java/org/jclouds/cloudservers/compute/functions/ServerToNodeMetadata.java b/apis/cloudservers/src/main/java/org/jclouds/cloudservers/compute/functions/ServerToNodeMetadata.java
index 014019c25a..fcf1b8c05f 100644
--- a/apis/cloudservers/src/main/java/org/jclouds/cloudservers/compute/functions/ServerToNodeMetadata.java
+++ b/apis/cloudservers/src/main/java/org/jclouds/cloudservers/compute/functions/ServerToNodeMetadata.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package org.jclouds.cloudservers.compute.functions;
 
 import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkNotNull;
 import static org.jclouds.compute.util.ComputeServiceUtils.addMetadataAndParseTagsFromCommaDelimitedValue;
+import static org.jclouds.compute.util.ComputeServiceUtils.groupFromMapOrName;
 
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.NoSuchElementException;
@@ -111,7 +112,7 @@ public class ServerToNodeMetadata implements Function<Server, NodeMetadata> {
       builder.location(new LocationBuilder().scope(LocationScope.HOST).id(from.getHostId()).description(
                from.getHostId()).parent(location.get()).build());
       addMetadataAndParseTagsFromCommaDelimitedValue(builder, from.getMetadata());
-      builder.group(nodeNamingConvention.groupInUniqueNameOrNull(from.getName()));
+      builder.group(groupFromMapOrName(from.getMetadata(), from.getName(), nodeNamingConvention));
       builder.imageId(from.getImageId() + "");
       builder.operatingSystem(parseOperatingSystem(from));
       builder.hardware(parseHardware(from));
diff --git a/apis/cloudservers/src/main/java/org/jclouds/cloudservers/compute/strategy/CloudServersComputeServiceAdapter.java b/apis/cloudservers/src/main/java/org/jclouds/cloudservers/compute/strategy/CloudServersComputeServiceAdapter.java
index 52ef460be5..2b70a71e8a 100644
--- a/apis/cloudservers/src/main/java/org/jclouds/cloudservers/compute/strategy/CloudServersComputeServiceAdapter.java
+++ b/apis/cloudservers/src/main/java/org/jclouds/cloudservers/compute/strategy/CloudServersComputeServiceAdapter.java
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ import org.jclouds.cloudservers.domain.Server;
 import org.jclouds.cloudservers.options.ListOptions;
 import org.jclouds.compute.ComputeServiceAdapter;
 import org.jclouds.compute.domain.Template;
+import org.jclouds.compute.reference.ComputeServiceConstants;
 import org.jclouds.domain.Location;
 import org.jclouds.domain.LoginCredentials;
 
@@ -59,6 +60,7 @@ public class CloudServersComputeServiceAdapter implements ComputeServiceAdapter<
    @Override
    public NodeAndInitialCredentials<Server> createNodeWithGroupEncodedIntoName(String group, String name,
             Template template) {
+      template.getOptions().userMetadata(ComputeServiceConstants.NODE_GROUP_KEY, group);
       Server server = client
                .createServer(name, Integer.parseInt(template.getImage().getProviderId()), Integer.parseInt(template
                         .getHardware().getProviderId()), withMetadata(metadataAndTagsAsCommaDelimitedValue(template.getOptions())));
diff --git a/apis/cloudsigma/src/main/java/org/jclouds/cloudsigma/compute/options/CloudSigmaTemplateOptions.java b/apis/cloudsigma/src/main/java/org/jclouds/cloudsigma/compute/options/CloudSigmaTemplateOptions.java
index b50f1fff94..137adea250 100644
--- a/apis/cloudsigma/src/main/java/org/jclouds/cloudsigma/compute/options/CloudSigmaTemplateOptions.java
+++ b/apis/cloudsigma/src/main/java/org/jclouds/cloudsigma/compute/options/CloudSigmaTemplateOptions.java
@@ -106,6 +106,14 @@ public class CloudSigmaTemplateOptions extends TemplateOptions implements Clonea
          return CloudSigmaTemplateOptions.class.cast(options.userMetadata(userMetadata));
       }
 
+      /**
+       * @see TemplateOptions#nodeNames(Iterable)
+       */
+      public static CloudSigmaTemplateOptions nodeNames(Iterable<String> nodeNames) {
+         CloudSigmaTemplateOptions options = new CloudSigmaTemplateOptions();
+         return CloudSigmaTemplateOptions.class.cast(options.nodeNames(nodeNames));
+      }
+
       public static CloudSigmaTemplateOptions overrideLoginUser(String user) {
          CloudSigmaTemplateOptions options = new CloudSigmaTemplateOptions();
          return options.overrideLoginUser(user);
@@ -262,6 +270,14 @@ public class CloudSigmaTemplateOptions extends TemplateOptions implements Clonea
       return CloudSigmaTemplateOptions.class.cast(super.userMetadata(key, value));
    }
 
+   /**
+    * {@inheritDoc}
+    */
+   @Override
+   public CloudSigmaTemplateOptions nodeNames(Iterable<String> nodeNames) {
+      return CloudSigmaTemplateOptions.class.cast(super.nodeNames(nodeNames));
+   }
+
    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object o) {
       if (this == o) return true;
diff --git a/apis/cloudstack/src/main/java/org/jclouds/cloudstack/compute/functions/VirtualMachineToNodeMetadata.java b/apis/cloudstack/src/main/java/org/jclouds/cloudstack/compute/functions/VirtualMachineToNodeMetadata.java
index c0c373e57b..d61aaa2fa6 100644
--- a/apis/cloudstack/src/main/java/org/jclouds/cloudstack/compute/functions/VirtualMachineToNodeMetadata.java
+++ b/apis/cloudstack/src/main/java/org/jclouds/cloudstack/compute/functions/VirtualMachineToNodeMetadata.java
@@ -104,7 +104,9 @@ public class VirtualMachineToNodeMetadata implements Function<VirtualMachine, No
       // on hosts not started with jclouds
       builder.hostname(from.getDisplayName());
       builder.location(FluentIterable.from(locations.get()).firstMatch(idEquals(from.getZoneId())).orNull());
-      if (from.getDisplayName() != null) {
+      if (from.getGroup() != null) {
+         builder.group(from.getGroup());
+      } else if (from.getDisplayName() != null) {
          builder.group(nodeNamingConvention.groupInUniqueNameOrNull(from.getDisplayName()));
       }
       Image image = FluentIterable.from(images.get()).firstMatch(new Predicate<Image>() {
diff --git a/apis/cloudstack/src/main/java/org/jclouds/cloudstack/compute/options/CloudStackTemplateOptions.java b/apis/cloudstack/src/main/java/org/jclouds/cloudstack/compute/options/CloudStackTemplateOptions.java
index 14e72d40fa..93fcdf2dee 100644
--- a/apis/cloudstack/src/main/java/org/jclouds/cloudstack/compute/options/CloudStackTemplateOptions.java
+++ b/apis/cloudstack/src/main/java/org/jclouds/cloudstack/compute/options/CloudStackTemplateOptions.java
@@ -401,6 +401,14 @@ public class CloudStackTemplateOptions extends TemplateOptions implements Clonea
          CloudStackTemplateOptions options = new CloudStackTemplateOptions();
          return CloudStackTemplateOptions.class.cast(options.userMetadata(key, value));
       }
+
+      /**
+       * @see TemplateOptions#nodeNames(Iterable)
+       */
+      public static CloudStackTemplateOptions nodeNames(Iterable<String> nodeNames) {
+         CloudStackTemplateOptions options = new CloudStackTemplateOptions();
+         return CloudStackTemplateOptions.class.cast(options.nodeNames(nodeNames));
+      }
    }
 
    // methods that only facilitate returning the correct object type
@@ -452,4 +460,12 @@ public class CloudStackTemplateOptions extends TemplateOptions implements Clonea
    public CloudStackTemplateOptions userMetadata(String key, String value) {
       return CloudStackTemplateOptions.class.cast(super.userMetadata(key, value));
    }
+
+   /**
+    * {@inheritDoc}
+    */
+   @Override
+   public CloudStackTemplateOptions nodeNames(Iterable<String> nodeNames) {
+      return CloudStackTemplateOptions.class.cast(super.nodeNames(nodeNames));
+   }
 }
diff --git a/apis/cloudstack/src/main/java/org/jclouds/cloudstack/compute/strategy/CloudStackComputeServiceAdapter.java b/apis/cloudstack/src/main/java/org/jclouds/cloudstack/compute/strategy/CloudStackComputeServiceAdapter.java
index ecfe215616..a04b9fe5f0 100644
--- a/apis/cloudstack/src/main/java/org/jclouds/cloudstack/compute/strategy/CloudStackComputeServiceAdapter.java
+++ b/apis/cloudstack/src/main/java/org/jclouds/cloudstack/compute/strategy/CloudStackComputeServiceAdapter.java
@@ -165,6 +165,8 @@ public class CloudStackComputeServiceAdapter implements
       OptionsConverter optionsConverter = optionsConverters.get(zone.getNetworkType());
       options = optionsConverter.apply(templateOptions, networks, zoneId, options);
 
+      options.group(group);
+
       if (templateOptions.getIpOnDefaultNetwork() != null) {
          options.ipOnDefaultNetwork(templateOptions.getIpOnDefaultNetwork());
       }
diff --git a/apis/cloudstack/src/test/java/org/jclouds/cloudstack/compute/CloudStackComputeServiceAdapterExpectTest.java b/apis/cloudstack/src/test/java/org/jclouds/cloudstack/compute/CloudStackComputeServiceAdapterExpectTest.java
index a79e29b6b4..be888cc787 100644
--- a/apis/cloudstack/src/test/java/org/jclouds/cloudstack/compute/CloudStackComputeServiceAdapterExpectTest.java
+++ b/apis/cloudstack/src/test/java/org/jclouds/cloudstack/compute/CloudStackComputeServiceAdapterExpectTest.java
@@ -94,19 +94,20 @@ public class CloudStackComputeServiceAdapterExpectTest extends BaseCloudStackCom
 
    public void testCreateNodeWithGroupEncodedIntoName() {
       HttpRequest deployVM = HttpRequest.builder().method("GET")
-            .endpoint("http://localhost:8080/client/api")
-            .addQueryParam("response", "json")
-            .addQueryParam("command", "deployVirtualMachine")
-            .addQueryParam("zoneid", "1")
-            .addQueryParam("serviceofferingid", "1")
-            .addQueryParam("templateid", "4")
-            .addQueryParam("displayname", "test-e92")
-            .addQueryParam("name", "test-e92")
-            .addQueryParam("networkids", "204")
-            .addQueryParam("apiKey", "APIKEY")
-            .addQueryParam("signature", "wJ%2BiflOS3am5qcjQOd8Y/Pw8/Dc%3D")
-            .addHeader("Accept", "application/json")
-            .build(); 
+              .endpoint("http://localhost:8080/client/api")
+              .addQueryParam("response", "json")
+              .addQueryParam("command", "deployVirtualMachine")
+              .addQueryParam("zoneid", "1")
+              .addQueryParam("serviceofferingid", "1")
+              .addQueryParam("templateid", "4")
+              .addQueryParam("displayname", "test-e92")
+              .addQueryParam("name", "test-e92")
+              .addQueryParam("networkids", "204")
+              .addQueryParam("group", "test")
+              .addQueryParam("apiKey", "APIKEY")
+              .addQueryParam("signature", "M2Wx0CgOeH9vYHhbcbblwziqpwI%3D")
+              .addHeader("Accept", "application/json")
+              .build();
   
       Map<HttpRequest, HttpResponse> requestResponseMap = ImmutableMap.<HttpRequest, HttpResponse> builder()
             .put(listTemplates, listTemplatesResponse)
@@ -136,20 +137,21 @@ public class CloudStackComputeServiceAdapterExpectTest extends BaseCloudStackCom
 
    public void testCreateNodeWithGroupEncodedIntoNameWithKeyPair() throws IOException {
       HttpRequest deployVM = HttpRequest.builder().method("GET")
-            .endpoint("http://localhost:8080/client/api")
-            .addQueryParam("response", "json")
-            .addQueryParam("command", "deployVirtualMachine")
-            .addQueryParam("zoneid", "1")
-            .addQueryParam("serviceofferingid", "1")
-            .addQueryParam("templateid", "4")
-            .addQueryParam("displayname", "test-e92")
-            .addQueryParam("name", "test-e92")
-            .addQueryParam("networkids", "204")
-            .addQueryParam("keypair", "mykeypair")
-            .addQueryParam("apiKey", "APIKEY")
-            .addQueryParam("signature", "hI/U4cWXdU6KTZKbJvzPCmOpGmU%3D")
-            .addHeader("Accept", "application/json")
-            .build(); 
+              .endpoint("http://localhost:8080/client/api")
+              .addQueryParam("response", "json")
+              .addQueryParam("command", "deployVirtualMachine")
+              .addQueryParam("zoneid", "1")
+              .addQueryParam("serviceofferingid", "1")
+              .addQueryParam("templateid", "4")
+              .addQueryParam("displayname", "test-e92")
+              .addQueryParam("name", "test-e92")
+              .addQueryParam("networkids", "204")
+              .addQueryParam("group", "test")
+              .addQueryParam("keypair", "mykeypair")
+              .addQueryParam("apiKey", "APIKEY")
+              .addQueryParam("signature", "D3qQlTNjxrBXeG82C7YPrwU1jMc%3D")
+              .addHeader("Accept", "application/json")
+              .build();
   
       Map<HttpRequest, HttpResponse> requestResponseMap = ImmutableMap.<HttpRequest, HttpResponse> builder()
             .put(listTemplates, listTemplatesResponse)
@@ -182,20 +184,21 @@ public class CloudStackComputeServiceAdapterExpectTest extends BaseCloudStackCom
 
    public void testCreateNodeWithGroupEncodedIntoNameWithGenerateKeyPair() throws IOException {
       HttpRequest deployVM = HttpRequest.builder().method("GET")
-            .endpoint("http://localhost:8080/client/api")
-            .addQueryParam("response", "json")
-            .addQueryParam("command", "deployVirtualMachine")
-            .addQueryParam("zoneid", "1")
-            .addQueryParam("serviceofferingid", "1")
-            .addQueryParam("templateid", "4")
-            .addQueryParam("displayname", "test-e92")
-            .addQueryParam("name", "test-e92")
-            .addQueryParam("networkids", "204")
-            .addQueryParam("keypair", "jclouds-test")
-            .addQueryParam("apiKey", "APIKEY")
-            .addQueryParam("signature", "4M9C8IjohDDKFMAXQSX3mjXpYvM%3D")
-            .addHeader("Accept", "application/json")
-            .build(); 
+              .endpoint("http://localhost:8080/client/api")
+              .addQueryParam("response", "json")
+              .addQueryParam("command", "deployVirtualMachine")
+              .addQueryParam("zoneid", "1")
+              .addQueryParam("serviceofferingid", "1")
+              .addQueryParam("templateid", "4")
+              .addQueryParam("displayname", "test-e92")
+              .addQueryParam("name", "test-e92")
+              .addQueryParam("networkids", "204")
+              .addQueryParam("group", "test")
+              .addQueryParam("keypair", "jclouds-test")
+              .addQueryParam("apiKey", "APIKEY")
+              .addQueryParam("signature", "kfU/J/REa4DdYj0b/pSjuB3h3Qc%3D")
+              .addHeader("Accept", "application/json")
+              .build();
   
       Map<HttpRequest, HttpResponse> requestResponseMap = ImmutableMap.<HttpRequest, HttpResponse> builder()
             .put(listTemplates, listTemplatesResponse)
@@ -227,20 +230,21 @@ public class CloudStackComputeServiceAdapterExpectTest extends BaseCloudStackCom
    
    public void testCreateNodeWithGroupEncodedIntoNameWithKeyPairDefaultSecurityGroup() throws IOException {
       HttpRequest deployVM = HttpRequest.builder().method("GET")
-            .endpoint("http://localhost:8080/client/api")
-            .addQueryParam("response", "json")
-            .addQueryParam("command", "deployVirtualMachine")
-            .addQueryParam("zoneid", "2")
-            .addQueryParam("serviceofferingid", "1")
-            .addQueryParam("templateid", "241")
-            .addQueryParam("displayname", "test-e92")
-            .addQueryParam("name", "test-e92")
-            .addQueryParam("networkids", "204")
-            .addQueryParam("keypair", "mykeypair")
-            .addQueryParam("apiKey", "APIKEY")
-            .addQueryParam("signature", "Ar2B/ZVxMO2078cP0XliWWR4cQ0%3D")
-            .addHeader("Accept", "application/json")
-            .build(); 
+              .endpoint("http://localhost:8080/client/api")
+              .addQueryParam("response", "json")
+              .addQueryParam("command", "deployVirtualMachine")
+              .addQueryParam("zoneid", "2")
+              .addQueryParam("serviceofferingid", "1")
+              .addQueryParam("templateid", "241")
+              .addQueryParam("displayname", "test-e92")
+              .addQueryParam("name", "test-e92")
+              .addQueryParam("networkids", "204")
+              .addQueryParam("group", "test")
+              .addQueryParam("keypair", "mykeypair")
+              .addQueryParam("apiKey", "APIKEY")
+              .addQueryParam("signature", "5qkUSGh0y%2BP/t04/j3%2BEN9PAeFI%3D")
+              .addHeader("Accept", "application/json")
+              .build();
   
       Map<HttpRequest, HttpResponse> requestResponseMap = ImmutableMap.<HttpRequest, HttpResponse> builder()
             .put(listTemplates, listTemplatesResponse)
@@ -285,11 +289,12 @@ public class CloudStackComputeServiceAdapterExpectTest extends BaseCloudStackCom
               .addQueryParam("displayname", "test-e92")
               .addQueryParam("name", "test-e92")
               .addQueryParam("networkids", "204")
+              .addQueryParam("group", "test")
               .addQueryParam("keypair", "mykeypair")
               .addQueryParam("diskofferingid", "5678")
               .addQueryParam("size", "10")
               .addQueryParam("apiKey", "APIKEY")
-              .addQueryParam("signature", "FWWCEpsrbbjxiqoQve302rrfOjI%3D")
+              .addQueryParam("signature", "lDzBXtVKCktueskyI/haID9ohJU%3D")
               .addHeader("Accept", "application/json")
               .build();
 
@@ -330,21 +335,22 @@ public class CloudStackComputeServiceAdapterExpectTest extends BaseCloudStackCom
 
    public void testCreateNodeWithGroupEncodedIntoNameWithKeyPairGenerateSecurityGroup() throws IOException {
       HttpRequest deployVM = HttpRequest.builder().method("GET")
-            .endpoint("http://localhost:8080/client/api")
-            .addQueryParam("response", "json")
-            .addQueryParam("command", "deployVirtualMachine")
-            .addQueryParam("zoneid", "2")
-            .addQueryParam("serviceofferingid", "1")
-            .addQueryParam("templateid", "241")
-            .addQueryParam("displayname", "test-e92")
-            .addQueryParam("name", "test-e92")
-            .addQueryParam("networkids", "204")
-            .addQueryParam("keypair", "mykeypair")
-            .addQueryParam("securitygroupids", "30")
-            .addQueryParam("apiKey", "APIKEY")
-            .addQueryParam("signature", "yNAiMYw3RstNj979udttALOHxfU%3D")
-            .addHeader("Accept", "application/json")
-            .build(); 
+              .endpoint("http://localhost:8080/client/api")
+              .addQueryParam("response", "json")
+              .addQueryParam("command", "deployVirtualMachine")
+              .addQueryParam("zoneid", "2")
+              .addQueryParam("serviceofferingid", "1")
+              .addQueryParam("templateid", "241")
+              .addQueryParam("displayname", "test-e92")
+              .addQueryParam("name", "test-e92")
+              .addQueryParam("networkids", "204")
+              .addQueryParam("group", "test")
+              .addQueryParam("keypair", "mykeypair")
+              .addQueryParam("securitygroupids", "30")
+              .addQueryParam("apiKey", "APIKEY")
+              .addQueryParam("signature", "rz8V/tMk/UbxUhNqp7Bq3CrSg/k%3D")
+              .addHeader("Accept", "application/json")
+              .build();
   
       Map<HttpRequest, HttpResponse> requestResponseMap = ImmutableMap.<HttpRequest, HttpResponse> builder()
             .put(listTemplates, listTemplatesResponse)
@@ -386,23 +392,24 @@ public class CloudStackComputeServiceAdapterExpectTest extends BaseCloudStackCom
 
    public void testCreateNodeWithGroupEncodedIntoNameWithKeyPairAssignedToAccountAndDomain() throws IOException {
       HttpRequest deployVM = HttpRequest.builder().method("GET")
-            .endpoint("http://localhost:8080/client/api")
-            .addQueryParam("response", "json")
-            .addQueryParam("command", "deployVirtualMachine")
-            .addQueryParam("zoneid", "1")
-            .addQueryParam("serviceofferingid", "1")
-            .addQueryParam("templateid", "4")
-            .addQueryParam("displayname", "test-e92")
-            .addQueryParam("name", "test-e92")
-            .addQueryParam("account", "account") //
-            .addQueryParam("domainid", "domainId") //
-            .addQueryParam("networkids", "204")
-            .addQueryParam("keypair", "mykeypair")
-            .addQueryParam("apiKey", "APIKEY")
-            .addQueryParam("signature", "ly5Pip8ICOoVTmNLdDBTc3gbKlA%3D")
-            .addHeader("Accept", "application/json")
-            .build();
-  
+              .endpoint("http://localhost:8080/client/api")
+              .addQueryParam("response", "json")
+              .addQueryParam("command", "deployVirtualMachine")
+              .addQueryParam("zoneid", "1")
+              .addQueryParam("serviceofferingid", "1")
+              .addQueryParam("templateid", "4")
+              .addQueryParam("displayname", "test-e92")
+              .addQueryParam("name", "test-e92")
+              .addQueryParam("account", "account") //
+              .addQueryParam("domainid", "domainId") //
+              .addQueryParam("networkids", "204")
+              .addQueryParam("group", "test")
+              .addQueryParam("keypair", "mykeypair")
+              .addQueryParam("apiKey", "APIKEY")
+              .addQueryParam("signature", "hGV6gZZakwvNKhTJurkm48%2Bzgso%3D")
+              .addHeader("Accept", "application/json")
+              .build();
+
       Map<HttpRequest, HttpResponse> requestResponseMap = ImmutableMap.<HttpRequest, HttpResponse> builder()
             .put(listTemplates, listTemplatesResponse)
             .put(listOsTypes, listOsTypesResponse)
diff --git a/apis/ec2/src/main/java/org/jclouds/ec2/compute/EC2ComputeService.java b/apis/ec2/src/main/java/org/jclouds/ec2/compute/EC2ComputeService.java
index 248102e5f9..078270a4e8 100644
--- a/apis/ec2/src/main/java/org/jclouds/ec2/compute/EC2ComputeService.java
+++ b/apis/ec2/src/main/java/org/jclouds/ec2/compute/EC2ComputeService.java
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ import static org.jclouds.ec2.reference.EC2Constants.PROPERTY_EC2_GENERATE_INSTA
 import static org.jclouds.ec2.util.Tags.resourceToTagsAsMap;
 import static org.jclouds.util.Predicates2.retry;
 
+import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Map.Entry;
 import java.util.Set;
@@ -96,6 +97,7 @@ import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMultimap;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMultimap.Builder;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableSet;
+import com.google.common.collect.Iterables;
 import com.google.common.collect.Maps;
 import com.google.common.collect.Multimap;
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.ListeningExecutorService;
@@ -153,8 +155,9 @@ public class EC2ComputeService extends BaseComputeService {
 
       if (client.getTagApiForRegion(region).isPresent()) {
          Map<String, String> common = metadataAndTagsAsValuesOfEmptyString(template.getOptions());
-         if (common.size() > 0 || generateInstanceNames) {
-            return addTagsToInstancesInRegion(common, nodes, region, group);
+         if (generateInstanceNames || !common.isEmpty() || !template.getOptions().getNodeNames().isEmpty()) {
+            return addTagsAndNamesToInstancesInRegion(common, template.getOptions().getNodeNames(),
+                    nodes, region, group);
          }
       }
       return nodes;
@@ -167,17 +170,23 @@ public class EC2ComputeService extends BaseComputeService {
       }
    };
    
-   private Set<NodeMetadata> addTagsToInstancesInRegion(Map<String, String> common, Set<? extends NodeMetadata> input,
-         String region, String group) {
+   private Set<NodeMetadata> addTagsAndNamesToInstancesInRegion(Map<String, String> common, Set<String> nodeNames,
+                                                                Set<? extends NodeMetadata> input, String region,
+                                                                String group) {
       Map<String, ? extends NodeMetadata> instancesById = Maps.uniqueIndex(input, instanceId);
       ImmutableSet.Builder<NodeMetadata> builder = ImmutableSet.<NodeMetadata> builder();
+
       if (generateInstanceNames && !common.containsKey("Name")) {
          for (Map.Entry<String, ? extends NodeMetadata> entry : instancesById.entrySet()) {
             String id = entry.getKey();
-            NodeMetadata instance = entry.getValue();
-
+            String name;
+            if (!nodeNames.isEmpty()) {
+               name = Iterables.get(nodeNames, 0);
+            } else {
+               name = id.replaceAll(".*-", group + "-");
+            }
             Map<String, String> tags = ImmutableMap.<String, String> builder().putAll(common)
-                  .put("Name", id.replaceAll(".*-", group + "-")).build();
+                  .put("Name", name).build();
             logger.debug(">> applying tags %s to instance %s in region %s", tags, id, region);
             client.getTagApiForRegion(region).get().applyToResources(tags, ImmutableSet.of(id));
             builder.add(addTagsForInstance(tags, instancesById.get(id)));
diff --git a/apis/ec2/src/main/java/org/jclouds/ec2/compute/options/EC2TemplateOptions.java b/apis/ec2/src/main/java/org/jclouds/ec2/compute/options/EC2TemplateOptions.java
index 0ecf4aaf09..8eea26589a 100644
--- a/apis/ec2/src/main/java/org/jclouds/ec2/compute/options/EC2TemplateOptions.java
+++ b/apis/ec2/src/main/java/org/jclouds/ec2/compute/options/EC2TemplateOptions.java
@@ -324,6 +324,14 @@ public class EC2TemplateOptions extends TemplateOptions implements Cloneable {
          EC2TemplateOptions options = new EC2TemplateOptions();
          return EC2TemplateOptions.class.cast(options.userMetadata(userMetadata));
       }
+
+      /**
+       * @see TemplateOptions#nodeNames(Iterable)
+       */
+      public static EC2TemplateOptions nodeNames(Iterable<String> nodeNames) {
+         EC2TemplateOptions options = new EC2TemplateOptions();
+         return EC2TemplateOptions.class.cast(options.nodeNames(nodeNames));
+      }
       
       public static EC2TemplateOptions overrideLoginUser(String user) {
          EC2TemplateOptions options = new EC2TemplateOptions();
@@ -521,6 +529,14 @@ public class EC2TemplateOptions extends TemplateOptions implements Cloneable {
       return EC2TemplateOptions.class.cast(super.userMetadata(key, value));
    }
 
+   /**
+    * {@inheritDoc}
+    */
+   @Override
+   public EC2TemplateOptions nodeNames(Iterable<String> nodeNames) {
+      return EC2TemplateOptions.class.cast(super.nodeNames(nodeNames));
+   }
+
    /**
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
diff --git a/apis/ec2/src/test/java/org/jclouds/ec2/compute/EC2ComputeServiceExpectTest.java b/apis/ec2/src/test/java/org/jclouds/ec2/compute/EC2ComputeServiceExpectTest.java
index 61f3c50f13..24e03cf6d3 100644
--- a/apis/ec2/src/test/java/org/jclouds/ec2/compute/EC2ComputeServiceExpectTest.java
+++ b/apis/ec2/src/test/java/org/jclouds/ec2/compute/EC2ComputeServiceExpectTest.java
@@ -15,10 +15,13 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 package org.jclouds.ec2.compute;
+
 import static org.jclouds.ec2.compute.options.EC2TemplateOptions.Builder.blockUntilRunning;
 import static org.testng.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.testng.Assert.assertNotNull;
 
+import javax.ws.rs.core.MediaType;
+
 import org.jclouds.compute.ComputeService;
 import org.jclouds.compute.domain.NodeMetadata;
 import org.jclouds.ec2.compute.internal.BaseEC2ComputeServiceExpectTest;
@@ -28,6 +31,7 @@ import org.testng.annotations.Test;
 
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap.Builder;
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableSet;
 import com.google.common.collect.Iterables;
 
 /**
@@ -57,12 +61,63 @@ public class EC2ComputeServiceExpectTest extends BaseEC2ComputeServiceExpectTest
       ComputeService apiThatCreatesNode = requestsSendResponses(requestResponseMap.build());
 
       NodeMetadata node = Iterables.getOnlyElement(apiThatCreatesNode.createNodesInGroup("test", 1,
-            blockUntilRunning(false).overrideLoginUser("ec2-user")));
+              blockUntilRunning(false).overrideLoginUser("ec2-user")));
       assertEquals(node.getCredentials().getUser(), "ec2-user");
       System.out.println(node.getImageId());
       assertNotNull(node.getCredentials().getPrivateKey());
    }
 
+   public void testCreateNodeWithSpecifiedName() throws Exception {
+      HttpRequest createNamedTagsRequest =
+              formSigner.filter(HttpRequest.builder()
+                      .method("POST")
+                      .endpoint("https://ec2.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/")
+                      .addHeader("Host", "ec2.us-east-1.amazonaws.com")
+                      .payload(
+                              payloadFromStringWithContentType(
+                                      "Action=CreateTags" +
+                                              "&ResourceId.1=i-2baa5550" +
+                                              "&Signature=Trp5e5%2BMqeBeBZbLYa9s9gxahQ9nkx6ETfsGl82IV8Y%3D" +
+                                              "&SignatureMethod=HmacSHA256" +
+                                              "&SignatureVersion=2" +
+                                              "&Tag.1.Key=Name" +
+                                              "&Tag.1.Value=test-node" +
+                                              "&Timestamp=2012-04-16T15%3A54%3A08.897Z" +
+                                              "&Version=2010-08-31" +
+                                              "&AWSAccessKeyId=identity",
+                                      "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"))
+                      .build());
+
+      HttpResponse describeNamedInstanceResponse =
+              HttpResponse.builder().statusCode(200)
+                      .payload(payloadFromResourceWithContentType(
+                              "/describe_instances_running-named.xml", MediaType.APPLICATION_XML)).build();
+
+
+      Builder<HttpRequest, HttpResponse> requestResponseMap = ImmutableMap.<HttpRequest, HttpResponse> builder();
+      requestResponseMap.put(describeRegionsRequest, describeRegionsResponse);
+      requestResponseMap.put(describeAvailabilityZonesRequest, describeAvailabilityZonesResponse);
+      requestResponseMap.put(describeImagesRequest, describeImagesResponse);
+      requestResponseMap.put(createKeyPairRequest, createKeyPairResponse);
+      requestResponseMap.put(createSecurityGroupRequest, createSecurityGroupResponse);
+      requestResponseMap.put(describeSecurityGroupRequest, describeSecurityGroupResponse);
+      requestResponseMap.put(authorizeSecurityGroupIngressRequest22, authorizeSecurityGroupIngressResponse);
+      requestResponseMap.put(authorizeSecurityGroupIngressRequestGroup, authorizeSecurityGroupIngressResponse);
+      requestResponseMap.put(runInstancesRequest, runInstancesResponse);
+      requestResponseMap.put(describeInstanceRequest, describeNamedInstanceResponse);
+      requestResponseMap.put(describeInstanceMultiIdsRequest, describeInstanceMultiIdsResponse);
+      requestResponseMap.put(describeImageRequest, describeImagesResponse);
+      requestResponseMap.put(createNamedTagsRequest, createTagsResponse);
+
+      ComputeService apiThatCreatesNode = requestsSendResponses(requestResponseMap.build());
+
+      NodeMetadata node = Iterables.getOnlyElement(apiThatCreatesNode.createNodesInGroup("test", 1,
+              blockUntilRunning(false).overrideLoginUser("ec2-user").nodeNames(ImmutableSet.of("test-node"))));
+      assertEquals(node.getCredentials().getUser(), "ec2-user");
+      assertNotNull(node.getCredentials().getPrivateKey());
+      assertEquals(node.getName(), "test-node");
+   }
+
    //FIXME - issue-1051
    @Test(enabled = false)
    public void testCreateNodeWithGeneratedKeyPairAndOverriddenLoginUserWithTemplateBuilder() throws Exception {
diff --git a/apis/ec2/src/test/resources/describe_instances_running-named.xml b/apis/ec2/src/test/resources/describe_instances_running-named.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4f46adae0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apis/ec2/src/test/resources/describe_instances_running-named.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<DescribeInstancesResponse xmlns="http://ec2.amazonaws.com/doc/2011-05-15/">
+    <requestId>f6d3252e-35e5-4ef5-b2c5-62da95dd829b</requestId>
+    <reservationSet>
+        <item>
+            <reservationId>r-205ad944</reservationId>
+            <ownerId>993194456877</ownerId>
+            <groupSet>
+                <item>
+                    <groupId>sg-3c6ef654</groupId>
+                    <groupName>jclouds#mygroup2</groupName>
+                </item>
+            </groupSet>
+            <instancesSet>
+                <item>
+                    <instanceId>i-2baa5550</instanceId>
+                    <imageId>ami-aecd60c7</imageId>
+                    <instanceState>
+                        <code>16</code>
+                        <name>running</name>
+                    </instanceState>
+                    <privateDnsName>ip-10-28-89-195.ec2.internal</privateDnsName>
+                    <dnsName>ec2-50-16-1-166.compute-1.amazonaws.com</dnsName>
+                    <reason/>
+                    <keyName>jclouds#mygroup2#81</keyName>
+                    <amiLaunchIndex>0</amiLaunchIndex>
+                    <productCodes/>
+                    <instanceType>t1.micro</instanceType>
+                    <launchTime>2012-08-02T04:28:30.000Z</launchTime>
+                    <placement>
+                        <availabilityZone>us-east-1e</availabilityZone>
+                        <groupName/>
+                        <tenancy>default</tenancy>
+                    </placement>
+                    <kernelId>aki-88aa75e1</kernelId>
+                    <monitoring>
+                        <state>disabled</state>
+                    </monitoring>
+                    <privateIpAddress>10.28.89.195</privateIpAddress>
+                    <ipAddress>50.16.1.166</ipAddress>
+                    <groupSet>
+                        <item>
+                            <groupId>sg-3c6ef654</groupId>
+                            <groupName>jclouds#mygroup2</groupName>
+                        </item>
+                    </groupSet>
+                    <architecture>x86_64</architecture>
+                    <rootDeviceType>ebs</rootDeviceType>
+                    <rootDeviceName>/dev/sda1</rootDeviceName>
+                    <blockDeviceMapping>
+                        <item>
+                            <deviceName>/dev/sda1</deviceName>
+                            <ebs>
+                                <volumeId>vol-f2d7c993</volumeId>
+                                <status>attached</status>
+                                <attachTime>2012-08-02T04:28:56.000Z</attachTime>
+                                <deleteOnTermination>true</deleteOnTermination>
+                            </ebs>
+                        </item>
+                    </blockDeviceMapping>
+                    <virtualizationType>paravirtual</virtualizationType>
+                    <clientToken/>
+                    <tagSet>
+                        <item>
+                            <key>Name</key>
+                            <value>test-node</value>
+                        </item>
+                    </tagSet>
+                    <hypervisor>xen</hypervisor>
+                </item>
+            </instancesSet>
+        </item>
+    </reservationSet>
+</DescribeInstancesResponse>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/apis/elasticstack/src/main/java/org/jclouds/elasticstack/compute/ElasticStackComputeServiceAdapter.java b/apis/elasticstack/src/main/java/org/jclouds/elasticstack/compute/ElasticStackComputeServiceAdapter.java
index 94a46b9b8f..96ebaec1b4 100644
--- a/apis/elasticstack/src/main/java/org/jclouds/elasticstack/compute/ElasticStackComputeServiceAdapter.java
+++ b/apis/elasticstack/src/main/java/org/jclouds/elasticstack/compute/ElasticStackComputeServiceAdapter.java
@@ -120,6 +120,8 @@ public class ElasticStackComputeServiceAdapter implements
          throw new IllegalStateException("could not image drive in time!");
       }
 
+      template.getOptions().userMetadata(ComputeServiceConstants.NODE_GROUP_KEY, tag);
+
       Server toCreate = small(name, drive.getUuid(), defaultVncPassword).mem(template.getHardware().getRam())
                .cpu((int) (template.getHardware().getProcessors().get(0).getSpeed()))
                .tags(template.getOptions().getTags()).userMetadata(template.getOptions().getUserMetadata()).build();
diff --git a/apis/elasticstack/src/main/java/org/jclouds/elasticstack/compute/functions/ServerInfoToNodeMetadata.java b/apis/elasticstack/src/main/java/org/jclouds/elasticstack/compute/functions/ServerInfoToNodeMetadata.java
index c11ac5ba31..3518ed6059 100644
--- a/apis/elasticstack/src/main/java/org/jclouds/elasticstack/compute/functions/ServerInfoToNodeMetadata.java
+++ b/apis/elasticstack/src/main/java/org/jclouds/elasticstack/compute/functions/ServerInfoToNodeMetadata.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package org.jclouds.elasticstack.compute.functions;
 
 import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkNotNull;
 import static org.jclouds.compute.predicates.ImagePredicates.idEquals;
+import static org.jclouds.compute.util.ComputeServiceUtils.groupFromMapOrName;
 
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Set;
@@ -92,7 +93,7 @@ public class ServerInfoToNodeMetadata implements Function<ServerInfo, NodeMetada
       builder.ids(from.getUuid());
       builder.name(from.getName());
       builder.location(locationSupplier.get());
-      builder.group(nodeNamingConvention.groupInUniqueNameOrNull(from.getName()));
+      builder.group(groupFromMapOrName(from.getUserMetadata(), from.getName(), nodeNamingConvention));
       builder.tags(from.getTags());
       builder.userMetadata(from.getUserMetadata());
       String imageId = getImageIdFromServer.apply(from);
diff --git a/apis/openstack-nova/src/main/java/org/jclouds/openstack/nova/v2_0/compute/functions/ServerInZoneToNodeMetadata.java b/apis/openstack-nova/src/main/java/org/jclouds/openstack/nova/v2_0/compute/functions/ServerInZoneToNodeMetadata.java
index 03d4350c85..d1d5245044 100644
--- a/apis/openstack-nova/src/main/java/org/jclouds/openstack/nova/v2_0/compute/functions/ServerInZoneToNodeMetadata.java
+++ b/apis/openstack-nova/src/main/java/org/jclouds/openstack/nova/v2_0/compute/functions/ServerInZoneToNodeMetadata.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import static com.google.common.collect.Iterables.filter;
 import static com.google.common.collect.Iterables.find;
 import static com.google.common.collect.Iterables.transform;
 import static org.jclouds.compute.util.ComputeServiceUtils.addMetadataAndParseTagsFromCommaDelimitedValue;
+import static org.jclouds.compute.util.ComputeServiceUtils.groupFromMapOrName;
 
 import java.net.Inet4Address;
 import java.util.Map;
@@ -100,8 +101,8 @@ public class ServerInZoneToNodeMetadata implements Function<ServerInZone, NodeMe
       builder.hostname(from.getName());
       builder.location(from.getHostId() != null ? new LocationBuilder().scope(LocationScope.HOST).id(from.getHostId())
             .description(from.getHostId()).parent(zone).build() : zone);
+      builder.group(groupFromMapOrName(from.getMetadata(), from.getName(), nodeNamingConvention));
       addMetadataAndParseTagsFromCommaDelimitedValue(builder, from.getMetadata());
-      builder.group(nodeNamingConvention.groupInUniqueNameOrNull(from.getName()));
       builder.imageId(ZoneAndId.fromZoneAndId(serverInZone.getZone(), from.getImage().getId()).slashEncode());
       builder.operatingSystem(findOperatingSystemForServerOrNull(serverInZone));
       builder.hardware(findHardwareForServerOrNull(serverInZone));
diff --git a/apis/openstack-nova/src/main/java/org/jclouds/openstack/nova/v2_0/compute/options/NovaTemplateOptions.java b/apis/openstack-nova/src/main/java/org/jclouds/openstack/nova/v2_0/compute/options/NovaTemplateOptions.java
index afa062abc2..0cf8f079a8 100644
--- a/apis/openstack-nova/src/main/java/org/jclouds/openstack/nova/v2_0/compute/options/NovaTemplateOptions.java
+++ b/apis/openstack-nova/src/main/java/org/jclouds/openstack/nova/v2_0/compute/options/NovaTemplateOptions.java
@@ -299,6 +299,14 @@ public class NovaTemplateOptions extends TemplateOptions implements Cloneable {
          return NovaTemplateOptions.class.cast(options.userMetadata(userMetadata));
       }
 
+      /**
+       * @see TemplateOptions#nodeNames(Iterable)
+       */
+      public static NovaTemplateOptions nodeNames(Iterable<String> nodeNames) {
+         NovaTemplateOptions options = new NovaTemplateOptions();
+         return NovaTemplateOptions.class.cast(options.nodeNames(nodeNames));
+      }
+
       /**
        * @see TemplateOptions#overrideLoginUser
        */
@@ -494,6 +502,15 @@ public class NovaTemplateOptions extends TemplateOptions implements Cloneable {
       return NovaTemplateOptions.class.cast(super.userMetadata(key, value));
    }
 
+   /**
+    * {@inheritDoc}
+    */
+   @Override
+   public NovaTemplateOptions nodeNames(Iterable<String> nodeNames) {
+      return NovaTemplateOptions.class.cast(super.nodeNames(nodeNames));
+   }
+
+
    /**
     * User data as bytes (not base64-encoded)
     */
diff --git a/apis/openstack-nova/src/main/java/org/jclouds/openstack/nova/v2_0/compute/strategy/ApplyNovaTemplateOptionsCreateNodesWithGroupEncodedIntoNameThenAddToSet.java b/apis/openstack-nova/src/main/java/org/jclouds/openstack/nova/v2_0/compute/strategy/ApplyNovaTemplateOptionsCreateNodesWithGroupEncodedIntoNameThenAddToSet.java
index 46ee0ba196..e3ea4ccb7a 100644
--- a/apis/openstack-nova/src/main/java/org/jclouds/openstack/nova/v2_0/compute/strategy/ApplyNovaTemplateOptionsCreateNodesWithGroupEncodedIntoNameThenAddToSet.java
+++ b/apis/openstack-nova/src/main/java/org/jclouds/openstack/nova/v2_0/compute/strategy/ApplyNovaTemplateOptionsCreateNodesWithGroupEncodedIntoNameThenAddToSet.java
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import org.jclouds.compute.config.CustomizationResponse;
 import org.jclouds.compute.domain.NodeMetadata;
 import org.jclouds.compute.domain.Template;
 import org.jclouds.compute.functions.GroupNamingConvention;
+import org.jclouds.compute.reference.ComputeServiceConstants;
 import org.jclouds.compute.strategy.CreateNodeWithGroupEncodedIntoName;
 import org.jclouds.compute.strategy.CustomizeNodeAndAddToGoodMapOrPutExceptionIntoBadMap;
 import org.jclouds.compute.strategy.ListNodesStrategy;
@@ -142,6 +143,7 @@ public class ApplyNovaTemplateOptionsCreateNodesWithGroupEncodedIntoNameThenAddT
             templateOptions.securityGroupNames(securityGroupName);
          }
       }
+      templateOptions.userMetadata(ComputeServiceConstants.NODE_GROUP_KEY, group);
 
       return super.execute(group, count, mutableTemplate, goodNodes, badNodes, customizationResponses);
    }
diff --git a/apis/openstack-nova/src/test/java/org/jclouds/openstack/nova/v2_0/compute/NovaComputeServiceExpectTest.java b/apis/openstack-nova/src/test/java/org/jclouds/openstack/nova/v2_0/compute/NovaComputeServiceExpectTest.java
index 6962bc3e99..188896390e 100644
--- a/apis/openstack-nova/src/test/java/org/jclouds/openstack/nova/v2_0/compute/NovaComputeServiceExpectTest.java
+++ b/apis/openstack-nova/src/test/java/org/jclouds/openstack/nova/v2_0/compute/NovaComputeServiceExpectTest.java
@@ -239,7 +239,8 @@ public class NovaComputeServiceExpectTest extends BaseNovaComputeServiceExpectTe
             .addHeader("X-Auth-Token", authToken)
             .payload(
                   payloadFromStringWithContentType(
-                        "{\"server\":{\"name\":\"test-1\",\"imageRef\":\"14\",\"flavorRef\":\"1\",\"key_name\":\"jclouds-test-0\",\"security_groups\":[{\"name\":\"jclouds-test\"}]}}",
+                        "{\"server\":{\"name\":\"test-1\",\"imageRef\":\"14\",\"flavorRef\":\"1\"," +
+                        "\"metadata\":{\"jclouds-group\":\"test\"},\"key_name\":\"jclouds-test-0\",\"security_groups\":[{\"name\":\"jclouds-test\"}]}}",
                         "application/json")).build();
 
       HttpResponse createdServer = HttpResponse.builder().statusCode(202).message("HTTP/1.1 202 Accepted")
@@ -293,7 +294,8 @@ public class NovaComputeServiceExpectTest extends BaseNovaComputeServiceExpectTe
             .addHeader("X-Auth-Token", authToken)
             .payload(
                   payloadFromStringWithContentType(
-                        "{\"server\":{\"name\":\"test-0\",\"imageRef\":\"14\",\"flavorRef\":\"1\",\"key_name\":\"fooPair\",\"security_groups\":[{\"name\":\"jclouds-test\"}]}}",
+                        "{\"server\":{\"name\":\"test-0\",\"imageRef\":\"14\",\"flavorRef\":\"1\"," +
+                                "\"metadata\":{\"jclouds-group\":\"test\"},\"key_name\":\"fooPair\",\"security_groups\":[{\"name\":\"jclouds-test\"}]}}",
                         "application/json")).build();
 
       HttpResponse createdServer = HttpResponse.builder().statusCode(202).message("HTTP/1.1 202 Accepted")
@@ -343,7 +345,8 @@ public class NovaComputeServiceExpectTest extends BaseNovaComputeServiceExpectTe
             .addHeader("X-Auth-Token", authToken)
             .payload(
                   payloadFromStringWithContentType(
-                        "{\"server\":{\"name\":\"test-0\",\"imageRef\":\"14\",\"flavorRef\":\"1\",\"key_name\":\"fooPair\",\"security_groups\":[{\"name\":\"mygroup\"}]}}",
+                        "{\"server\":{\"name\":\"test-0\",\"imageRef\":\"14\",\"flavorRef\":\"1\"," +
+                        "\"metadata\":{\"jclouds-group\":\"test\"},\"key_name\":\"fooPair\",\"security_groups\":[{\"name\":\"mygroup\"}]}}",
                         "application/json")).build();
 
       HttpResponse createdServer = HttpResponse.builder().statusCode(202).message("HTTP/1.1 202 Accepted")
diff --git a/apis/vcloud/src/main/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/compute/functions/VAppToNodeMetadata.java b/apis/vcloud/src/main/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/compute/functions/VAppToNodeMetadata.java
index 8d798a8164..bebbbcef88 100644
--- a/apis/vcloud/src/main/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/compute/functions/VAppToNodeMetadata.java
+++ b/apis/vcloud/src/main/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/compute/functions/VAppToNodeMetadata.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import static com.google.common.base.Predicates.not;
 import static com.google.common.base.Strings.isNullOrEmpty;
 import static com.google.common.collect.Iterables.filter;
 import static org.jclouds.compute.util.ComputeServiceUtils.addMetadataAndParseTagsFromCommaDelimitedValue;
+import static org.jclouds.compute.util.ComputeServiceUtils.groupFromMapOrName;
 import static org.jclouds.vcloud.compute.util.VCloudComputeUtils.getCredentialsFrom;
 import static org.jclouds.vcloud.compute.util.VCloudComputeUtils.getIpsFromVApp;
 import static org.jclouds.vcloud.compute.util.VCloudComputeUtils.toComputeOs;
@@ -44,6 +45,7 @@ import org.jclouds.vcloud.domain.VApp;
 
 import com.google.common.base.Function;
 import com.google.common.base.Splitter;
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
 
 /** @author Adrian Cole */
 @Singleton
@@ -73,19 +75,26 @@ public class VAppToNodeMetadata implements Function<VApp, NodeMetadata> {
       builder.ids(from.getHref().toASCIIString());
       builder.uri(from.getHref());
       builder.name(from.getName());
+      String groupName = "";
+      Map<String, String> metadataMap;
+
       if (!isNullOrEmpty(from.getDescription())
          && from.getDescription().indexOf('=') != -1
          && from.getDescription().indexOf('\n') != -1) {
          try {
-            addMetadataAndParseTagsFromCommaDelimitedValue(builder,
-               Splitter.on('\n').withKeyValueSeparator("=").split(from.getDescription()));
+            metadataMap = Splitter.on('\n').withKeyValueSeparator("=").split(from.getDescription());
+
+            addMetadataAndParseTagsFromCommaDelimitedValue(builder, metadataMap);
          } catch (IllegalArgumentException iae) {
             // no op
+            metadataMap = ImmutableMap.of();
          }
+      } else {
+         metadataMap = ImmutableMap.of();
       }
       builder.hostname(from.getName());
       builder.location(findLocationForResourceInVDC.apply(from.getVDC()));
-      builder.group(nodeNamingConvention.groupInUniqueNameOrNull(from.getName()));
+      builder.group(groupFromMapOrName(metadataMap, from.getName(), nodeNamingConvention));
       builder.operatingSystem(toComputeOs(from, null));
       builder.hardware(hardwareForVApp.apply(from));
       builder.status(vAppStatusToNodeStatus.get(from.getStatus()));
diff --git a/apis/vcloud/src/main/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/compute/options/VCloudTemplateOptions.java b/apis/vcloud/src/main/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/compute/options/VCloudTemplateOptions.java
index 4a551a4dd2..0866df76fd 100644
--- a/apis/vcloud/src/main/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/compute/options/VCloudTemplateOptions.java
+++ b/apis/vcloud/src/main/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/compute/options/VCloudTemplateOptions.java
@@ -223,6 +223,14 @@ public class VCloudTemplateOptions extends TemplateOptions implements Cloneable
          return VCloudTemplateOptions.class.cast(options.userMetadata(key, value));
       }
 
+      /**
+       * @see TemplateOptions#nodeNames(Iterable)
+       */
+      public static VCloudTemplateOptions nodeNames(Iterable<String> nodeNames) {
+         VCloudTemplateOptions options = new VCloudTemplateOptions();
+         return VCloudTemplateOptions.class.cast(options.nodeNames(nodeNames));
+      }
+
    }
 
    /**
@@ -316,4 +324,12 @@ public class VCloudTemplateOptions extends TemplateOptions implements Cloneable
       return VCloudTemplateOptions.class.cast(super.userMetadata(key, value));
    }
 
+   /**
+    * {@inheritDoc}
+    */
+   @Override
+   public VCloudTemplateOptions nodeNames(Iterable<String> nodeNames) {
+      return VCloudTemplateOptions.class.cast(super.nodeNames(nodeNames));
+   }
+
 }
diff --git a/apis/vcloud/src/main/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/compute/strategy/InstantiateVAppTemplateWithGroupEncodedIntoNameThenCustomizeDeployAndPowerOn.java b/apis/vcloud/src/main/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/compute/strategy/InstantiateVAppTemplateWithGroupEncodedIntoNameThenCustomizeDeployAndPowerOn.java
index 77229acc88..caecde652a 100644
--- a/apis/vcloud/src/main/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/compute/strategy/InstantiateVAppTemplateWithGroupEncodedIntoNameThenCustomizeDeployAndPowerOn.java
+++ b/apis/vcloud/src/main/java/org/jclouds/vcloud/compute/strategy/InstantiateVAppTemplateWithGroupEncodedIntoNameThenCustomizeDeployAndPowerOn.java
@@ -124,6 +124,7 @@ public class InstantiateVAppTemplateWithGroupEncodedIntoNameThenCustomizeDeployA
       // per above check, we know there is only a single VM
       Vm vm = get(vAppResponse.getChildren(), 0);
 
+      template.getOptions().userMetadata(ComputeServiceConstants.NODE_GROUP_KEY, group);
       VCloudTemplateOptions vOptions = VCloudTemplateOptions.class.cast(template.getOptions());
 
       // note we cannot do tasks in parallel or VCD will throw "is busy" errors
diff --git a/compute/src/main/java/org/jclouds/compute/options/TemplateOptions.java b/compute/src/main/java/org/jclouds/compute/options/TemplateOptions.java
index d17a6cd04f..2634a92d4e 100644
--- a/compute/src/main/java/org/jclouds/compute/options/TemplateOptions.java
+++ b/compute/src/main/java/org/jclouds/compute/options/TemplateOptions.java
@@ -82,6 +82,8 @@ public class TemplateOptions extends RunScriptOptions implements Cloneable {
          to.userMetadata(this.getUserMetadata());
       if (this.getTags().size() > 0)
          to.tags(getTags());
+      if (!this.getNodeNames().isEmpty())
+         to.nodeNames(getNodeNames());
       if (!this.shouldBlockUntilRunning())
          to.blockUntilRunning(false);
       if (!this.shouldBlockOnComplete())
@@ -296,6 +298,16 @@ public class TemplateOptions extends RunScriptOptions implements Cloneable {
          throw new IllegalArgumentException("tags are immutable");
       }
 
+      @Override
+       public Set<String> getNodeNames() {
+         return delegate.getNodeNames();
+      }
+
+      @Override
+      public TemplateOptions nodeNames(Iterable<String> nodeNames) {
+         throw new IllegalArgumentException("nodeNames are immutable");
+      }
+
       @Override
       public Set<String> getGroups() {
          return delegate.getGroups();
@@ -303,12 +315,12 @@ public class TemplateOptions extends RunScriptOptions implements Cloneable {
 
       @Override
       public TemplateOptions securityGroups(Iterable<String> securityGroups) {
-         throw new IllegalArgumentException("tags are immutable");
+         throw new IllegalArgumentException("security groups are immutable");
       }
 
       @Override
       public TemplateOptions securityGroups(String... securityGroups) {
-         throw new IllegalArgumentException("tags are immutable");
+         throw new IllegalArgumentException("security groups are immutable");
       }
 
       @Override
@@ -348,7 +360,8 @@ public class TemplateOptions extends RunScriptOptions implements Cloneable {
 
    protected Map<String, String> userMetadata = Maps.newLinkedHashMap();
 
-   @Override
+   protected Set<String> nodeNames = ImmutableSet.of();
+
    public boolean equals(Object o) {
       if (this == o)
          return true;
@@ -356,15 +369,16 @@ public class TemplateOptions extends RunScriptOptions implements Cloneable {
          return false;
       TemplateOptions that = TemplateOptions.class.cast(o);
       return super.equals(that) && equal(this.inboundPorts, that.inboundPorts) && equal(this.script, that.script)
-            && equal(this.publicKey, that.publicKey) && equal(this.privateKey, that.privateKey)
-            && equal(this.blockUntilRunning, that.blockUntilRunning) && equal(this.tags, that.tags)
-            && equal(this.securityGroups, that.securityGroups) && equal(this.userMetadata, that.userMetadata);
+              && equal(this.publicKey, that.publicKey) && equal(this.privateKey, that.privateKey)
+              && equal(this.blockUntilRunning, that.blockUntilRunning) && equal(this.tags, that.tags)
+              && equal(this.securityGroups, that.securityGroups) && equal(this.userMetadata, that.userMetadata)
+              && equal(this.nodeNames, that.nodeNames);
    }
 
    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
       return Objects.hashCode(super.hashCode(), inboundPorts, script, publicKey, privateKey, blockUntilRunning, tags,
-                              securityGroups, userMetadata);
+                              securityGroups, userMetadata, nodeNames);
    }
 
    @Override
@@ -382,6 +396,8 @@ public class TemplateOptions extends RunScriptOptions implements Cloneable {
          toString.add("blockUntilRunning", blockUntilRunning);
       if (tags.size() != 0)
          toString.add("tags", tags);
+      if (!nodeNames.isEmpty())
+         toString.add("nodeNames", nodeNames);
       if (securityGroups.size() != 0)
          toString.add("securityGroups", securityGroups);
       if (userMetadata.size() != 0)
@@ -401,6 +417,10 @@ public class TemplateOptions extends RunScriptOptions implements Cloneable {
       return tags;
    }
 
+   public Set<String> getNodeNames() {
+      return nodeNames;
+   }
+
    public Set<String> getGroups() {
       return securityGroups;
    }
@@ -475,6 +495,19 @@ public class TemplateOptions extends RunScriptOptions implements Cloneable {
       return this;
    }
 
+   /**
+    * specifies names to be used for the created nodes.
+    *
+    * Note that this does not guarantee uniqueness - if there are already existing nodes with a name
+    * specified here, there will still be a new node created with the same name. Also, if more
+    * nodes are to be created than there are names, subsequent names will use the default naming strategy
+    * for that cloud.
+    */
+   public TemplateOptions nodeNames(Iterable<String> nodeNames) {
+      this.nodeNames = ImmutableSet.copyOf(checkNotNull(nodeNames, "nodeNames"));
+      return this;
+   }
+
    /**
     * assigns the created nodes to these security groups
     */
@@ -561,6 +594,14 @@ public class TemplateOptions extends RunScriptOptions implements Cloneable {
          return options.tags(tags);
       }
 
+      /**
+       * @see TemplateOptions#nodeNames
+       */
+      public static TemplateOptions nodeNames(Iterable<String> nodeNames) {
+         TemplateOptions options = new TemplateOptions();
+         return options.nodeNames(nodeNames);
+      }
+
       /**
        * @see TemplateOptions#securityGroups
        */
diff --git a/compute/src/main/java/org/jclouds/compute/reference/ComputeServiceConstants.java b/compute/src/main/java/org/jclouds/compute/reference/ComputeServiceConstants.java
index 469c22f1fe..4cf664e362 100644
--- a/compute/src/main/java/org/jclouds/compute/reference/ComputeServiceConstants.java
+++ b/compute/src/main/java/org/jclouds/compute/reference/ComputeServiceConstants.java
@@ -48,10 +48,10 @@ public interface ComputeServiceConstants {
 
    public static final String COMPUTE_LOGGER = "jclouds.compute";
    public static final String LOCAL_PARTITION_GB_PATTERN = "disk_drive/%s/gb";
+   public static final String NODE_GROUP_KEY = "jclouds-group";
 
    @Singleton
    public static class NamingConvention {
-
       @Inject(optional = true)
       public final Supplier<String> randomSuffix = new Supplier<String>() {
          final SecureRandom random = new SecureRandom();
diff --git a/compute/src/main/java/org/jclouds/compute/strategy/impl/CreateNodesWithGroupEncodedIntoNameThenAddToSet.java b/compute/src/main/java/org/jclouds/compute/strategy/impl/CreateNodesWithGroupEncodedIntoNameThenAddToSet.java
index 5dc20ab382..cf22a1223c 100644
--- a/compute/src/main/java/org/jclouds/compute/strategy/impl/CreateNodesWithGroupEncodedIntoNameThenAddToSet.java
+++ b/compute/src/main/java/org/jclouds/compute/strategy/impl/CreateNodesWithGroupEncodedIntoNameThenAddToSet.java
@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ import org.jclouds.compute.strategy.ListNodesStrategy;
 import org.jclouds.logging.Logger;
 
 import com.google.common.base.Predicate;
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableSet;
+import com.google.common.collect.Iterables;
 import com.google.common.collect.Multimap;
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.Futures;
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.ListenableFuture;
@@ -169,9 +171,13 @@ public class CreateNodesWithGroupEncodedIntoNameThenAddToSet implements CreateNo
    }
 
    /**
-    * Find the next node names that can be used. These will be derived from the group and the
-    * template. We will pre-allocate a specified quantity, and attempt to verify that there is no
-    * name conflict with the current service.
+    * Find the next node names that can be used. If the nodeNames template option is not specified
+    * or is empty, these will be derived from the group and the template. We will pre-allocate a
+    * specified quantity, and attempt to verify that there is no name conflict with the current
+    * service. If the nodeNames option is specified, names from that will be used instead, without
+    * any check for name conflicts.
+    * If there are insufficient names in nodeNames, subsequent names will be generated in the
+    * default format.
     * 
     * @param group
     * @param count
@@ -180,6 +186,12 @@ public class CreateNodesWithGroupEncodedIntoNameThenAddToSet implements CreateNo
     */
    protected Set<String> getNextNames(final String group, final Template template, int count) {
       Set<String> names = newLinkedHashSet();
+      Set<String> nodeNames = template.getOptions().getNodeNames();
+      if (nodeNames.size() >= count) {
+         return ImmutableSet.copyOf(Iterables.limit(nodeNames, count));
+      } else {
+         names.addAll(nodeNames);
+      }
       Iterable<? extends ComputeMetadata> currentNodes = listNodesStrategy.listNodes();
       int maxTries = 100;
       int currentTries = 0;
diff --git a/compute/src/main/java/org/jclouds/compute/util/ComputeServiceUtils.java b/compute/src/main/java/org/jclouds/compute/util/ComputeServiceUtils.java
index 1890bf59ca..3c38516535 100644
--- a/compute/src/main/java/org/jclouds/compute/util/ComputeServiceUtils.java
+++ b/compute/src/main/java/org/jclouds/compute/util/ComputeServiceUtils.java
@@ -40,12 +40,13 @@ import org.jclouds.compute.domain.NodeMetadataBuilder;
 import org.jclouds.compute.domain.OsFamily;
 import org.jclouds.compute.domain.Processor;
 import org.jclouds.compute.domain.Volume;
+import org.jclouds.compute.functions.GroupNamingConvention;
 import org.jclouds.compute.options.TemplateOptions;
+import org.jclouds.compute.reference.ComputeServiceConstants;
 import org.jclouds.http.HttpRequest;
 import org.jclouds.scriptbuilder.domain.Statement;
 import org.jclouds.scriptbuilder.domain.Statements;
 
-import com.google.common.base.Function;
 import com.google.common.base.Joiner;
 import com.google.common.base.Predicate;
 import com.google.common.base.Splitter;
@@ -282,4 +283,12 @@ public class ComputeServiceUtils {
 
       return portRanges;
    }
+
+   public static String groupFromMapOrName(Map<String, String> metadataMap, String nodeName, GroupNamingConvention namingConvention) {
+      if (metadataMap.get(ComputeServiceConstants.NODE_GROUP_KEY) != null) {
+         return metadataMap.get(ComputeServiceConstants.NODE_GROUP_KEY);
+      } else {
+         return namingConvention.groupInUniqueNameOrNull(nodeName);
+      }
+   }
 }
diff --git a/compute/src/test/java/org/jclouds/compute/StubComputeServiceIntegrationTest.java b/compute/src/test/java/org/jclouds/compute/StubComputeServiceIntegrationTest.java
index 257c587c47..0a65809a7e 100644
--- a/compute/src/test/java/org/jclouds/compute/StubComputeServiceIntegrationTest.java
+++ b/compute/src/test/java/org/jclouds/compute/StubComputeServiceIntegrationTest.java
@@ -484,6 +484,12 @@ public class StubComputeServiceIntegrationTest extends BaseComputeServiceLiveTes
       super.testCreateAnotherNodeWithANewContextToEnsureSharedMemIsntRequired();
    }
 
+   @Test(enabled = true, dependsOnMethods = "testCreateAnotherNodeWithANewContextToEnsureSharedMemIsntRequired")
+   public void testCreateTwoNodesWithOneSpecifiedName() throws Exception {
+      super.testCreateTwoNodesWithOneSpecifiedName();
+   }
+
+
    @Test(enabled = true, dependsOnMethods = "testCreateAnotherNodeWithANewContextToEnsureSharedMemIsntRequired")
    public void testCredentialsCache() throws Exception {
       super.testCredentialsCache();
diff --git a/compute/src/test/java/org/jclouds/compute/internal/BaseComputeServiceLiveTest.java b/compute/src/test/java/org/jclouds/compute/internal/BaseComputeServiceLiveTest.java
index ca5102e209..d3c7a92cbd 100644
--- a/compute/src/test/java/org/jclouds/compute/internal/BaseComputeServiceLiveTest.java
+++ b/compute/src/test/java/org/jclouds/compute/internal/BaseComputeServiceLiveTest.java
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import static java.util.logging.Logger.getAnonymousLogger;
 import static org.jclouds.compute.options.RunScriptOptions.Builder.nameTask;
 import static org.jclouds.compute.options.RunScriptOptions.Builder.wrapInInitScript;
 import static org.jclouds.compute.options.TemplateOptions.Builder.inboundPorts;
+import static org.jclouds.compute.options.TemplateOptions.Builder.nodeNames;
 import static org.jclouds.compute.options.TemplateOptions.Builder.overrideLoginCredentials;
 import static org.jclouds.compute.options.TemplateOptions.Builder.runAsRoot;
 import static org.jclouds.compute.predicates.NodePredicates.TERMINATED;
@@ -44,6 +45,7 @@ import static org.jclouds.compute.predicates.NodePredicates.runningInGroup;
 import static org.jclouds.compute.util.ComputeServiceUtils.getCores;
 import static org.jclouds.util.Predicates2.retry;
 import static org.testng.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.testng.Assert.assertFalse;
 import static org.testng.Assert.assertNotNull;
 import static org.testng.Assert.assertTrue;
 import static org.testng.Assert.fail;
@@ -362,6 +364,30 @@ public abstract class BaseComputeServiceLiveTest extends BaseComputeServiceConte
       checkOsMatchesTemplate(node2);
    }
 
+   @Test(enabled = true, dependsOnMethods = "testCreateTwoNodesWithRunScript")
+   public void testCreateTwoNodesWithOneSpecifiedName() throws Exception {
+      Set<? extends NodeMetadata> nodes;
+      try {
+         nodes = newTreeSet(client.createNodesInGroup(group, 2, nodeNames(ImmutableSet.of("first-node"))));
+      } catch (RunNodesException e) {
+         nodes = newTreeSet(concat(e.getSuccessfulNodes(), e.getNodeErrors().keySet()));
+         throw e;
+      }
+
+      assertEquals(nodes.size(), 2, "expected two nodes but was " + nodes);
+      NodeMetadata node1 = Iterables.getFirst(nodes, null);
+      NodeMetadata node2 = Iterables.getLast(nodes, null);
+      // credentials aren't always the same
+      // assertEquals(node1.getCredentials(), node2.getCredentials());
+
+      assertTrue(node1.getName().equals("first-node") || node2.getName().equals("first-node"),
+              "one node should be named 'first-node'");
+      assertFalse(node1.getName().equals("first-node") && node2.getName().equals("first-node"),
+              "one node should be named something other than 'first-node");
+
+      this.nodes.addAll(nodes);
+   }
+
    private Template refreshTemplate() {
       return template = addRunScriptToTemplate(buildTemplate(client.templateBuilder()));
    }
@@ -391,7 +417,7 @@ public abstract class BaseComputeServiceLiveTest extends BaseComputeServiceConte
       }
    }
 
-   @Test(enabled = true, dependsOnMethods = "testCreateTwoNodesWithRunScript")
+   @Test(enabled = true, dependsOnMethods = "testCreateTwoNodesWithOneSpecifiedName")
    public void testCreateAnotherNodeWithANewContextToEnsureSharedMemIsntRequired() throws Exception {
       initializeContext();
 
diff --git a/compute/src/test/java/org/jclouds/compute/options/TemplateOptionsTest.java b/compute/src/test/java/org/jclouds/compute/options/TemplateOptionsTest.java
index 1e454a56e0..993572cc82 100644
--- a/compute/src/test/java/org/jclouds/compute/options/TemplateOptionsTest.java
+++ b/compute/src/test/java/org/jclouds/compute/options/TemplateOptionsTest.java
@@ -21,12 +21,17 @@ import static org.jclouds.compute.options.TemplateOptions.Builder.blockOnPort;
 import static org.jclouds.compute.options.TemplateOptions.Builder.blockUntilRunning;
 import static org.jclouds.compute.options.TemplateOptions.Builder.inboundPorts;
 import static org.jclouds.compute.options.TemplateOptions.Builder.installPrivateKey;
+import static org.jclouds.compute.options.TemplateOptions.Builder.nodeNames;
 import static org.testng.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.testng.Assert.assertTrue;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Set;
 
 import org.testng.annotations.Test;
 
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableSet;
+
 /**
  * Tests possible uses of TemplateOptions and TemplateOptions.Builder.*
  * 
@@ -184,4 +189,11 @@ public class TemplateOptionsTest {
       TemplateOptions options = blockUntilRunning(false);
       assertEquals(options.shouldBlockUntilRunning(), false);
    }
+
+   @Test
+   public void testNodeNames() {
+      Set<String> nodeNames = ImmutableSet.of("first-node", "second-node");
+      TemplateOptions options = nodeNames(nodeNames);
+      assertTrue(options.getNodeNames().containsAll(nodeNames));
+   }
 }
diff --git a/providers/aws-ec2/src/main/java/org/jclouds/aws/ec2/compute/AWSEC2TemplateOptions.java b/providers/aws-ec2/src/main/java/org/jclouds/aws/ec2/compute/AWSEC2TemplateOptions.java
index 18d6a6612c..bc458bcff8 100644
--- a/providers/aws-ec2/src/main/java/org/jclouds/aws/ec2/compute/AWSEC2TemplateOptions.java
+++ b/providers/aws-ec2/src/main/java/org/jclouds/aws/ec2/compute/AWSEC2TemplateOptions.java
@@ -480,6 +480,14 @@ public class AWSEC2TemplateOptions extends EC2TemplateOptions implements Cloneab
          AWSEC2TemplateOptions options = new AWSEC2TemplateOptions();
          return options.blockUntilRunning(blockUntilRunning);
       }
+
+      /**
+       * @see TemplateOptions#nodeNames(Iterable)
+       */
+      public static AWSEC2TemplateOptions nodeNames(Iterable<String> nodeNames) {
+         AWSEC2TemplateOptions options = new AWSEC2TemplateOptions();
+         return AWSEC2TemplateOptions.class.cast(options.nodeNames(nodeNames));
+      }
    }
 
    // methods that only facilitate returning the correct object type
@@ -508,6 +516,14 @@ public class AWSEC2TemplateOptions extends EC2TemplateOptions implements Cloneab
       return AWSEC2TemplateOptions.class.cast(super.userMetadata(key, value));
    }
 
+   /**
+    * {@inheritDoc}
+    */
+   @Override
+   public AWSEC2TemplateOptions nodeNames(Iterable<String> nodeNames) {
+      return AWSEC2TemplateOptions.class.cast(super.nodeNames(nodeNames));
+   }
+
    /**
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
diff --git a/providers/glesys/src/main/java/org/jclouds/glesys/compute/GleSYSComputeServiceAdapter.java b/providers/glesys/src/main/java/org/jclouds/glesys/compute/GleSYSComputeServiceAdapter.java
index 09a8fab101..a3f7ae5fb0 100644
--- a/providers/glesys/src/main/java/org/jclouds/glesys/compute/GleSYSComputeServiceAdapter.java
+++ b/providers/glesys/src/main/java/org/jclouds/glesys/compute/GleSYSComputeServiceAdapter.java
@@ -111,6 +111,7 @@ public class GleSYSComputeServiceAdapter implements ComputeServiceAdapter<Server
 
       CreateServerOptions createServerOptions = new CreateServerOptions();
       createServerOptions.ip(templateOptions.getIp());
+      template.getOptions().userMetadata(ComputeServiceConstants.NODE_GROUP_KEY, group);
 
       Map<String, String> md = metadataAndTagsAsCommaDelimitedValue(template.getOptions());
       if (md.size() > 0) {
diff --git a/providers/glesys/src/main/java/org/jclouds/glesys/compute/functions/ServerDetailsToNodeMetadata.java b/providers/glesys/src/main/java/org/jclouds/glesys/compute/functions/ServerDetailsToNodeMetadata.java
index 5390d0549e..1f2cc1dad6 100644
--- a/providers/glesys/src/main/java/org/jclouds/glesys/compute/functions/ServerDetailsToNodeMetadata.java
+++ b/providers/glesys/src/main/java/org/jclouds/glesys/compute/functions/ServerDetailsToNodeMetadata.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkState;
 import static com.google.common.base.Strings.isNullOrEmpty;
 import static com.google.common.io.BaseEncoding.base16;
 import static org.jclouds.compute.util.ComputeServiceUtils.addMetadataAndParseTagsFromCommaDelimitedValue;
+import static org.jclouds.compute.util.ComputeServiceUtils.groupFromMapOrName;
 import static org.jclouds.location.predicates.LocationPredicates.idEquals;
 
 import java.util.Map;
@@ -109,15 +110,18 @@ public class ServerDetailsToNodeMetadata implements Function<ServerDetails, Node
       builder.hostname(from.getHostname());
       Location location = FluentIterable.from(locations.get()).firstMatch(idEquals(from.getDatacenter())).orNull();
       checkState(location != null, "no location matched ServerDetails %s", from);
-      builder.group(nodeNamingConvention.groupInUniqueNameOrNull(from.getHostname()));
-      
+
+      Map<String, String> metadataMap;
+
       // TODO: get glesys to stop stripping out equals and commas!
       if (!isNullOrEmpty(from.getDescription()) && from.getDescription().matches("^[0-9A-Fa-f]+$")) {
          String decoded = new String(base16().lowerCase().decode(from.getDescription()), UTF_8);
-         addMetadataAndParseTagsFromCommaDelimitedValue(builder,
-                  Splitter.on('\n').withKeyValueSeparator("=").split(decoded));
+         metadataMap = Splitter.on('\n').withKeyValueSeparator("=").split(decoded);
+         addMetadataAndParseTagsFromCommaDelimitedValue(builder, metadataMap);
+      } else {
+         metadataMap = ImmutableMap.of();
       }
-
+      builder.group(groupFromMapOrName(metadataMap, from.getHostname(), nodeNamingConvention));
       builder.imageId(from.getTemplateName() + "");
       builder.operatingSystem(parseOperatingSystem(from));
       builder.hardware(new HardwareBuilder().ids(from.getId() + "").ram(from.getMemorySizeMB())
diff --git a/providers/glesys/src/main/java/org/jclouds/glesys/compute/options/GleSYSTemplateOptions.java b/providers/glesys/src/main/java/org/jclouds/glesys/compute/options/GleSYSTemplateOptions.java
index 9232948a6e..48b58ddb1c 100644
--- a/providers/glesys/src/main/java/org/jclouds/glesys/compute/options/GleSYSTemplateOptions.java
+++ b/providers/glesys/src/main/java/org/jclouds/glesys/compute/options/GleSYSTemplateOptions.java
@@ -209,6 +209,14 @@ public class GleSYSTemplateOptions extends TemplateOptions implements Cloneable
          GleSYSTemplateOptions options = new GleSYSTemplateOptions();
          return GleSYSTemplateOptions.class.cast(options.userMetadata(key, value));
       }
+
+      /**
+       * @see TemplateOptions#nodeNames(Iterable)
+       */
+      public static GleSYSTemplateOptions nodeNames(Iterable<String> nodeNames) {
+         GleSYSTemplateOptions options = new GleSYSTemplateOptions();
+         return GleSYSTemplateOptions.class.cast(options.nodeNames(nodeNames));
+      }
    }
 
    // methods that only facilitate returning the correct object type
@@ -261,6 +269,14 @@ public class GleSYSTemplateOptions extends TemplateOptions implements Cloneable
       return GleSYSTemplateOptions.class.cast(super.userMetadata(key, value));
    }
 
+   /**
+    * {@inheritDoc}
+    */
+   @Override
+   public GleSYSTemplateOptions nodeNames(Iterable<String> nodeNames) {
+      return GleSYSTemplateOptions.class.cast(super.nodeNames(nodeNames));
+   }
+
    @Override
    public ToStringHelper string() {
       ToStringHelper stringHelper = super.string();
diff --git a/providers/gogrid/src/main/java/org/jclouds/gogrid/compute/options/GoGridTemplateOptions.java b/providers/gogrid/src/main/java/org/jclouds/gogrid/compute/options/GoGridTemplateOptions.java
index a7b9f93af4..87e74e1eb0 100644
--- a/providers/gogrid/src/main/java/org/jclouds/gogrid/compute/options/GoGridTemplateOptions.java
+++ b/providers/gogrid/src/main/java/org/jclouds/gogrid/compute/options/GoGridTemplateOptions.java
@@ -97,6 +97,14 @@ public class GoGridTemplateOptions extends TemplateOptions implements Cloneable
          GoGridTemplateOptions options = new GoGridTemplateOptions();
          return GoGridTemplateOptions.class.cast(options.userMetadata(key, value));
       }
+
+      /**
+       * @see TemplateOptions#nodeNames(Iterable)
+       */
+      public static GoGridTemplateOptions nodeNames(Iterable<String> nodeNames) {
+         GoGridTemplateOptions options = new GoGridTemplateOptions();
+         return GoGridTemplateOptions.class.cast(options.nodeNames(nodeNames));
+      }
    }
 
    // methods that only facilitate returning the correct object type
@@ -148,4 +156,12 @@ public class GoGridTemplateOptions extends TemplateOptions implements Cloneable
    public GoGridTemplateOptions userMetadata(String key, String value) {
       return GoGridTemplateOptions.class.cast(super.userMetadata(key, value));
    }
+
+   /**
+    * {@inheritDoc}
+    */
+   @Override
+   public GoGridTemplateOptions nodeNames(Iterable<String> nodeNames) {
+      return GoGridTemplateOptions.class.cast(super.nodeNames(nodeNames));
+   }
 }
diff --git a/providers/softlayer/src/main/java/org/jclouds/softlayer/compute/options/SoftLayerTemplateOptions.java b/providers/softlayer/src/main/java/org/jclouds/softlayer/compute/options/SoftLayerTemplateOptions.java
index 7c54c0ddf5..2bbec8ab17 100644
--- a/providers/softlayer/src/main/java/org/jclouds/softlayer/compute/options/SoftLayerTemplateOptions.java
+++ b/providers/softlayer/src/main/java/org/jclouds/softlayer/compute/options/SoftLayerTemplateOptions.java
@@ -130,6 +130,14 @@ public class SoftLayerTemplateOptions extends TemplateOptions implements Cloneab
          SoftLayerTemplateOptions options = new SoftLayerTemplateOptions();
          return SoftLayerTemplateOptions.class.cast(options.userMetadata(key, value));
       }
+
+      /**
+       * @see TemplateOptions#nodeNames(Iterable)
+       */
+      public static SoftLayerTemplateOptions nodeNames(Iterable<String> nodeNames) {
+         SoftLayerTemplateOptions options = new SoftLayerTemplateOptions();
+         return SoftLayerTemplateOptions.class.cast(options.nodeNames(nodeNames));
+      }
    }
 
    // methods that only facilitate returning the correct object type
@@ -181,4 +189,12 @@ public class SoftLayerTemplateOptions extends TemplateOptions implements Cloneab
    public SoftLayerTemplateOptions userMetadata(String key, String value) {
       return SoftLayerTemplateOptions.class.cast(super.userMetadata(key, value));
    }
+
+   /**
+    * {@inheritDoc}
+    */
+   @Override
+   public SoftLayerTemplateOptions nodeNames(Iterable<String> nodeNames) {
+      return SoftLayerTemplateOptions.class.cast(super.nodeNames(nodeNames));
+   }
 }