diff --git a/lib/vmpooler/providers/ec2.rb b/lib/vmpooler/providers/ec2.rb
index 7ef5e36..8f8f871 100644
--- a/lib/vmpooler/providers/ec2.rb
+++ b/lib/vmpooler/providers/ec2.rb
@@ -192,6 +192,13 @@ module Vmpooler
           raise("Instance creation not attempted, #{new_vmname} already exists") if get_vm(pool_name, new_vmname)
 
           subnet_id = get_subnet_id(pool_name)
+          domain_set = domain
+          if domain_set.nil?
+            name_to_use = new_vmname
+          else
+            name_to_use = "#{new_vmname}.#{domain_set}"
+          end
+
           tag = [
             {
               resource_type: 'instance', # accepts capacity-reservation, client-vpn-endpoint, customer-gateway, carrier-gateway, dedicated-host, dhcp-options, egress-only-internet-gateway, elastic-ip, elastic-gpu, export-image-task, export-instance-task, fleet, fpga-image, host-reservation, image, import-image-task, import-snapshot-task, instance, instance-event-window, internet-gateway, ipam, ipam-pool, ipam-scope, ipv4pool-ec2, ipv6pool-ec2, key-pair, launch-template, local-gateway, local-gateway-route-table, local-gateway-virtual-interface, local-gateway-virtual-interface-group, local-gateway-route-table-vpc-association, local-gateway-route-table-virtual-interface-group-association, natgateway, network-acl, network-interface, network-insights-analysis, network-insights-path, network-insights-access-scope, network-insights-access-scope-analysis, placement-group, prefix-list, replace-root-volume-task, reserved-instances, route-table, security-group, security-group-rule, snapshot, spot-fleet-request, spot-instances-request, subnet, subnet-cidr-reservation, traffic-mirror-filter, traffic-mirror-session, traffic-mirror-target, transit-gateway, transit-gateway-attachment, transit-gateway-connect-peer, transit-gateway-multicast-domain, transit-gateway-route-table, volume, vpc, vpc-endpoint, vpc-endpoint-service, vpc-peering-connection, vpn-connection, vpn-gateway, vpc-flow-log
@@ -206,7 +213,7 @@ module Vmpooler
                 },
                 {
                   key: 'lifetime', # required by AWS reaper
-                  value: get_current_lifetime(new_vmname)
+                  value: get_max_lifetime
                 },
                 {
                   key: 'created_by', # required by AWS reaper
@@ -226,7 +233,7 @@ module Vmpooler
                 },
                 {
                   key: 'Name',
-                  value: new_vmname
+                  value: name_to_use
                 }
               ]
             }
@@ -451,6 +458,12 @@ module Vmpooler
           end
         end
 
+        # returns max_lifetime_upper_limit in hours in the format Xh defaults to 12h
+        def get_max_lifetime
+          max_hours = global_config[:config]['max_lifetime_upper_limit'] || '12'
+          "#{max_hours}h"
+        end
+
         def get_current_job_url(vm_name)
           @redis.with_metrics do |redis|
             job = redis.hget("vmpooler__vm__#{vm_name}", 'tag:jenkins_build_url') || ''
@@ -464,8 +477,15 @@ module Vmpooler
           pool_configuration = pool_config(pool_name)
           return nil if pool_configuration.nil?
 
+          domain_set = domain
+          if domain_set.nil?
+            name_to_use = vm_object.private_dns_name
+          else
+            name_to_use = vm_object.tags.detect { |f| f.key == 'Name' }&.value
+          end
+
           {
-            'name' => vm_object.tags.detect { |f| f.key == 'vm_name' }&.value,
+            'name' => name_to_use,
             # 'hostname' => vm_object.hostname,
             'template' => pool_configuration&.key?('template') ? pool_configuration['template'] : nil, # was expecting to get it from API, not from config, but this is what vSphere does too!
             'poolname' => vm_object.tags.detect { |f| f.key == 'pool' }&.value,