diff --git a/charts/clabernetes/templates/deployment.yaml b/charts/clabernetes/templates/deployment.yaml
index 804ee784..a21360e0 100644
--- a/charts/clabernetes/templates/deployment.yaml
+++ b/charts/clabernetes/templates/deployment.yaml
@@ -25,11 +25,11 @@ spec:
     matchLabels:
       clabernetes/app: {{ .Values.appName }}
       release: {{ .Release.Name }}
-  replicas: {{ .Values.replicaCount }}
+  replicas: {{ .Values.manager.replicaCount }}
   strategy:
     rollingUpdate:
       maxSurge: 1
-      {{- if (eq (int .Values.replicaCount) 1) }}
+      {{- if (eq (int .Values.manager.replicaCount) 1) }}
       maxUnavailable: 0
       {{- else }}
       maxUnavailable: 1
@@ -138,10 +138,8 @@ spec:
                   fieldPath: metadata.namespace
             - name: CLIENT_OPERATION_TIMEOUT_MULTIPLIER
               value: "{{ .Values.manager.clientOperationTimeoutMultiplier }}"
-              {{- if .Values.manager.inClusterDNSSuffixOverride }}
-            - name:  IN_CLUSTER_DNS_SUFFIX_OVERRIDE
-              value: {{ .Values.manager.inClusterDNSSuffixOverride }}
-              {{- end }}
+            - name:  IN_CLUSTER_DNS_SUFFIX
+              value: {{ .Values.manager.inClusterDNSSuffix }}
             - name: MANAGER_LOGGER_LEVEL
               value: {{ .Values.manager.managerLogLevel }}
             - name: CONTROLLER_LOGGER_LEVEL
diff --git a/charts/clabernetes/values.yaml b/charts/clabernetes/values.yaml
index bdc1fc80..947a9839 100644
--- a/charts/clabernetes/values.yaml
+++ b/charts/clabernetes/values.yaml
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ manager:
   clientOperationTimeoutMultiplier: 1
   managerLogLevel: info
   controllerLogLevel: info
-  # inClusterDNSSuffixOverride: domain.or.whatever
+  inClusterDNSSuffix: svc.cluster.local
 
   # pod affinity settings, directly inserted into manager deployment spec; if not provided basic
   # common-sense anti-affinity is applied.
diff --git a/constants/env.go b/constants/env.go
index 6e399323..5261990a 100644
--- a/constants/env.go
+++ b/constants/env.go
@@ -18,9 +18,9 @@ const (
 	// operation timeout.
 	ClientOperationTimeoutMultiplierEnv = "CLIENT_OPERATION_TIMEOUT_MULTIPLIER"
 
-	// InClusterDNSSuffixOverrideEnv is the env var specifying an optional DNS suffix to replace the
-	// default value of 'svc.cluster.local".
-	InClusterDNSSuffixOverrideEnv = "IN_CLUSTER_DNS_SUFFIX_OVERRIDE"
+	// InClusterDNSSuffixEnv is the env var specifying the DNS suffix to use to resolve in cluster
+	// services, typically 'svc.cluster.local".
+	InClusterDNSSuffixEnv = "IN_CLUSTER_DNS_SUFFIX"
 )
 
 const (
diff --git a/controllers/topology/service.go b/controllers/topology/service.go
index 50282849..6779d555 100644
--- a/controllers/topology/service.go
+++ b/controllers/topology/service.go
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ func serviceConforms(
 // override value.
 func GetServiceDNSSuffix() string {
 	return clabernetesutil.GetEnvStrOrDefault(
-		clabernetesconstants.InClusterDNSSuffixOverrideEnv,
+		clabernetesconstants.InClusterDNSSuffixEnv,
 		clabernetesconstants.DefaultInClusterDNSSuffix,
 	)
 }
diff --git a/util/env.go b/util/env.go
index c15accea..10388fd2 100644
--- a/util/env.go
+++ b/util/env.go
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import (
 // if casting fails or the environment variable is not set.
 func GetEnvStrOrDefault(k, d string) string {
 	v, ok := os.LookupEnv(k)
-	if ok {
+	if ok && v != "" {
 		return v
 	}