diff --git a/doc/source/configuration.rst b/doc/source/configuration.rst
index f48f25a34..e42582fb0 100644
--- a/doc/source/configuration.rst
+++ b/doc/source/configuration.rst
@@ -467,12 +467,27 @@ Example configuration::
 
   ``name``
     Identifier to refer this cloud-image from :ref:`labels` section.
+    Since this name appears elsewhere in the nodepool configuration
+    file, you may want to use your own descriptive name here and use
+    one of ``image-id`` or ``image-name`` to specify the cloud image
+    so that if the image name or id changes on the cloud, the impact
+    to your Nodepool configuration will be minimal.  However, if
+    neither of those attributes are provided, this is also assumed to
+    be the image name or ID in the cloud.
 
 **optional**
 
   ``config-drive`` (boolean)
     Whether config drive should be used for the cloud image. Default ``True``
 
+  ``image-id`` (str)
+    If this is provided, it is used to select the image from the cloud
+    provider by ID, rather than name.  Mutually exclusive with ``image-name``.
+
+  ``image-name`` (str)
+    If this is provided, it is used to select the image from the cloud
+    provider by this name or ID.  Mutually exclusive with ``image-id``.
+
 
 .. _pool_labels:
 
diff --git a/nodepool/cmd/config_validator.py b/nodepool/cmd/config_validator.py
index 88e62a3d1..d85d3aa4a 100644
--- a/nodepool/cmd/config_validator.py
+++ b/nodepool/cmd/config_validator.py
@@ -67,6 +67,8 @@ class ConfigValidator:
         provider_cloud_images = {
             'name': str,
             'config-drive': bool,
+            v.Exclusive('image-id', 'cloud-image-name-or-id'): str,
+            v.Exclusive('image-name', 'cloud-image-name-or-id'): str,
         }
 
         provider = {
diff --git a/nodepool/config.py b/nodepool/config.py
index 8f20e79bf..144b8a98a 100755
--- a/nodepool/config.py
+++ b/nodepool/config.py
@@ -250,6 +250,8 @@ def loadConfig(config_path):
             i = ProviderCloudImage()
             i.name = image['name']
             i.config_drive = image.get('config-drive', None)
+            i.image_id = image.get('image-id', None)
+            i.image_name = image.get('image-name', None)
             p.cloud_images[i.name] = i
         p.pools = {}
         for pool in provider.get('pools', []):
diff --git a/nodepool/launcher.py b/nodepool/launcher.py
index 56cfa413a..dbec1e7f8 100644
--- a/nodepool/launcher.py
+++ b/nodepool/launcher.py
@@ -294,7 +294,12 @@ class NodeLauncher(threading.Thread, StatsReporter):
             # image_external is what we use for OpenStack.
             # image_id is what we record in the node for zk.
             # image_name is what we log, so matches the config.
-            image_external = self._cloud_image.name
+            if self._cloud_image.image_id:
+                image_external = dict(id=self._cloud_image.image_id)
+            elif self._cloud_image.image_name:
+                image_external = self._cloud_image.image_name
+            else:
+                image_external = self._cloud_image.name
             image_id = self._cloud_image.name
             image_name = self._cloud_image.name