diff --git a/apps/config/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/config/AddressEntry.java b/apps/config/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/config/AddressEntry.java
index 318aebd..081efed 100644
--- a/apps/config/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/config/AddressEntry.java
+++ b/apps/config/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/config/AddressEntry.java
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 import java.util.List;
 
 import org.codehaus.jackson.annotate.JsonProperty;
-import org.onlab.packet.IpPrefix;
-import org.onlab.packet.MacAddress;
 
 /**
  * Represents a set of addresses bound to a port.
@@ -12,8 +10,8 @@
 public class AddressEntry {
     private String dpid;
     private short portNumber;
-    private List<IpPrefix> ipAddresses;
-    private MacAddress macAddress;
+    private List<String> ipAddresses;
+    private String macAddress;
 
     public String getDpid() {
         return dpid;
@@ -33,21 +31,21 @@
         this.portNumber = portNumber;
     }
 
-    public List<IpPrefix> getIpAddresses() {
+    public List<String> getIpAddresses() {
         return ipAddresses;
     }
 
     @JsonProperty("ips")
-    public void setIpAddresses(List<IpPrefix> ipAddresses) {
-        this.ipAddresses = ipAddresses;
+    public void setIpAddresses(List<String> strIps) {
+        this.ipAddresses = strIps;
     }
 
-    public MacAddress getMacAddress() {
+    public String getMacAddress() {
         return macAddress;
     }
 
     @JsonProperty("mac")
-    public void setMacAddress(MacAddress macAddress) {
+    public void setMacAddress(String macAddress) {
         this.macAddress = macAddress;
     }
 }
diff --git a/apps/config/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/config/NetworkConfigReader.java b/apps/config/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/config/NetworkConfigReader.java
index 985c4a2..4f1a48a 100644
--- a/apps/config/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/config/NetworkConfigReader.java
+++ b/apps/config/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/config/NetworkConfigReader.java
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.Set;
 
 import org.apache.felix.scr.annotations.Activate;
 import org.apache.felix.scr.annotations.Component;
@@ -17,10 +19,10 @@
 import org.onlab.onos.net.PortNumber;
 import org.onlab.onos.net.host.HostAdminService;
 import org.onlab.onos.net.host.PortAddresses;
+import org.onlab.packet.IpPrefix;
+import org.onlab.packet.MacAddress;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 
-import com.google.common.collect.Sets;
-
 /**
  * Simple configuration module to read in supplementary network configuration
  * from a file.
@@ -51,9 +53,29 @@
                         DeviceId.deviceId(dpidToUri(entry.getDpid())),
                         PortNumber.portNumber(entry.getPortNumber()));
 
+                Set<IpPrefix> ipAddresses = new HashSet<IpPrefix>();
+
+                for (String strIp : entry.getIpAddresses()) {
+                    try {
+                        IpPrefix address = IpPrefix.valueOf(strIp);
+                        ipAddresses.add(address);
+                    } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+                        log.warn("Bad format for IP address in config: {}", strIp);
+                    }
+                }
+
+                MacAddress macAddress = null;
+                if (entry.getMacAddress() != null) {
+                    try {
+                        macAddress = MacAddress.valueOf(entry.getMacAddress());
+                    } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+                        log.warn("Bad format for MAC address in config: {}",
+                                entry.getMacAddress());
+                    }
+                }
+
                 PortAddresses addresses = new PortAddresses(cp,
-                        Sets.newHashSet(entry.getIpAddresses()),
-                        entry.getMacAddress());
+                        ipAddresses, macAddress);
 
                 hostAdminService.bindAddressesToPort(addresses);
             }