diff --git a/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/key/DeviceKeyId.java b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/key/DeviceKeyId.java
index ad401a1..6339e38 100644
--- a/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/key/DeviceKeyId.java
+++ b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/key/DeviceKeyId.java
@@ -18,11 +18,15 @@
 
 import org.onlab.util.Identifier;
 
+import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkArgument;
+
 /**
  * Device key identifier backed by a string value.
  */
 public final class DeviceKeyId extends Identifier<String> {
 
+    private static final int ID_MAX_LENGTH = 1024;
+
     /**
      * Constructor for serialization.
      */
@@ -46,6 +50,9 @@
      * @return device key identifier
      */
     public static DeviceKeyId deviceKeyId(String id) {
+        if (id != null) {
+            checkArgument(id.length() <= ID_MAX_LENGTH, "id exceeds maximum length " + ID_MAX_LENGTH);
+        }
         return new DeviceKeyId(id);
     }