diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/YamlConfigurationLoader.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/YamlConfigurationLoader.java
index 2ca978f078..49418ac9f2 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/YamlConfigurationLoader.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/YamlConfigurationLoader.java
@@ -127,8 +127,13 @@ public class YamlConfigurationLoader implements ConfigurationLoader
         }
     }
 
-    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked") //getSingleData returns Object, not T
     public static <T> T fromMap(Map<String,Object> map, Class<T> klass)
+    {
+        return fromMap(map, true, klass);
+    }
+
+    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked") //getSingleData returns Object, not T
+    public static <T> T fromMap(Map<String,Object> map, boolean shouldCheck, Class<T> klass)
     {
         Constructor constructor = new YamlConfigurationLoader.CustomConstructor(klass, klass.getClassLoader());
         YamlConfigurationLoader.MissingPropertiesChecker propertiesChecker = new YamlConfigurationLoader.MissingPropertiesChecker();
@@ -144,7 +149,8 @@ public class YamlConfigurationLoader implements ConfigurationLoader
             }
         });
         T value = (T) constructor.getSingleData(klass);
-        propertiesChecker.check();
+        if (shouldCheck)
+            propertiesChecker.check();
         return value;
     }
 
diff --git a/test/distributed/org/apache/cassandra/distributed/Constants.java b/test/distributed/org/apache/cassandra/distributed/Constants.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b7d2d26104
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/distributed/org/apache/cassandra/distributed/Constants.java
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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 org.apache.cassandra.distributed;
+
+public final class Constants
+{
+    /**
+     * Property defined in {@link org.apache.cassandra.distributed.api.IInstanceConfig} which references the ID of the
+     * {@link org.apache.cassandra.distributed.api.ICluster}.
+     */
+    public static final String KEY_DTEST_API_CLUSTER_ID = "dtest.api.cluster_id";
+
+    /**
+     * Property used by Instances to determine if checking YAML configuration is required; set to false if validation
+     * of the YAML is not desired.
+     */
+    public static final String KEY_DTEST_API_CONFIG_CHECK = "dtest.api.config.check";
+}
diff --git a/test/distributed/org/apache/cassandra/distributed/UpgradeableCluster.java b/test/distributed/org/apache/cassandra/distributed/UpgradeableCluster.java
index bde5d4ea83..8653e47ee0 100644
--- a/test/distributed/org/apache/cassandra/distributed/UpgradeableCluster.java
+++ b/test/distributed/org/apache/cassandra/distributed/UpgradeableCluster.java
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ public class UpgradeableCluster extends AbstractCluster<IUpgradeableInstance> im
 
     protected IUpgradeableInstance newInstanceWrapper(int generation, Versions.Version version, IInstanceConfig config)
     {
+        config.set(Constants.KEY_DTEST_API_CONFIG_CHECK, false);
         return new Wrapper(generation, version, config);
     }
 
diff --git a/test/distributed/org/apache/cassandra/distributed/impl/AbstractCluster.java b/test/distributed/org/apache/cassandra/distributed/impl/AbstractCluster.java
index 5f2b6248c8..094604c84e 100644
--- a/test/distributed/org/apache/cassandra/distributed/impl/AbstractCluster.java
+++ b/test/distributed/org/apache/cassandra/distributed/impl/AbstractCluster.java
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ import org.apache.cassandra.db.ColumnFamilyStore;
 import org.apache.cassandra.db.Keyspace;
 import org.apache.cassandra.dht.IPartitioner;
 import org.apache.cassandra.dht.Token;
+import org.apache.cassandra.distributed.Constants;
 import org.apache.cassandra.distributed.api.ConsistencyLevel;
 import org.apache.cassandra.distributed.api.Feature;
 import org.apache.cassandra.distributed.api.ICluster;
@@ -330,7 +331,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractCluster<I extends IInstance> implements ICluster<I
         NetworkTopology topology = NetworkTopology.build(ipPrefix, broadcastPort, nodeIdTopology);
 
         InstanceConfig config = InstanceConfig.generate(nodeNum, ipAddress, topology, root, String.valueOf(token), seedIp, datadirCount);
-        config.set("dtest.api.cluster_id", clusterId.toString());
+        config.set(Constants.KEY_DTEST_API_CLUSTER_ID, clusterId.toString());
         if (configUpdater != null)
             configUpdater.accept(config);
 
diff --git a/test/distributed/org/apache/cassandra/distributed/impl/Instance.java b/test/distributed/org/apache/cassandra/distributed/impl/Instance.java
index 13179c0606..82251d73b3 100644
--- a/test/distributed/org/apache/cassandra/distributed/impl/Instance.java
+++ b/test/distributed/org/apache/cassandra/distributed/impl/Instance.java
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ import org.apache.cassandra.db.commitlog.CommitLog;
 import org.apache.cassandra.db.compaction.CompactionManager;
 import org.apache.cassandra.dht.IPartitioner;
 import org.apache.cassandra.dht.Token;
+import org.apache.cassandra.distributed.Constants;
 import org.apache.cassandra.distributed.api.ICluster;
 import org.apache.cassandra.distributed.api.ICoordinator;
 import org.apache.cassandra.distributed.api.IInstance;
@@ -625,7 +626,10 @@ public class Instance extends IsolatedExecutor implements IInvokableInstance
     private static Config loadConfig(IInstanceConfig overrides)
     {
         Map<String,Object> params = ((InstanceConfig) overrides).getParams();
-        return YamlConfigurationLoader.fromMap(params, Config.class);
+        boolean check = true;
+        if (overrides.get(Constants.KEY_DTEST_API_CONFIG_CHECK) != null)
+            check = (boolean) overrides.get(Constants.KEY_DTEST_API_CONFIG_CHECK);
+        return YamlConfigurationLoader.fromMap(params, check, Config.class);
     }
 
     private void initializeRing(ICluster cluster)