diff --git a/data/data/aws/bootstrap/variables.tf b/data/data/aws/bootstrap/variables.tf
index fd7b1726142..f775eeb2313 100644
--- a/data/data/aws/bootstrap/variables.tf
+++ b/data/data/aws/bootstrap/variables.tf
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ variable "associate_public_ip_address" {
 
 variable "bucket" {
   type        = "string"
-  description = "The S3 bucket name for bootstrap ignition file."
+  description = "The S3 bucket name or ID for bootstrap ignition file."
 }
 
 variable "cluster_name" {
diff --git a/data/data/aws/main.tf b/data/data/aws/main.tf
index b350b1a24b5..2dccc59bac7 100644
--- a/data/data/aws/main.tf
+++ b/data/data/aws/main.tf
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ module "bootstrap" {
 
   ami                         = "${var.tectonic_aws_ec2_ami_override}"
   associate_public_ip_address = "${var.tectonic_aws_endpoints != "private"}"
-  bucket                      = "${aws_s3_bucket.tectonic.bucket}"
+  bucket                      = "${aws_s3_bucket.bootstrap.id}"
   cluster_name                = "${var.tectonic_cluster_name}"
   elbs                        = "${module.vpc.aws_lbs}"
   elbs_length                 = "${module.vpc.aws_lbs_length}"
@@ -130,10 +130,7 @@ resource "aws_route53_zone" "tectonic_int" {
     ), var.tectonic_aws_extra_tags)}"
 }
 
-resource "aws_s3_bucket" "tectonic" {
-  # bucket name is cluster_name + base domain, minus the trailing dot, if one exists
-  bucket = "${lower(var.tectonic_cluster_name)}.${join(".",(compact(split(".",var.tectonic_base_domain))))}"
-
+resource "aws_s3_bucket" "bootstrap" {
   acl = "private"
 
   tags = "${merge(map(
diff --git a/pkg/validate/validate.go b/pkg/validate/validate.go
index a755de68889..f712c67fbae 100644
--- a/pkg/validate/validate.go
+++ b/pkg/validate/validate.go
@@ -12,28 +12,6 @@ import (
 	"unicode/utf8"
 )
 
-const (
-	maxS3BucketNameLength = 63
-)
-
-// S3Bucket does some basic validation to ensure that the S3 bucket
-// matches the S3 bucket naming rules. Not all rules are checked
-// because Tectonic controls the generation of S3 bucket names, creating
-// buckets of the form: <cluster-name>.<domain-name>
-// If domain-name contains a trailing dot, it's removed from the bucket name.
-func S3Bucket(name string) error {
-	if len(name) < 3 {
-		return fmt.Errorf("the S3 bucket name %q is too short; S3 bucket names must contain at least three characters", name)
-	}
-	if len(name) > maxS3BucketNameLength {
-		return fmt.Errorf("the S3 bucket name %q is too long; S3 bucket names must be less than 63 characters", name)
-	}
-	if !regexp.MustCompile("^[a-z0-9][a-z0-9-.]{1,61}[a-z0-9]$").MatchString(name) {
-		return fmt.Errorf("invalid characters in S3 bucket name: %q", name)
-	}
-	return nil
-}
-
 // DomainName checks if the given string is a valid domain name and returns an error if not.
 func DomainName(v string) error {
 	if err := nonEmpty(v); err != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/validate/validate_test.go b/pkg/validate/validate_test.go
index e42559dfc85..9cef49e3e5c 100644
--- a/pkg/validate/validate_test.go
+++ b/pkg/validate/validate_test.go
@@ -10,46 +10,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 )
 
-func TestS3BucketNames(t *testing.T) {
-	cases := []struct {
-		name string
-		err  *regexp.Regexp
-	}{
-		{
-			name: "a.example.com",
-		},
-		{
-			name: "",
-			err:  regexp.MustCompile("^the S3 bucket name \"\" is too short; S3 bucket names must contain at least three characters$"),
-		},
-		{
-			name: ".a.example.com",
-			err:  regexp.MustCompile("^invalid characters in S3 bucket name: \".a.example.com\"$"),
-		},
-		{
-			name: "a.example.com.",
-			err:  regexp.MustCompile("^invalid characters in S3 bucket name: \"a.example.com.\"$"),
-		},
-		{
-			name: "a.012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789.com",
-			err:  regexp.MustCompile("^the S3 bucket name \"a.012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789.com\" is too long; S3 bucket names must be less than 63 characters$"),
-		},
-	}
-
-	for _, testCase := range cases {
-		t.Run(testCase.name, func(t *testing.T) {
-			err := S3Bucket(testCase.name)
-			if testCase.err == nil {
-				if err != nil {
-					t.Fatal(err)
-				}
-			} else {
-				assert.Regexp(t, testCase.err, err)
-			}
-		})
-	}
-}
-
 func TestLastIP(t *testing.T) {
 	cases := []struct {
 		in  net.IPNet