diff --git a/nagios/templates/configmap-etc.yaml b/nagios/templates/configmap-etc.yaml
index a8b88d3b73..27110677d2 100644
--- a/nagios/templates/configmap-etc.yaml
+++ b/nagios/templates/configmap-etc.yaml
@@ -34,7 +34,9 @@ type: Opaque
 data:
   cgi.cfg: {{ include "nagios.utils.to_nagios_conf" .Values.conf.nagios.cgi | b64enc }}
   nagios.cfg: {{ include "nagios.utils.to_nagios_conf" .Values.conf.nagios.nagios | b64enc }}
+  {{- if not (empty .Values.conf.nagios.query_es_clauses) }}
   query_es_clauses.json: {{ .Values.conf.nagios.query_es_clauses | toJson | b64enc }}
+  {{- end }}
   nagios_objects.cfg: {{ include "configmap_etc._nagios_objects" $ | b64enc }}
 #NOTE(portdirect): this must be last, to work round helm ~2.7 bug.
 {{- include "helm-toolkit.snippets.values_template_renderer" (dict "envAll" $envAll "template" .Values.conf.httpd "key" "httpd.conf" "format" "Secret") | indent 2 }}
diff --git a/nagios/templates/deployment.yaml b/nagios/templates/deployment.yaml
index bf56cac685..5e32f0e6d4 100644
--- a/nagios/templates/deployment.yaml
+++ b/nagios/templates/deployment.yaml
@@ -190,12 +190,12 @@ spec:
               mountPath: /opt/nagios/etc/nagios_objects.cfg
               subPath: nagios_objects.cfg
               readOnly: true
-{{- if .Values.conf.es_query_clauses }}
+{{- if not (empty .Values.conf.nagios.query_es_clauses) }}
             - name: nagios-etc
               mountPath: /opt/nagios/etc/objects/query_es_clauses.json
               subPath: query_es_clauses.json
               readOnly: true
-{{ end }}
+{{- end }}
             - name: pod-var-log
               mountPath: /opt/nagios/var/log
               readOnly: false
diff --git a/nagios/values.yaml b/nagios/values.yaml
index a11df1d580..7e7ea570ae 100644
--- a/nagios/values.yaml
+++ b/nagios/values.yaml
@@ -1190,4 +1190,4 @@ conf:
       http:
         primary_target: 127.0.0.1:3904/events
         secondary_target: 127.0.0.1:3904/events
-    query_es_clauses: "null"
+    query_es_clauses: null
diff --git a/tools/deployment/multinode/110-nagios.sh b/tools/deployment/multinode/110-nagios.sh
index e40ffd9d33..359c93db1c 100755
--- a/tools/deployment/multinode/110-nagios.sh
+++ b/tools/deployment/multinode/110-nagios.sh
@@ -20,12 +20,26 @@ set -xe
 make nagios
 
 #NOTE: Deploy command
+tee /tmp/nagios.yaml << EOF
+pod:
+  replicas:
+    nagios: 3
+conf:
+  nagios:
+    query_es_clauses:
+      test_es_query:
+        hello: world
+EOF
 helm upgrade --install nagios ./nagios \
     --namespace=osh-infra \
-    --set pod.replicas.nagios=3
+    --values=/tmp/nagios.yaml
 
 #NOTE: Wait for deploy
 ./tools/deployment/common/wait-for-pods.sh osh-infra
 
 #NOTE: Validate Deployment info
 helm status nagios
+
+#NOTE: Verify elasticsearch query clauses are functional by execing into pod
+NAGIOS_POD=$(kubectl -n osh-infra get pods -l='application=nagios,component=monitoring' --output=jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.name}')
+kubectl exec $NAGIOS_POD  -n osh-infra -c nagios -- cat /opt/nagios/etc/objects/query_es_clauses.json | python -m json.tool
diff --git a/tools/deployment/osh-infra-monitoring/110-nagios.sh b/tools/deployment/osh-infra-monitoring/110-nagios.sh
index f47e25556d..d9f1085fac 100755
--- a/tools/deployment/osh-infra-monitoring/110-nagios.sh
+++ b/tools/deployment/osh-infra-monitoring/110-nagios.sh
@@ -20,11 +20,23 @@ set -xe
 make nagios
 
 #NOTE: Deploy command
+tee /tmp/nagios.yaml << EOF
+conf:
+  nagios:
+    query_es_clauses:
+      test_es_query:
+        hello: world
+EOF
 helm upgrade --install nagios ./nagios \
-    --namespace=osh-infra
+    --namespace=osh-infra \
+    --values=/tmp/nagios.yaml
 
 #NOTE: Wait for deploy
 ./tools/deployment/common/wait-for-pods.sh osh-infra
 
 #NOTE: Validate Deployment info
 helm status nagios
+
+#NOTE: Verify elasticsearch query clauses are functional by execing into pod
+NAGIOS_POD=$(kubectl -n osh-infra get pods -l='application=nagios,component=monitoring' --output=jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.name}')
+kubectl exec $NAGIOS_POD  -n osh-infra -c nagios -- cat /opt/nagios/etc/objects/query_es_clauses.json | python -m json.tool