diff --git a/cli/port.go b/cli/port.go
index f23ac3be..00f714c5 100644
--- a/cli/port.go
+++ b/cli/port.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package run
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"log"
-	"regexp"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/docker/go-connections/nat"
@@ -73,11 +72,18 @@ func CreatePublishedPorts(specs []string) (*PublishedPorts, error) {
 
 // validatePortSpecs matches the provided port specs against a set of rules to enable early exit if something is wrong
 func validatePortSpecs(specs []string) error {
-	// regex matching (no sophisticated IP matching at the moment)
-	regex := regexp.MustCompile(`^(((?P<ip>[\d\.]+)?:)?((?P<hostPort>[0-9]{0,6}):)?(?P<containerPort>[0-9]{1,6}))((/(?P<protocol>udp|tcp))?(?P<nodes>(@(?P<node>[\w-]+))+))$`)
 	for _, spec := range specs {
-		if !regex.MatchString(spec) {
-			return fmt.Errorf("[ERROR] Provided port spec [%s] didn't match format specification (`[ip:][host-port:]container-port[/protocol]@node-specifier`)", spec)
+		atSplit := strings.Split(spec, "@")
+		_, err := nat.ParsePortSpec(atSplit[0])
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("ERROR: Invalid port specification [%s] in port mapping [%s]\n%+v", atSplit[0], spec, err)
+		}
+		if len(atSplit) > 0 {
+			for i := 1; i < len(atSplit); i++ {
+				if err := ValidateHostname(atSplit[i]); err != nil {
+					return fmt.Errorf("ERROR: Invalid node-specifier [%s] in port mapping [%s]\n%+v", atSplit[i], spec, err)
+				}
+			}
 		}
 	}
 	return nil
diff --git a/cli/util.go b/cli/util.go
index 1688c57b..7a235e73 100644
--- a/cli/util.go
+++ b/cli/util.go
@@ -47,11 +47,15 @@ const clusterNameMaxSize int = 35
 // within the 64 characters limit.
 func CheckClusterName(name string) error {
 	if len(name) > clusterNameMaxSize {
-		return fmt.Errorf("[ERROR] Cluster name is too long")
+		return fmt.Errorf("[ERROR] Cluster name is too long (%d > %d)", len(name), clusterNameMaxSize)
 	}
+	return fmt.Errorf("[ERROR] Invalid cluster name\n%+v", ValidateHostname(name))
+}
 
+// ValidateHostname ensures that a cluster name is also a valid host name according to RFC 1123.
+func ValidateHostname(name string) error {
 	if name[0] == '-' || name[len(name)-1] == '-' {
-		return fmt.Errorf("[ERROR] Cluster name can not start or end with - (dash)")
+		return fmt.Errorf("[ERROR] Hostname [%s] must not start or end with - (dash)", name)
 	}
 
 	for _, c := range name {
@@ -62,7 +66,7 @@ func CheckClusterName(name string) error {
 		case c == '-':
 			break
 		default:
-			return fmt.Errorf("[ERROR] Cluster name contains characters other than 'Aa-Zz', '0-9' or '-'")
+			return fmt.Errorf("[ERROR] Hostname [%s] contains characters other than 'Aa-Zz', '0-9' or '-'", name)
 
 		}
 	}