diff --git a/cluster/aws/config-default.sh b/cluster/aws/config-default.sh
index f8e5430516..0ff0987226 100644
--- a/cluster/aws/config-default.sh
+++ b/cluster/aws/config-default.sh
@@ -77,3 +77,11 @@ ADMISSION_CONTROL=NamespaceLifecycle,NamespaceAutoProvision,LimitRanger,Security
 # Optional: Enable/disable public IP assignment for minions.
 # Important Note: disable only if you have setup a NAT instance for internet access and configured appropriate routes!
 ENABLE_MINION_PUBLIC_IP=${KUBE_ENABLE_MINION_PUBLIC_IP:-true}
+
+# OS options for minions
+KUBE_OS_DISTRIBUTION="${KUBE_OS_DISTRIBUTION:-ubuntu}"
+KUBE_MINION_IMAGE="${KUBE_MINION_IMAGE:-}"
+COREOS_CHANNEL="${COREOS_CHANNEL:-alpha}"
+CONTAINER_RUNTIME="${KUBE_CONTAINER_RUNTIME:-docker}"
+RKT_VERSION="${KUBE_RKT_VERSION:-0.5.5}"
+
diff --git a/cluster/aws/config-test.sh b/cluster/aws/config-test.sh
index ea55c15f5e..a779f70a83 100755
--- a/cluster/aws/config-test.sh
+++ b/cluster/aws/config-test.sh
@@ -73,3 +73,10 @@ ADMISSION_CONTROL=NamespaceLifecycle,NamespaceAutoProvision,LimitRanger,Security
 # Optional: Enable/disable public IP assignment for minions.
 # Important Note: disable only if you have setup a NAT instance for internet access and configured appropriate routes!
 ENABLE_MINION_PUBLIC_IP=${KUBE_ENABLE_MINION_PUBLIC_IP:-true}
+
+# OS options for minions
+KUBE_OS_DISTRIBUTION="${KUBE_OS_DISTRIBUTION:-ubuntu}"
+KUBE_MINION_IMAGE="${KUBE_MINION_IMAGE:-}"
+COREOS_CHANNEL="${COREOS_CHANNEL:-alpha}"
+CONTAINER_RUNTIME="${KUBE_CONTAINER_RUNTIME:-docker}"
+RKT_VERSION="${KUBE_RKT_VERSION:-0.5.5}"
diff --git a/cluster/aws/coreos/node.yaml b/cluster/aws/coreos/node.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a5d5486605
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cluster/aws/coreos/node.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,180 @@
+#cloud-config
+
+coreos:
+  units:
+    - name: kubernetes-install-rkt.service
+      command: start
+      content: |
+        [Unit]
+        Description=Fetch Rocket
+        Documentation=http://github.com/coreos/rkt
+        Requires=network-online.target
+        After=network-online.target
+        [Service]
+        Type=oneshot
+        EnvironmentFile=/etc/kube-env
+        ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/mkdir -p /opt/rkt
+        ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/wget \
+        -O /opt/rkt/rkt-v${RKT_VERSION}.tar.gz \
+        https://github.com/coreos/rkt/releases/download/v${RKT_VERSION}/rkt-v${RKT_VERSION}.tar.gz
+        ExecStart=/usr/bin/tar xzvf /opt/rkt/rkt-v${RKT_VERSION}.tar.gz -C /opt --overwrite
+
+    - name: hostname-override.service
+      command: start
+      content: |
+        [Unit]
+        Description=Kubelet Hostname Override
+        Requires=network-online.target
+        After=network-online.target
+
+        [Service]
+        Type=oneshot
+        RemainAfterExit=yes
+        EnvironmentFile=/etc/kube-env
+        ExecStart=/run/setup-hostname-override.sh
+
+    - name: kubernetes-install-minion.service
+      command: start
+      content: |
+        [Unit]
+        Description=Install Kubernetes Server
+        Requires=network-online.target
+        After=network-online.target
+
+        [Service]
+        Type=oneshot
+        RemainAfterExit=yes
+        EnvironmentFile=/etc/kube-env
+        ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/mkdir -p /opt/kubernetes/pkg
+        ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/curl --location --create-dirs --output /opt/kubernetes/pkg/kubernetes-server-linux-amd64.tar.gz ${SERVER_BINARY_TAR_URL}
+        ExecStart=/usr/bin/tar xf /opt/kubernetes/pkg/kubernetes-server-linux-amd64.tar.gz -C /opt --overwrite
+
+    - name: kubelet.service
+      command: start
+      content: |
+        [Unit]
+        Description=Run Kubelet service
+        Requires=kubernetes-install-minion.service
+        After=kubernetes-install-minion.service
+        Requires=hostname-override.service
+        After=hostname-override.service
+
+        [Service]
+        EnvironmentFile=/etc/kube-env
+        EnvironmentFile=/etc/hostname-override
+        ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/mkdir -p /etc/kubernetes/manifests
+        ExecStartPre=/run/setup-auth.sh
+        ExecStart=/opt/kubernetes/server/bin/kubelet \
+        --api_servers=https://${MASTER_IP} \
+        --config=/etc/kubernetes/manifests \
+        --allow_privileged=False \
+        --v=2 \
+        --cluster_dns=10.0.0.10 \
+        --cluster_domain=kubernetes.local \
+        --logtostderr=true \
+        --hostname-override=${HOSTNAME_OVERRIDE} \
+        --container-runtime=${KUBERNETES_CONTAINER_RUNTIME}
+        Restart=always
+        RestartSec=10
+
+    - name: kube-proxy.service
+      command: start
+      content: |
+        [Unit]
+        Description=Start Kube-proxy service as Daemon
+        Requires=kubernetes-install-minion.service
+        After=kubernetes-install-minion.service
+        Requires=kubernetes-install-rkt.service
+        After=kubernetes-install-rkt.service
+        [Service]
+        EnvironmentFile=/etc/kube-env
+        ExecStartPre=/run/config-kube-proxy.sh
+        ExecStart=/opt/kubernetes/server/bin/kube-proxy \
+        --master=https://${MASTER_IP} \
+        --kubeconfig=/var/lib/kube-proxy/kubeconfig \
+        --v=2 \
+        --logtostderr=true
+        Restart=always
+        RestartSec=10
+
+    - name: rkt-metadata.socket
+      command: start
+      content: |
+        [Unit]
+        Description=rkt metadata service socket
+        PartOf=rkt-metadata.service
+        Requires=kubernetes-install-rkt.service
+        After=kubernetes-install-rkt.service
+        [Socket]
+        ListenStream=/run/rkt/metadata-svc.sock
+        SocketMode=0660
+        SocketUser=root
+        SocketGroup=root
+        RemoveOnStop=true
+
+    - name: rkt-metadata.service
+      command: start
+      content: |
+        [Unit]
+        Description=rkt metadata service
+        Documentation=http://github.com/coreos/rkt
+        Requires=rkt-metadata.socket
+        After=network.target rkt-metadata.socket
+        Requires=kubernetes-install-rkt.service
+        After=kubernetes-install-rkt.service
+        [Service]
+        EnvironmentFile=/etc/kube-env
+        ExecStart=/opt/rkt-${RKT_VERSION}/rkt metadata-service
+write_files:
+  - path: /run/setup-hostname-override.sh
+    permissions: "0755"
+    content: |
+      #!/bin/bash
+      set -x
+      source /etc/kube-env
+      if [[ -z "${HOSTNAME_OVERRIDE}" ]]; then
+        HOSTNAME_OVERRIDE=`curl --silent http://169.254.169.254/2007-01-19/meta-data/local-hostname`
+      fi
+      if [[ -z "${HOSTNAME_OVERRIDE}" ]]; then
+        HOSTNAME_OVERRIDE=`hostname -f`
+      fi
+      echo "HOSTNAME_OVERRIDE=${HOSTNAME_OVERRIDE}" > /etc/hostname-override
+  - path: /run/setup-auth.sh
+    permissions: "0755"
+    content: |
+      #!/bin/bash -e
+      set -x
+      source /etc/kube-env
+
+      /usr/bin/mkdir -p /var/lib/kubelet
+      printf '{"BearerToken": "%s", "Insecure": true }' ${KUBE_BEARER_TOKEN} > /var/lib/kubelet/kubernetes_auth
+  - path: /run/config-kube-proxy.sh
+    permissions: "0755"
+    content: |
+      #!/bin/bash -e
+      set -x
+      source /etc/kube-env
+
+      /usr/bin/mkdir -p /var/lib/kube-proxy
+      cat > /var/lib/kube-proxy/kubeconfig << EOF
+      apiVersion: v1
+      kind: Config
+      users:
+      - name: kube-proxy
+        user:
+          token: $KUBE_PROXY_TOKEN
+      clusters:
+      - name: local
+        cluster:
+          insecure-skip-tls-verify: true
+      contexts:
+      - context:
+          cluster: local
+          user: kube-proxy
+        name: service-account-context
+      current-context: service-account-context
+      EOF
+  - path: /etc/kube-env
+    permissions: 0644
+    owner: root
+    content: |
diff --git a/cluster/aws/coreos/util.sh b/cluster/aws/coreos/util.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f1f98227a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cluster/aws/coreos/util.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Copyright 2015 The Kubernetes Authors All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+# A library of helper functions for CoreOS.
+
+function detect-minion-image (){
+  if [[ -z "${KUBE_MINION_IMAGE-}" ]]; then
+    KUBE_MINION_IMAGE=$(curl -s -L http://${COREOS_CHANNEL}.release.core-os.net/amd64-usr/current/coreos_production_ami_all.json | python -c "import json,sys;obj=json.load(sys.stdin);print filter(lambda t: t['name']=='${AWS_REGION}', obj['amis'])[0]['hvm']")
+  fi
+  if [[ -z "${KUBE_MINION_IMAGE-}" ]]; then
+    echo "unable to determine KUBE_MINION_IMAGE"
+    exit 2
+  fi
+}
+
+function generate-minion-user-data() {
+  i=$1
+  MINION_PRIVATE_IP=$INTERNAL_IP_BASE.1${i}
+  MINION_IP_RANGE=${MINION_IP_RANGES[$i]}
+
+  # this is a bit of a hack. We make all of our "variables" in
+  # our cloud config controlled by env vars from this script
+  cat ${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/aws/coreos/node.yaml
+  cat <<EOF
+      ENV_TIMESTAMP=$(yaml-quote $(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%T%z))
+      INSTANCE_PREFIX=$(yaml-quote ${INSTANCE_PREFIX})
+      SERVER_BINARY_TAR_URL=$(yaml-quote ${SERVER_BINARY_TAR_URL})
+      ENABLE_CLUSTER_DNS=$(yaml-quote ${ENABLE_CLUSTER_DNS:-false})
+      DNS_SERVER_IP=$(yaml-quote ${DNS_SERVER_IP:-})
+      DNS_DOMAIN=$(yaml-quote ${DNS_DOMAIN:-})
+      MASTER_IP=$(yaml-quote ${MASTER_INTERNAL_IP})
+      MINION_IP_RANGE=$(yaml-quote ${MINION_IP_RANGE})
+      MINION_IP=$(yaml-quote ${MINION_PRIVATE_IP})
+      KUBELET_TOKEN=$(yaml-quote ${KUBELET_TOKEN:-})
+      KUBE_PROXY_TOKEN=$(yaml-quote ${KUBE_PROXY_TOKEN:-})
+      KUBE_BEARER_TOKEN=$(yaml-quote ${KUBELET_TOKEN:-})
+      KUBERNETES_CONTAINER_RUNTIME=$(yaml-quote ${CONTAINER_RUNTIME})
+      RKT_VERSION=$(yaml-quote ${RKT_VERSION})
+EOF
+}
+
+function check-minion() {
+  echo "working"
+}
+
+function yaml-quote {
+  echo "'$(echo "${@}" | sed -e "s/'/''/g")'"
+}
diff --git a/cluster/aws/templates/create-dynamic-salt-files.sh b/cluster/aws/templates/create-dynamic-salt-files.sh
index 35ee18850b..2e767e329a 100644
--- a/cluster/aws/templates/create-dynamic-salt-files.sh
+++ b/cluster/aws/templates/create-dynamic-salt-files.sh
@@ -46,9 +46,8 @@ fi
 # Generate and distribute a shared secret (bearer token) to
 # apiserver and the nodes so that kubelet and kube-proxy can
 # authenticate to apiserver.
-# This works on CoreOS, so it should work on a lot of distros.
-kubelet_token=$(cat /dev/urandom | base64 | tr -d "=+/" | dd bs=32 count=1 2> /dev/null)
-kube_proxy_token=$(cat /dev/urandom | base64 | tr -d "=+/" | dd bs=32 count=1 2> /dev/null)
+kubelet_token=$KUBELET_TOKEN
+kube_proxy_token=$KUBE_PROXY_TOKEN
 
 # Make a list of tokens and usernames to be pushed to the apiserver
 mkdir -p /srv/salt-overlay/salt/kube-apiserver
diff --git a/cluster/aws/ubuntu/util.sh b/cluster/aws/ubuntu/util.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..35b923274f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cluster/aws/ubuntu/util.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Copyright 2015 The Kubernetes Authors All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+
+# A library of helper functions for Ubuntu.
+
+function detect-minion-image() {
+  if [[ -z "${KUBE_MINION_IMAGE=-}" ]]; then
+    detect-image
+    KUBE_MINION_IMAGE=$AWS_IMAGE
+  fi
+}
+
+function generate-minion-user-data {
+  i=$1
+  # We pipe this to the ami as a startup script in the user-data field.  Requires a compatible ami
+  echo "#! /bin/bash"
+  echo "SALT_MASTER='${MASTER_INTERNAL_IP}'"
+  echo "MINION_IP_RANGE='${MINION_IP_RANGES[$i]}'"
+  echo "DOCKER_OPTS='${EXTRA_DOCKER_OPTS:-}'"
+  grep -v "^#" "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/aws/templates/common.sh"
+  grep -v "^#" "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/aws/templates/format-disks.sh"
+  grep -v "^#" "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/aws/templates/salt-minion.sh"
+}
+
+function check-minion() {
+  local minion_name=$1
+  local minion_ip=$2
+
+  local output=$(ssh -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -i "${AWS_SSH_KEY}" ubuntu@$minion_ip sudo docker ps -a 2>/dev/null)
+  if [[ -z "${output}" ]]; then
+    ssh -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -i "${AWS_SSH_KEY}" ubuntu@$minion_ip sudo service docker start > $LOG 2>&1
+    echo "not working yet"
+  else
+    echo "working"
+  fi
+}
diff --git a/cluster/aws/util.sh b/cluster/aws/util.sh
index 2629d3af27..7aa9cac60b 100644
--- a/cluster/aws/util.sh
+++ b/cluster/aws/util.sh
@@ -22,6 +22,17 @@ KUBE_ROOT=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE}")/../..
 source "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/aws/${KUBE_CONFIG_FILE-"config-default.sh"}"
 source "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/common.sh"
 
+case "${KUBE_OS_DISTRIBUTION}" in
+  ubuntu|coreos)
+    echo "Starting cluster using os distro: ${KUBE_OS_DISTRIBUTION}" >&2
+    source "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/aws/${KUBE_OS_DISTRIBUTION}/util.sh"
+    ;;
+  *)
+    echo "Cannot start cluster using os distro: ${KUBE_OS_DISTRIBUTION}" >&2
+    exit 2
+    ;;
+esac
+
 # This removes the final character in bash (somehow)
 AWS_REGION=${ZONE%?}
 
@@ -366,7 +377,13 @@ function wait-for-instance-running {
 }
 
 function kube-up {
+  get-tokens
+
+  detect-image
+  detect-minion-image
+
   find-release-tars
+
   upload-server-tars
 
   ensure-temp-dir
@@ -379,8 +396,6 @@ function kube-up {
     ssh-keygen -f "$AWS_SSH_KEY" -N ''
   fi
 
-  detect-image
-
   $AWS_CMD import-key-pair --key-name kubernetes --public-key-material "file://$AWS_SSH_KEY.pub" > $LOG 2>&1 || true
 
   VPC_ID=$(get_vpc_id)
@@ -439,7 +454,6 @@ function kube-up {
 	  SEC_GROUP_ID=$($AWS_CMD create-security-group --group-name kubernetes-sec-group --description kubernetes-sec-group --vpc-id $VPC_ID | json_val '["GroupId"]')
 	  $AWS_CMD authorize-security-group-ingress --group-id $SEC_GROUP_ID --protocol -1 --port all --cidr 0.0.0.0/0 > $LOG
   fi
-
   (
     # We pipe this to the ami as a startup script in the user-data field.  Requires a compatible ami
     echo "#! /bin/bash"
@@ -466,6 +480,8 @@ function kube-up {
     echo "readonly DNS_DOMAIN='${DNS_DOMAIN:-}'"
     echo "readonly ADMISSION_CONTROL='${ADMISSION_CONTROL:-}'"
     echo "readonly MASTER_IP_RANGE='${MASTER_IP_RANGE:-}'"
+    echo "readonly KUBELET_TOKEN='${KUBELET_TOKEN}'"
+    echo "readonly KUBE_PROXY_TOKEN='${KUBE_PROXY_TOKEN}'"
     grep -v "^#" "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/aws/templates/common.sh"
     grep -v "^#" "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/aws/templates/format-disks.sh"
     grep -v "^#" "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/aws/templates/create-dynamic-salt-files.sh"
@@ -546,16 +562,7 @@ function kube-up {
   MINION_IDS=()
   for (( i=0; i<${#MINION_NAMES[@]}; i++)); do
     echo "Starting Minion (${MINION_NAMES[$i]})"
-    (
-      # We pipe this to the ami as a startup script in the user-data field.  Requires a compatible ami
-      echo "#! /bin/bash"
-      echo "SALT_MASTER='${MASTER_INTERNAL_IP}'"
-      echo "MINION_IP_RANGE='${MINION_IP_RANGES[$i]}'"
-      echo "DOCKER_OPTS='${EXTRA_DOCKER_OPTS:-}'"
-      grep -v "^#" "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/aws/templates/common.sh"
-      grep -v "^#" "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/aws/templates/format-disks.sh"
-      grep -v "^#" "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/aws/templates/salt-minion.sh"
-    ) > "${KUBE_TEMP}/minion-start-${i}.sh"
+    generate-minion-user-data $i > "${KUBE_TEMP}/minion-user-data-${i}"
 
     local public_ip_option
     if [[ "${ENABLE_MINION_PUBLIC_IP}" == "true" ]]; then
@@ -565,7 +572,7 @@ function kube-up {
     fi
 
     minion_id=$($AWS_CMD run-instances \
-      --image-id $AWS_IMAGE \
+      --image-id $KUBE_MINION_IMAGE \
       --iam-instance-profile Name=$IAM_PROFILE_MINION \
       --instance-type $MINION_SIZE \
       --subnet-id $SUBNET_ID \
@@ -573,7 +580,7 @@ function kube-up {
       --key-name kubernetes \
       --security-group-ids $SEC_GROUP_ID \
       ${public_ip_option} \
-      --user-data file://${KUBE_TEMP}/minion-start-${i}.sh | json_val '["Instances"][0]["InstanceId"]')
+      --user-data "file://${KUBE_TEMP}/minion-user-data-${i}" | json_val '["Instances"][0]["InstanceId"]')
 
     add-tag $minion_id Name ${MINION_NAMES[$i]}
     add-tag $minion_id Role $MINION_TAG
@@ -669,31 +676,19 @@ function kube-up {
         local minion_name=${MINION_NAMES[$i]}
         local minion_ip=${KUBE_MINION_IP_ADDRESSES[$i]}
         echo -n Attempt "$(($attempt+1))" to check Docker on node "${minion_name} @ ${minion_ip}" ...
-        local output=$(ssh -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -i "${AWS_SSH_KEY}" ubuntu@$minion_ip sudo docker ps -a 2>/dev/null)
-        if [[ -z "${output}" ]]; then
+        local output=`check-minion ${minion_name} ${minion_ip}`
+        echo $output
+        if [[ "${output}" != "working" ]]; then
           if (( attempt > 9 )); then
             echo
-            echo -e "${color_red}Docker failed to install on node ${minion_name}. Your cluster is unlikely" >&2
-            echo "to work correctly. Please run ./cluster/kube-down.sh and re-create the" >&2
-            echo -e "cluster. (sorry!)${color_norm}" >&2
+            echo -e "Your cluster is unlikely to work correctly." >&2
+            echo "Please run ./cluster/kube-down.sh and re-create the" >&2
+            echo -e "cluster. (sorry!)" >&2
             exit 1
           fi
-        # TODO: Reintroduce this (where does this container come from?)
-#        elif [[ "${output}" != *"kubernetes/pause"* ]]; then
-#          if (( attempt > 9 )); then
-#            echo
-#            echo -e "${color_red}Failed to observe kubernetes/pause on node ${minion_name}. Your cluster is unlikely" >&2
-#            echo "to work correctly. Please run ./cluster/kube-down.sh and re-create the" >&2
-#            echo -e "cluster. (sorry!)${color_norm}" >&2
-#            exit 1
-#          fi
         else
-          echo -e " ${color_green}[working]${color_norm}"
           break
         fi
-        echo -e " ${color_yellow}[not working yet]${color_norm}"
-        # Start Docker, in case it failed to start.
-        ssh -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -i "${AWS_SSH_KEY}" ubuntu@$minion_ip sudo service docker start > $LOG 2>&1
         attempt=$(($attempt+1))
         sleep 30
       done
@@ -893,3 +888,8 @@ function prepare-e2e() {
   # Note: we can't print anything here, or else the test tools will break with the extra output
   return
 }
+
+function get-tokens() {
+  KUBELET_TOKEN=$(dd if=/dev/urandom bs=128 count=1 2>/dev/null | base64 | tr -d "=+/" | dd bs=32 count=1 2>/dev/null)
+  KUBE_PROXY_TOKEN=$(dd if=/dev/urandom bs=128 count=1 2>/dev/null | base64 | tr -d "=+/" | dd bs=32 count=1 2>/dev/null)
+}