diff --git a/templates/avicontroller.j2 b/templates/avicontroller.j2
index 72037b1..5653ab1 100644
--- a/templates/avicontroller.j2
+++ b/templates/avicontroller.j2
@@ -7,6 +7,11 @@
 container=avicontroller
 logfile="/var/log/${container}.log"
 
+# The following value is the management device that the controller will use.
+# This interface is managed by the service and is used when working with clusters
+# to properly shut down the sub-interface when a new master is chosen.
+AVICONTROLLER_DEV_NAME="{{ con_dev_name }}"
+
 write_log() {
   echo $1 2>&1 | tee -a ${logfile}
 }