diff --git a/cli/commands.go b/cli/commands.go
index 51104dc6..7a76fe8d 100644
--- a/cli/commands.go
+++ b/cli/commands.go
@@ -23,7 +23,10 @@ import (
 	"github.com/urfave/cli"
 )
 
-const defaultRegistry = "docker.io"
+const (
+	defaultRegistry    = "docker.io"
+	defaultServerCount = 1
+)
 
 // CheckTools checks if the docker API server is responding
 func CheckTools(c *cli.Context) error {
@@ -100,7 +103,7 @@ func CreateCluster(c *cli.Context) error {
 	}
 
 	// new port map
-	portmap, err := mapNodesToPortSpecs(c.StringSlice("publish"))
+	portmap, err := mapNodesToPortSpecs(c.StringSlice("publish"), GetAllContainerNames(c.String("name"), defaultServerCount, c.Int("workers")))
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatal(err)
 	}
diff --git a/cli/config.go b/cli/config.go
index d7730495..496c002c 100644
--- a/cli/config.go
+++ b/cli/config.go
@@ -16,6 +16,10 @@ import (
 	"github.com/olekukonko/tablewriter"
 )
 
+const (
+	defaultContainerNamePrefix = "k3d"
+)
+
 type cluster struct {
 	name        string
 	image       string
@@ -25,6 +29,26 @@ type cluster struct {
 	workers     []types.Container
 }
 
+// GetContainerName generates the container names
+func GetContainerName(role, clusterName string, postfix int) string {
+	if postfix >= 0 {
+		return fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s-%s-%d", defaultContainerNamePrefix, clusterName, role, postfix)
+	}
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s-%s", defaultContainerNamePrefix, clusterName, role)
+}
+
+// GetAllContainerNames returns a list of all containernames that will be created
+func GetAllContainerNames(clusterName string, serverCount, workerCount int) []string {
+	names := []string{}
+	for postfix := 0; postfix < serverCount; postfix++ {
+		names = append(names, GetContainerName("server", clusterName, postfix))
+	}
+	for postfix := 0; postfix < workerCount; postfix++ {
+		names = append(names, GetContainerName("worker", clusterName, postfix))
+	}
+	return names
+}
+
 // createDirIfNotExists checks for the existence of a directory and creates it along with all required parents if not.
 // It returns an error if the directory (or parents) couldn't be created and nil if it worked fine or if the path already exists.
 func createDirIfNotExists(path string) error {
diff --git a/cli/container.go b/cli/container.go
index a929f7a6..b780508e 100644
--- a/cli/container.go
+++ b/cli/container.go
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ func createServer(verbose bool, image string, apiPort string, args []string, env
 	containerLabels["created"] = time.Now().Format("2006-01-02 15:04:05")
 	containerLabels["cluster"] = name
 
-	containerName := fmt.Sprintf("k3d-%s-server", name)
+	containerName := GetContainerName("server", name, -1)
 
 	// ports to be assigned to the server belong to roles
 	// all, server or <server-container-name>
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ func createWorker(verbose bool, image string, args []string, env []string, name
 	containerLabels["created"] = time.Now().Format("2006-01-02 15:04:05")
 	containerLabels["cluster"] = name
 
-	containerName := fmt.Sprintf("k3d-%s-worker-%d", name, postfix)
+	containerName := GetContainerName("worker", name, postfix)
 
 	env = append(env, fmt.Sprintf("K3S_URL=https://k3d-%s-server:%s", name, serverPort))
 
diff --git a/cli/port.go b/cli/port.go
index 4224f8f9..92da019c 100644
--- a/cli/port.go
+++ b/cli/port.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package run
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"log"
 	"regexp"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -24,26 +25,41 @@ var nodeRuleGroupsMap = map[string][]string{
 }
 
 // mapNodesToPortSpecs maps nodes to portSpecs
-func mapNodesToPortSpecs(specs []string) (map[string][]string, error) {
+func mapNodesToPortSpecs(specs []string, createdNodes []string) (map[string][]string, error) {
 
 	if err := validatePortSpecs(specs); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
+	// check node-specifier possibilitites
+	possibleNodeSpecifiers := []string{"all", "workers", "server", "master"}
+	possibleNodeSpecifiers = append(possibleNodeSpecifiers, createdNodes...)
+
 	nodeToPortSpecMap := make(map[string][]string)
 
 	for _, spec := range specs {
 		nodes, portSpec := extractNodes(spec)
 
 		for _, node := range nodes {
-			nodeToPortSpecMap[node] = append(nodeToPortSpecMap[node], portSpec)
+			// check if node-specifier is valid (either a role or a name) and append to list if matches
+			nodeFound := false
+			for _, name := range possibleNodeSpecifiers {
+				if node == name {
+					nodeFound = true
+					nodeToPortSpecMap[node] = append(nodeToPortSpecMap[node], portSpec)
+					break
+				}
+			}
+			if !nodeFound {
+				log.Printf("WARNING: Unknown node-specifier [%s] in port mapping entry [%s]", node, spec)
+			}
 		}
 	}
 
 	return nodeToPortSpecMap, nil
 }
 
-// The factory function for PublishedPorts
+// CreatePublishedPorts is the factory function for PublishedPorts
 func CreatePublishedPorts(specs []string) (*PublishedPorts, error) {
 	if len(specs) == 0 {
 		var newExposedPorts = make(map[nat.Port]struct{}, 1)