diff --git a/DataSourceVMwareGuestInfo.py b/DataSourceVMwareGuestInfo.py
index eae842d..2cb589a 100644
--- a/DataSourceVMwareGuestInfo.py
+++ b/DataSourceVMwareGuestInfo.py
@@ -22,10 +22,12 @@
 import collections
 import copy
 from distutils.spawn import find_executable
+from distutils.util import strtobool
 import json
 import os
 import socket
 import string
+import time
 import zlib
 
 from cloudinit import log as logging
@@ -44,6 +46,9 @@
 LOCAL_IPV4 = 'local-ipv4'
 LOCAL_IPV6 = 'local-ipv6'
 CLEANUP_GUESTINFO = 'cleanup-guestinfo'
+WAIT_ON_NETWORK = 'wait-on-network'
+WAIT_ON_NETWORK_IPV4 = 'ipv4'
+WAIT_ON_NETWORK_IPV6 = 'ipv6'
 
 
 class NetworkConfigError(Exception):
@@ -143,8 +148,7 @@
         brought up the OS at this point.
         """
 
-        # Get information about the host.
-        host_info = get_host_info()
+        host_info = wait_on_network(self.metadata)
         LOG.info("got host-info: %s", host_info)
 
         # Reflect any possible local IPv4 or IPv6 addresses in the guest
@@ -633,6 +637,42 @@
     return host_info
 
 
+def wait_on_network(metadata):
+    # Determine whether we need to wait on the network coming online.
+    wait_on_ipv4 = False
+    wait_on_ipv6 = False
+    if WAIT_ON_NETWORK in metadata:
+        wait_on_network = metadata[WAIT_ON_NETWORK]
+        if WAIT_ON_NETWORK_IPV4 in wait_on_network:
+            wait_on_ipv4_val = wait_on_network[WAIT_ON_NETWORK_IPV4]
+            if isinstance(wait_on_ipv4_val, bool):
+                wait_on_ipv4 = wait_on_ipv4_val
+            else:
+                wait_on_ipv4 = bool(strtobool(wait_on_ipv4_val))
+        if WAIT_ON_NETWORK_IPV6 in wait_on_network:
+            wait_on_ipv6_val = wait_on_network[WAIT_ON_NETWORK_IPV6]
+            if isinstance(wait_on_ipv6_val, bool):
+                wait_on_ipv6 = wait_on_ipv6_val
+            else:
+                wait_on_ipv6 = bool(strtobool(wait_on_ipv6_val))
+
+    # Get information about the host.
+    host_info = None
+    while host_info == None:
+        host_info = get_host_info()
+        if wait_on_ipv4 and LOCAL_IPV4 not in host_info:
+            LOG.info("ipv4 not ready")
+            host_info = None
+        if wait_on_ipv6 and LOCAL_IPV6 not in host_info:
+            LOG.info("ipv6 not ready")
+            host_info = None
+        if host_info == None:
+            LOG.info("waiting on network")
+            time.sleep(1)
+
+    return host_info
+
+
 def get_data_access_method():
     if os.environ.get(VMX_GUESTINFO, ""):
         return VMX_GUESTINFO
@@ -645,8 +685,9 @@
     '''
     Executed when this file is used as a program.
     '''
-    metadata = {'network': {'config': {'dhcp': True}}}
-    host_info = get_host_info()
+    metadata = {'wait-on-network': {'ipv4': True, 'ipv6': "false"},
+                'network': {'config': {'dhcp': True}}}
+    host_info = wait_on_network(metadata)
     metadata = always_merger.merge(metadata, host_info)
     print(util.json_dumps(metadata))
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 37afd50..aab2e78 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -180,6 +180,20 @@
 
 It is possible that a host may not have any default, local IP addresses. It's also possible the reported, local addresses are link-local addresses. But these two keys may be used to discover what this datasource determined were the local IPv4 and IPv6 addresses for a host.
 
+### Waiting on the network
+
+Sometimes cloud-init may bring up the network, but it will not finish coming online before the datasource's `setup` function is called, resulting in an `/var/run/cloud-init/instance-data.json` file that does not have the correct network information. It is possible to instruct the datasource to wait until an IPv4 or IPv6 address is available before writing the instance data with the following metadata properties:
+
+```yaml
+wait-on-network:
+  ipv4: true
+  ipv6: true
+```
+
+If either of the above values are true, then the datasource will sleep for a second, check the network status, and repeat until one or both addresses from the specified families are available.
+
+
+
 ## Building the RPM
 
 Building the RPM locally is handled via Docker. Simple execute the following command: