diff --git a/server/src/com/cloud/network/router/VirtualNetworkApplianceManagerImpl.java b/server/src/com/cloud/network/router/VirtualNetworkApplianceManagerImpl.java
index f66a6360623..b06199783fe 100755
--- a/server/src/com/cloud/network/router/VirtualNetworkApplianceManagerImpl.java
+++ b/server/src/com/cloud/network/router/VirtualNetworkApplianceManagerImpl.java
@@ -152,6 +152,7 @@ import com.cloud.uservm.UserVm;
 import com.cloud.utils.NumbersUtil;
 import com.cloud.utils.Pair;
 import com.cloud.utils.PasswordGenerator;
+import com.cloud.utils.StringUtils;
 import com.cloud.utils.component.ComponentLocator;
 import com.cloud.utils.component.Inject;
 import com.cloud.utils.concurrency.NamedThreadFactory;
@@ -598,10 +599,10 @@ public class VirtualNetworkApplianceManagerImpl implements VirtualNetworkApplian
         cmd.setAccessDetail(NetworkElementCommand.ROUTER_NAME, router.getInstanceName());
 
         cmd.addVmData("userdata", "user-data", userData);
-        cmd.addVmData("metadata", "service-offering", serviceOffering);
-        cmd.addVmData("metadata", "availability-zone", zoneName);
+        cmd.addVmData("metadata", "service-offering", StringUtils.unicodeEscape(serviceOffering));
+        cmd.addVmData("metadata", "availability-zone", StringUtils.unicodeEscape(zoneName));
         cmd.addVmData("metadata", "local-ipv4", guestIpAddress);
-        cmd.addVmData("metadata", "local-hostname", vmName);
+        cmd.addVmData("metadata", "local-hostname", StringUtils.unicodeEscape(vmName));
         cmd.addVmData("metadata", "public-ipv4", router.getPublicIpAddress());
         cmd.addVmData("metadata", "public-hostname", router.getPublicIpAddress());
         cmd.addVmData("metadata", "instance-id", vmInstanceName);
diff --git a/utils/src/com/cloud/utils/StringUtils.java b/utils/src/com/cloud/utils/StringUtils.java
index ab50829de64..2b3e7ba2ce6 100644
--- a/utils/src/com/cloud/utils/StringUtils.java
+++ b/utils/src/com/cloud/utils/StringUtils.java
@@ -24,7 +24,11 @@ import java.util.List;
 
 // StringUtils exists in Apache Commons Lang, but rather than import the entire JAR to our system, for now
 // just implement the method needed
-public class StringUtils {
+public class StringUtils {
+	private static final char[] hexChar = {
+        '0','1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9','A','B','C','D','E','F'
+    };
+	
     public static String join(Iterable<? extends Object> iterable, String delim) {
         StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
         if (iterable != null) {
@@ -97,4 +101,22 @@ public class StringUtils {
     	
     	return sb.toString();
     }
+    
+    public static String unicodeEscape(String s) {
+    	StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
+    	for (int i = 0; i < s.length(); i++) {
+    	    char c = s.charAt(i);
+    	    if ((c >> 7) > 0) {
+	    		sb.append("\\u");
+	    		sb.append(hexChar[(c >> 12) & 0xF]); // append the hex character for the left-most 4-bits
+	    		sb.append(hexChar[(c >> 8) & 0xF]);  // hex for the second group of 4-bits from the left
+	    		sb.append(hexChar[(c >> 4) & 0xF]);  // hex for the third group
+	    		sb.append(hexChar[c & 0xF]);         // hex for the last group, e.g., the right most 4-bits
+    	    }
+    	    else {
+	    		sb.append(c);
+    	    }
+    	}
+    	return sb.toString();
+    }
 }