diff --git a/deployment_scripts/puppet/modules/plugin_zabbix/lib/puppet/provider/plugin_zabbix.rb b/deployment_scripts/puppet/modules/plugin_zabbix/lib/puppet/provider/plugin_zabbix.rb
index ae369e9..c579348 100644
--- a/deployment_scripts/puppet/modules/plugin_zabbix/lib/puppet/provider/plugin_zabbix.rb
+++ b/deployment_scripts/puppet/modules/plugin_zabbix/lib/puppet/provider/plugin_zabbix.rb
@@ -55,8 +55,7 @@ class Puppet::Provider::Plugin_zabbix < Puppet::Provider
     result
   end
 
-  def self.api_request(api, body)
-    retries = 10
+  def self.api_request(api, body, retries=10)
     cooldown = 1
     Puppet.info("Trying to make a request to zabbix server, will try #{retries} times with #{cooldown} seconds between tries")
     retries.times do |r|
@@ -71,8 +70,8 @@ class Puppet::Provider::Plugin_zabbix < Puppet::Provider
         return result["result"]
 
       rescue => e
-          if r == retries
-            Puppet.error("Out of retries to make a request to zabbix server (#{retries})")
+          if r == retries - 1
+            Puppet.warning("Out of retries to make a request to zabbix server (#{retries})")
             raise e
           else
             Puppet.warning("Could not make request to zabbix: #{e}, sleeping #{cooldown*r} (retry (##{r}/#{retries}))")
diff --git a/deployment_scripts/puppet/modules/plugin_zabbix/lib/puppet/type/plugin_zabbix_host.rb b/deployment_scripts/puppet/modules/plugin_zabbix/lib/puppet/type/plugin_zabbix_host.rb
index a5f85bc..eb0a083 100644
--- a/deployment_scripts/puppet/modules/plugin_zabbix/lib/puppet/type/plugin_zabbix_host.rb
+++ b/deployment_scripts/puppet/modules/plugin_zabbix/lib/puppet/type/plugin_zabbix_host.rb
@@ -66,6 +66,9 @@ Puppet::Type.newtype(:plugin_zabbix_host) do
     validate do |value|
       fail("groups is not an array") unless value.kind_of?(Array) or value.kind_of?(String)
       fail("groups array is empty") if value.empty?
+      if value.kind_of?(String) then
+        value = [value]
+      end
       value.each do |item|
         fail("group name is not a string") unless item.kind_of?(String)
         fail("group name is empty") unless item =~ /.+/
@@ -75,6 +78,10 @@ Puppet::Type.newtype(:plugin_zabbix_host) do
 
   newparam(:hostname) do
     desc 'Visible name of the host.'
+
+    validate do |value|
+        raise(Puppet::Error, 'Invalid value') unless value.kind_of?(String)
+    end
     newvalues(/.+/)
   end
 
diff --git a/deployment_scripts/puppet/modules/plugin_zabbix/spec/unit/provider/plugin_zabbix_spec.rb b/deployment_scripts/puppet/modules/plugin_zabbix/spec/unit/provider/plugin_zabbix_spec.rb
index 5810f68..eecb8cb 100644
--- a/deployment_scripts/puppet/modules/plugin_zabbix/spec/unit/provider/plugin_zabbix_spec.rb
+++ b/deployment_scripts/puppet/modules/plugin_zabbix/spec/unit/provider/plugin_zabbix_spec.rb
@@ -27,12 +27,12 @@ describe Puppet::Provider::Plugin_zabbix do
       mock = {'error' => {'code' => 0,
                           'message' => 'test error',
                           'data' => 'not a real error'}}
-      Puppet::Provider::Plugin_zabbix.expects(:make_request).returns(mock)
+      Puppet::Provider::Plugin_zabbix.expects(:make_request).at_least(2).returns(mock)
       fake_api = {'endpoint' => 'http://localhost',
                   'username' => 'Admin',
                   'password' => 'zabbix'}
       expect {
-        cls.api_request(fake_api, {})
+        cls.api_request(fake_api, {}, 2)
       }.to raise_error(Puppet::Error, /Zabbix API returned/)
     end