diff --git a/cmd/sonobuoy/app/args.go b/cmd/sonobuoy/app/args.go
index 1d59e1d69..8d98f3dc3 100644
--- a/cmd/sonobuoy/app/args.go
+++ b/cmd/sonobuoy/app/args.go
@@ -50,6 +50,26 @@ func AddNamespaceFlag(str *string, flags *pflag.FlagSet) {
 	)
 }
 
+// AddDNSNamespaceFlag initialises the dns-namespace flag.
+// The value of this flag is used during preflight checks to determine which namespace to use
+// when looking for the DNS pods.
+func AddDNSNamespaceFlag(str *string, flags *pflag.FlagSet) {
+	flags.StringVar(
+		str, "dns-namespace", config.DefaultDNSNamespace,
+		"The namespace to check for DNS pods during preflight checks.",
+	)
+}
+
+// AddDNSPodLabelsFlag initialises the dns-pod-labels flag.
+// The value of this flag is used during preflight checks to determine which labels to use
+// when looking for the DNS pods.
+func AddDNSPodLabelsFlag(str *[]string, flags *pflag.FlagSet) {
+	flags.StringSliceVar(
+		str, "dns-pod-labels", config.DefaultDNSPodLabels,
+		"The label selectors to use for locating DNS pods during preflight checks. Can be specified multiple times or as a comma-separated list.",
+	)
+}
+
 // AddModeFlag initialises a mode flag.
 // The mode is a preset configuration of sonobuoy configuration and e2e configuration variables.
 // Mode can be partially or fully overridden by specifying config, e2e-focus, and e2e-skip.
diff --git a/cmd/sonobuoy/app/e2e.go b/cmd/sonobuoy/app/e2e.go
index 5340bc2f9..5b94c345f 100644
--- a/cmd/sonobuoy/app/e2e.go
+++ b/cmd/sonobuoy/app/e2e.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/vmware-tanzu/sonobuoy/pkg/client"
 	"github.com/vmware-tanzu/sonobuoy/pkg/errlog"
+
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
@@ -114,9 +115,12 @@ func e2es(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
 	}
 
 	if !e2eflags.skipPreflight {
-		errs := sonobuoy.PreflightChecks(&client.PreflightConfig{
-			Namespace: e2eflags.namespace,
-		})
+		pcfg := &client.PreflightConfig{
+			Namespace:    runflags.namespace,
+			DNSNamespace: runflags.dnsNamespace,
+			DNSPodLabels: runflags.dnsPodLabels,
+		}
+		errs := sonobuoy.PreflightChecks(pcfg)
 		if len(errs) > 0 {
 			errlog.LogError(errors.New("Preflight checks failed"))
 			for _, err := range errs {
diff --git a/cmd/sonobuoy/app/gen.go b/cmd/sonobuoy/app/gen.go
index 8fcbdb967..e56c9251d 100644
--- a/cmd/sonobuoy/app/gen.go
+++ b/cmd/sonobuoy/app/gen.go
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/vmware-tanzu/sonobuoy/pkg/config"
 	"github.com/vmware-tanzu/sonobuoy/pkg/errlog"
 	imagepkg "github.com/vmware-tanzu/sonobuoy/pkg/image"
+
 	"github.com/imdario/mergo"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
@@ -38,6 +39,8 @@ type genFlags struct {
 	rbacMode                    RBACMode
 	kubecfg                     Kubeconfig
 	namespace                   string
+	dnsNamespace                string
+	dnsPodLabels                []string
 	sonobuoyImage               string
 	kubeConformanceImage        string
 	sshKeyPath                  string
@@ -78,6 +81,8 @@ func GenFlagSet(cfg *genFlags, rbac RBACMode) *pflag.FlagSet {
 	AddShowDefaultPodSpecFlag(&cfg.showDefaultPodSpec, genset)
 
 	AddNamespaceFlag(&cfg.namespace, genset)
+	AddDNSNamespaceFlag(&cfg.dnsNamespace, genset)
+	AddDNSPodLabelsFlag(&cfg.dnsPodLabels, genset)
 	AddSonobuoyImage(&cfg.sonobuoyImage, genset)
 	AddKubeConformanceImage(&cfg.kubeConformanceImage, genset)
 	AddKubeConformanceImageVersion(&cfg.kubeConformanceImageVersion, genset)
diff --git a/cmd/sonobuoy/app/run.go b/cmd/sonobuoy/app/run.go
index d3ed0bf57..a8abe20fe 100644
--- a/cmd/sonobuoy/app/run.go
+++ b/cmd/sonobuoy/app/run.go
@@ -97,7 +97,12 @@ func submitSonobuoyRun(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
 	}
 
 	if !runflags.skipPreflight {
-		if errs := sbc.PreflightChecks(&client.PreflightConfig{Namespace: runflags.namespace}); len(errs) > 0 {
+		pcfg := &client.PreflightConfig{
+			Namespace:    runflags.namespace,
+			DNSNamespace: runflags.dnsNamespace,
+			DNSPodLabels: runflags.dnsPodLabels,
+		}
+		if errs := sbc.PreflightChecks(pcfg); len(errs) > 0 {
 			errlog.LogError(errors.New("Preflight checks failed"))
 			for _, err := range errs {
 				errlog.LogError(err)
diff --git a/pkg/client/interfaces.go b/pkg/client/interfaces.go
index 45da4e895..286d4c836 100644
--- a/pkg/client/interfaces.go
+++ b/pkg/client/interfaces.go
@@ -176,7 +176,9 @@ func (sc *StatusConfig) Validate() error {
 
 // PreflightConfig are the options passed to PreflightChecks.
 type PreflightConfig struct {
-	Namespace string
+	Namespace    string
+	DNSNamespace string
+	DNSPodLabels []string
 }
 
 // Validate checks the config to determine if it is valid.
diff --git a/pkg/client/preflight.go b/pkg/client/preflight.go
index f6ffc466b..cb12da646 100644
--- a/pkg/client/preflight.go
+++ b/pkg/client/preflight.go
@@ -20,8 +20,9 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"strings"
 
-	version "github.com/hashicorp/go-version"
 	"github.com/vmware-tanzu/sonobuoy/pkg/buildinfo"
+
+	version "github.com/hashicorp/go-version"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	apicorev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
@@ -84,23 +85,21 @@ func (c *SonobuoyClient) PreflightChecks(cfg *PreflightConfig) []error {
 
 func preflightDNSCheck(client kubernetes.Interface, cfg *PreflightConfig) error {
 	return dnsCheck(
-		client.CoreV1().Pods(kubeSystemNamespace).List,
-		expectedDNSLabels...,
+		client.CoreV1().Pods(cfg.DNSNamespace).List,
+		cfg.DNSNamespace,
+		cfg.DNSPodLabels...,
 	)
 }
 
-func dnsCheck(listPods listFunc, dnsLabels ...string) error {
+func dnsCheck(listPods listFunc, dnsNamespace string, dnsLabels ...string) error {
 	if len(dnsLabels) == 0 {
 		return nil
 	}
 
 	var nPods = 0
-	for _, labelValue := range dnsLabels {
-		selector := metav1.AddLabelToSelector(&metav1.LabelSelector{}, kubeDNSLabelKey, labelValue)
+	for _, label := range dnsLabels {
 
-		obj, err := listPods(
-			metav1.ListOptions{LabelSelector: metav1.FormatLabelSelector(selector)},
-		)
+		obj, err := listPods(metav1.ListOptions{LabelSelector: label})
 		if err != nil {
 			return errors.Wrap(err, "could not retrieve list of pods")
 		}
@@ -112,7 +111,7 @@ func dnsCheck(listPods listFunc, dnsLabels ...string) error {
 	}
 
 	if nPods == 0 {
-		return fmt.Errorf("no dns pods found with the labels [%s] in namespace kube-system", strings.Join(dnsLabels, ", "))
+		return fmt.Errorf("no dns pods found with the labels [%s] in namespace %s", strings.Join(dnsLabels, ", "), dnsNamespace)
 	}
 
 	return nil
diff --git a/pkg/client/preflight_test.go b/pkg/client/preflight_test.go
index befe4d04f..e93ead6f0 100644
--- a/pkg/client/preflight_test.go
+++ b/pkg/client/preflight_test.go
@@ -133,10 +133,11 @@ func (f *fakeServerVersionInterface) ServerVersion() (*k8sversion.Info, error) {
 
 func TestDNSCheck(t *testing.T) {
 	testCases := []struct {
-		desc      string
-		lister    listFunc
-		dnsLabels []string
-		expectErr string
+		desc         string
+		lister       listFunc
+		dnsNamespace string
+		dnsLabels    []string
+		expectErr    string
 	}{
 		{
 			desc: "Needs only a single pod",
@@ -147,7 +148,8 @@ func TestDNSCheck(t *testing.T) {
 					},
 				}, nil
 			},
-			dnsLabels: []string{"foo"},
+			dnsNamespace: "dns-namespace",
+			dnsLabels:    []string{"foo"},
 		}, {
 			desc: "Multiple pods OK",
 			lister: func(metav1.ListOptions) (*apicorev1.PodList, error) {
@@ -158,14 +160,16 @@ func TestDNSCheck(t *testing.T) {
 					},
 				}, nil
 			},
-			dnsLabels: []string{"foo"},
+			dnsNamespace: "dns-namespace",
+			dnsLabels:    []string{"foo"},
 		}, {
 			desc: "Requires at least one pod",
 			lister: func(metav1.ListOptions) (*apicorev1.PodList, error) {
 				return &apicorev1.PodList{}, nil
 			},
-			dnsLabels: []string{"foo"},
-			expectErr: "no dns pods found with the labels [foo] in namespace kube-system",
+			dnsNamespace: "dns-namespace",
+			dnsLabels:    []string{"foo"},
+			expectErr:    "no dns pods found with the labels [foo] in namespace dns-namespace",
 		}, {
 			desc: "Skipped if no labels required",
 			lister: func(metav1.ListOptions) (*apicorev1.PodList, error) {
@@ -175,7 +179,7 @@ func TestDNSCheck(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	for _, tc := range testCases {
 		t.Run(tc.desc, func(t *testing.T) {
-			err := dnsCheck(tc.lister, tc.dnsLabels...)
+			err := dnsCheck(tc.lister, tc.dnsNamespace, tc.dnsLabels...)
 			if err != nil && len(tc.expectErr) == 0 {
 				t.Fatalf("Expected nil error but got %q", err)
 			}
diff --git a/pkg/config/config.go b/pkg/config/config.go
index 9dc489f82..4d57266cd 100644
--- a/pkg/config/config.go
+++ b/pkg/config/config.go
@@ -58,6 +58,9 @@ const (
 	DefaultQueryBurst = 50
 	// DefaultProgressUpdatesPort is the port on which the Sonobuoy worker will listen for status updates from its plugin.
 	DefaultProgressUpdatesPort = "8099"
+
+	// DefaultDNSNamespace is the namespace where the DNS pods for the cluster are found.
+	DefaultDNSNamespace = "kube-system"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -112,6 +115,12 @@ var (
 		"validatingwebhookconfigurations",
 		"volumeattachments",
 	}
+
+	// DefaultDNSPodLabels are the label selectors that are used to locate the DNS pods in the cluster.
+	DefaultDNSPodLabels = []string{
+		"k8s-app=kube-dns",
+		"k8s-app=coredns",
+	}
 )
 
 // FilterOptions allow operators to select sets to include in a report