diff --git a/coreos-cloudinit.go b/coreos-cloudinit.go
index d52757f..82e4230 100644
--- a/coreos-cloudinit.go
+++ b/coreos-cloudinit.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import (
 	"log"
 	"os"
 	"runtime"
+	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
 
@@ -285,6 +286,14 @@ func determineHostname(md datasource.Metadata, udata *initialize.UserData) strin
 			hostname = udataHostname
 		}
 	}
+	if len(hostname) > 63 {
+		log.Printf("Hostname too long. Truncating hostname %s to %s", hostname, strings.Split(hostname, ".")[0])
+		hostname = strings.Split(hostname, ".")[0]
+		if len(hostname) > 63 {
+			log.Printf("Hostname still too long. Truncating hostname %s further to 63 bytes (%s)", hostname, hostname[:63])
+			hostname = hostname[:63]
+		}
+	}
 	return hostname
 }
 
diff --git a/coreos-cloudinit_test.go b/coreos-cloudinit_test.go
index 77b7b0e..515f2aa 100644
--- a/coreos-cloudinit_test.go
+++ b/coreos-cloudinit_test.go
@@ -18,6 +18,10 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"encoding/base64"
 	"errors"
+	"github.com/flatcar/coreos-cloudinit/datasource"
+	"github.com/flatcar/coreos-cloudinit/initialize"
+	"net"
+	"reflect"
 	"testing"
 )
 
@@ -75,3 +79,75 @@ func TestDecompressIfGzip(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 }
+
+func TestDetermineHostname(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, tt := range []struct {
+		metaData datasource.Metadata
+		uData    *initialize.UserData
+		expect   string
+	}{
+		{
+			metaData: datasource.Metadata{
+				PublicIPv4:    net.ParseIP("1.2.3.4"),
+				PublicIPv6:    net.ParseIP("5.6.7.8"),
+				PrivateIPv4:   net.ParseIP("1.2.3.4"),
+				PrivateIPv6:   net.ParseIP("5.6.7.8"),
+				Hostname:      "regular-name",
+				SSHPublicKeys: map[string]string{"my": "key"},
+				NetworkConfig: net.Interface{
+					Index:        0,
+					MTU:          0,
+					Name:         "some-interface",
+					HardwareAddr: nil,
+					Flags:        0,
+				},
+			},
+			uData:  nil,
+			expect: "regular-name",
+		},
+		{
+			metaData: datasource.Metadata{
+				PublicIPv4:    net.ParseIP("1.2.3.4"),
+				PublicIPv6:    net.ParseIP("5.6.7.8"),
+				PrivateIPv4:   net.ParseIP("1.2.3.4"),
+				PrivateIPv6:   net.ParseIP("5.6.7.8"),
+				Hostname:      "this-hostname-is-larger-than-sixty-three-characters-long-and.will.be.truncated.locale",
+				SSHPublicKeys: map[string]string{"my": "key"},
+				NetworkConfig: net.Interface{
+					Index:        0,
+					MTU:          0,
+					Name:         "some-interface",
+					HardwareAddr: nil,
+					Flags:        0,
+				},
+			},
+			uData:  nil,
+			expect: "this-hostname-is-larger-than-sixty-three-characters-long-and",
+		},
+		{
+			metaData: datasource.Metadata{
+				PublicIPv4:    net.ParseIP("1.2.3.4"),
+				PublicIPv6:    net.ParseIP("5.6.7.8"),
+				PrivateIPv4:   net.ParseIP("1.2.3.4"),
+				PrivateIPv6:   net.ParseIP("5.6.7.8"),
+				Hostname:      "this-hostname-is-larger-than-sixty-three-characters-long-and-will-be-truncated.local",
+				SSHPublicKeys: map[string]string{"my": "key"},
+				NetworkConfig: net.Interface{
+					Index:        0,
+					MTU:          0,
+					Name:         "some-interface",
+					HardwareAddr: nil,
+					Flags:        0,
+				},
+			},
+			uData:  nil,
+			expect: "this-hostname-is-larger-than-sixty-three-characters-long-and-wi",
+		},
+	} {
+		hostname := determineHostname(tt.metaData, tt.uData)
+		if !reflect.DeepEqual(tt.expect, hostname) {
+			t.Fatalf("Bad hostname, want %s, got %s", tt.expect, hostname)
+		}
+
+	}
+}
diff --git a/datasource/metadata/ec2/metadata.go b/datasource/metadata/ec2/metadata.go
index b65e106..2042bd3 100644
--- a/datasource/metadata/ec2/metadata.go
+++ b/datasource/metadata/ec2/metadata.go
@@ -78,11 +78,6 @@ func (ms metadataService) FetchMetadata() (datasource.Metadata, error) {
 	}
 
 	if hostname, err := ms.fetchAttribute(fmt.Sprintf("%s/hostname", ms.MetadataUrl())); err == nil {
-		hostname := strings.Split(hostname, ".")[0]
-		if len(hostname) > 63 {
-			log.Printf("Truncating hostname %s to 63 bytes (%s)", hostname, hostname[:63])
-			hostname = hostname[:63]
-		}
 		metadata.Hostname = hostname
 	} else if _, ok := err.(pkg.ErrNotFound); !ok {
 		return metadata, err
diff --git a/datasource/metadata/ec2/metadata_test.go b/datasource/metadata/ec2/metadata_test.go
index c81eb6c..ab96885 100644
--- a/datasource/metadata/ec2/metadata_test.go
+++ b/datasource/metadata/ec2/metadata_test.go
@@ -188,25 +188,7 @@ func TestFetchMetadata(t *testing.T) {
 				"/2009-04-04/meta-data/public-keys/0/openssh-key": "key",
 			},
 			expect: datasource.Metadata{
-				Hostname:      "host",
-				PrivateIPv4:   net.ParseIP("1.2.3.4"),
-				PublicIPv4:    net.ParseIP("5.6.7.8"),
-				SSHPublicKeys: map[string]string{"test1": "key"},
-			},
-		},
-		{
-			root:         "/",
-			metadataPath: "2009-04-04/meta-data",
-			resources: map[string]string{
-				"/2009-04-04/meta-data/hostname":                  "this-hostname-is-larger-than-sixty-three-characters-long-and-will-be-truncated.local",
-				"/2009-04-04/meta-data/local-ipv4":                "1.2.3.4",
-				"/2009-04-04/meta-data/public-ipv4":               "5.6.7.8",
-				"/2009-04-04/meta-data/public-keys":               "0=test1\n",
-				"/2009-04-04/meta-data/public-keys/0":             "openssh-key",
-				"/2009-04-04/meta-data/public-keys/0/openssh-key": "key",
-			},
-			expect: datasource.Metadata{
-				Hostname:      "this-hostname-is-larger-than-sixty-three-characters-long-and-wi",
+				Hostname:      "host.local",
 				PrivateIPv4:   net.ParseIP("1.2.3.4"),
 				PublicIPv4:    net.ParseIP("5.6.7.8"),
 				SSHPublicKeys: map[string]string{"test1": "key"},