diff --git a/controllers/nginx/configuration.md b/controllers/nginx/configuration.md
index 8a65d1949..9d4bd03ea 100644
--- a/controllers/nginx/configuration.md
+++ b/controllers/nginx/configuration.md
@@ -227,9 +227,6 @@ http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_core_module.html#keepalive_timeout
 **proxy-buffer-size:** Sets the size of the buffer used for [reading the first part of the response](http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_proxy_module.html#proxy_buffer_size) received from the proxied server. This part usually contains a small response header.`
 
 
-**resolver:** Configures name servers used to [resolve](http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_core_module.html#resolver) names of upstream servers into addresses
-
-
 **server-name-hash-max-size:** Sets the maximum size of the [server names hash tables](http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_core_module.html#server_names_hash_max_size) used in server names, map directive’s values, MIME types, names of request header strings, etc.
 http://nginx.org/en/docs/hash.html
 
diff --git a/controllers/nginx/pkg/template/configmap.go b/controllers/nginx/pkg/template/configmap.go
index 09bce6d00..83adac4bb 100644
--- a/controllers/nginx/pkg/template/configmap.go
+++ b/controllers/nginx/pkg/template/configmap.go
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ import (
 
 	"k8s.io/ingress/controllers/nginx/pkg/config"
 	"k8s.io/ingress/core/pkg/ingress/defaults"
+	"k8s.io/ingress/core/pkg/net/dns"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -97,6 +98,13 @@ func ReadConfig(conf *api.ConfigMap) config.Configuration {
 	if err != nil {
 		glog.Infof("%v", err)
 	}
+
+	nss, err := dns.GetSystemNameServers()
+	if err != nil {
+		glog.Infof("unexpected error reading /etc/resolv.conf file: %v", err)
+	}
+	to.Resolver = nss
+
 	return to
 }
 
diff --git a/controllers/nginx/pkg/template/template.go b/controllers/nginx/pkg/template/template.go
index 59c6c844f..43b62d2bd 100644
--- a/controllers/nginx/pkg/template/template.go
+++ b/controllers/nginx/pkg/template/template.go
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/base64"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
+	"net"
 	"os/exec"
 	"strings"
 	text_template "text/template"
@@ -29,6 +30,7 @@ import (
 
 	"k8s.io/ingress/controllers/nginx/pkg/config"
 	"k8s.io/ingress/core/pkg/ingress"
+	ing_net "k8s.io/ingress/core/pkg/net"
 	"k8s.io/ingress/core/pkg/watch"
 )
 
@@ -134,6 +136,7 @@ var (
 		"buildRateLimitZones":         buildRateLimitZones,
 		"buildRateLimit":              buildRateLimit,
 		"buildSSPassthroughUpstreams": buildSSPassthroughUpstreams,
+		"buildResolvers":              buildResolvers,
 
 		"contains":  strings.Contains,
 		"hasPrefix": strings.HasPrefix,
@@ -143,6 +146,27 @@ var (
 	}
 )
 
+// buildResolvers returns the resolvers reading the /etc/resolv.conf file
+func buildResolvers(a interface{}) string {
+	// NGINX need IPV6 addresses to be surrounded by brakets
+	nss := a.([]net.IP)
+	if len(nss) == 0 {
+		return ""
+	}
+
+	r := []string{"resolver"}
+	for _, ns := range nss {
+		if ing_net.IsIPV6(ns) {
+			r = append(r, fmt.Sprintf("[%v]", ns))
+		} else {
+			r = append(r, fmt.Sprintf("%v", ns))
+		}
+	}
+	r = append(r, "valid=30s;")
+
+	return strings.Join(r, " ")
+}
+
 func buildSSPassthroughUpstreams(b interface{}, sslb interface{}) string {
 	backends := b.([]*ingress.Backend)
 	sslBackends := sslb.([]*ingress.SSLPassthroughBackend)
diff --git a/controllers/nginx/rootfs/etc/nginx/template/nginx.tmpl b/controllers/nginx/rootfs/etc/nginx/template/nginx.tmpl
index ac3754b78..12f320c88 100644
--- a/controllers/nginx/rootfs/etc/nginx/template/nginx.tmpl
+++ b/controllers/nginx/rootfs/etc/nginx/template/nginx.tmpl
@@ -85,10 +85,7 @@ http {
     access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log upstreaminfo if=$loggable;
     error_log  /var/log/nginx/error.log {{ $cfg.ErrorLogLevel }};
 
-    {{ if not (empty $cfg.Resolver) }}# Custom dns resolver.
-    resolver {{ $cfg.Resolver }} valid=30s;
-    resolver_timeout 10s;
-    {{ end }}
+    {{ buildResolvers $cfg.Resolver }}
 
     {{/* Whenever nginx proxies a request without a "Connection" header, the "Connection" header is set to "close" */}}
     {{/* when making the target request.  This means that you cannot simply use */}}
diff --git a/core/pkg/ingress/controller/controller.go b/core/pkg/ingress/controller/controller.go
index 29e889f6a..46679ee99 100644
--- a/core/pkg/ingress/controller/controller.go
+++ b/core/pkg/ingress/controller/controller.go
@@ -992,7 +992,7 @@ func (ic *GenericController) getEndpoints(
 			}
 
 			// check for invalid port value
-			if targetPort <=0 {
+			if targetPort <= 0 {
 				continue
 			}
 
diff --git a/core/pkg/ingress/defaults/main.go b/core/pkg/ingress/defaults/main.go
index 9c85ba404..bd90576a6 100644
--- a/core/pkg/ingress/defaults/main.go
+++ b/core/pkg/ingress/defaults/main.go
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 package defaults
 
+import "net"
+
 // Backend defines the mandatory configuration that an Ingress controller must provide
 // The reason of this requirements is the annotations are generic. If some implementation do not supports
 // one or more annotations it just can provides defaults
@@ -30,9 +32,9 @@ type Backend struct {
 	// http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_proxy_module.html#proxy_buffer_size)
 	ProxyBufferSize string `structs:"proxy-buffer-size"`
 
-	// Configures name servers used to resolve names of upstream servers into addresses
-	// http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_core_module.html#resolver
-	Resolver string `structs:"resolver"`
+	// Name server/s used to resolve names of upstream servers into IP addresses.
+	// The file /etc/resolv.conf is used as DNS resolution configuration.
+	Resolver []net.IP
 
 	// SkipAccessLogURLs sets a list of URLs that should not appear in the NGINX access log
 	// This is useful with urls like `/health` or `health-check` that make "complex" reading the logs
diff --git a/core/pkg/net/dns/dns.go b/core/pkg/net/dns/dns.go
index 1988d987c..d381904e5 100644
--- a/core/pkg/net/dns/dns.go
+++ b/core/pkg/net/dns/dns.go
@@ -18,15 +18,18 @@ package dns
 
 import (
 	"io/ioutil"
+	"net"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/golang/glog"
 )
 
+var defResolvConf = "/etc/resolv.conf"
+
 // GetSystemNameServers returns the list of nameservers located in the file /etc/resolv.conf
-func GetSystemNameServers() ([]string, error) {
-	var nameservers []string
-	file, err := ioutil.ReadFile("/etc/resolv.conf")
+func GetSystemNameServers() ([]net.IP, error) {
+	var nameservers []net.IP
+	file, err := ioutil.ReadFile(defResolvConf)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nameservers, err
 	}
@@ -43,10 +46,13 @@ func GetSystemNameServers() ([]string, error) {
 			continue
 		}
 		if fields[0] == "nameserver" {
-			nameservers = append(nameservers, fields[1:]...)
+			ip := net.ParseIP(fields[1])
+			if ip != nil {
+				nameservers = append(nameservers, ip)
+			}
 		}
 	}
 
-	glog.V(3).Infof("nameservers to use: %v", nameservers)
+	glog.V(3).Infof("nameservers IP address/es to use: %v", nameservers)
 	return nameservers, nil
 }
diff --git a/core/pkg/net/dns/dns_test.go b/core/pkg/net/dns/dns_test.go
index 488929e88..1b99da1d7 100644
--- a/core/pkg/net/dns/dns_test.go
+++ b/core/pkg/net/dns/dns_test.go
@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@ limitations under the License.
 package dns
 
 import (
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"net"
+	"os"
 	"testing"
 )
 
@@ -28,4 +31,31 @@ func TestGetDNSServers(t *testing.T) {
 	if len(s) < 1 {
 		t.Error("expected at least 1 nameserver in /etc/resolv.conf")
 	}
+
+	file, err := ioutil.TempFile("", "fw")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+	}
+	defer file.Close()
+	defer os.Remove(file.Name())
+
+	ioutil.WriteFile(file.Name(), []byte(`
+	nameserver 2001:4860:4860::8844
+	nameserver 2001:4860:4860::8888
+	nameserver 8.8.8.8
+	`), 0644)
+
+	defResolvConf = file.Name()
+	s, err = GetSystemNameServers()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected error reading /etc/resolv.conf file: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(s) < 3 {
+		t.Errorf("expected at 3 nameservers but %v returned", len(s))
+	}
+
+	eip := net.ParseIP("2001:4860:4860::8844")
+	if !s[0].Equal(eip) {
+		t.Errorf("expected %v as nameservers but %v returned", eip, s[0])
+	}
 }
diff --git a/core/pkg/net/net.go b/core/pkg/net/net.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cc4891aa5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/pkg/net/net.go
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2015 The Kubernetes Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package net
+
+import (
+	_net "net"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+// IsIPV6 checks if the input contains a valid IPV6 address
+func IsIPV6(ip _net.IP) bool {
+	if dp := strings.Index(ip.String(), ":"); dp != -1 {
+		return true
+	}
+	return false
+}
diff --git a/core/pkg/net/net_test.go b/core/pkg/net/net_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..21b7bf5a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/pkg/net/net_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2015 The Kubernetes Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package net
+
+import (
+	"net"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestIsIPV6(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		in     net.IP
+		isIPV6 bool
+	}{
+		{net.ParseIP("2001:4860:4860::8844"), true},
+		{net.ParseIP("2001:4860:4860::8888"), true},
+		{net.ParseIP("0:0:0:0:0:ffff:c868:8165"), true},
+		{net.ParseIP("2001:db8:85a3::8a2e:370:7334"), true},
+		{net.ParseIP("::1"), true},
+		{net.ParseIP("8.8.8.8"), false},
+	}
+
+	for _, test := range tests {
+		isIPV6 := IsIPV6(test.in)
+		if isIPV6 && !test.isIPV6 {
+			t.Fatalf("%v expected %v but returned %v", test.in, test.isIPV6, isIPV6)
+		}
+	}
+}