diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_utils/rax.py b/lib/ansible/module_utils/rax.py
index db8b6c4f3a4..a8f33208caf 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/module_utils/rax.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_utils/rax.py
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ def rax_required_together():
     return [['api_key', 'username']]
 
 
-def setup_rax_module(module, rax_module):
+def setup_rax_module(module, rax_module, region_required=True):
     rax_module.USER_AGENT = 'ansible/%s %s' % (ANSIBLE_VERSION,
                                                rax_module.USER_AGENT)
 
@@ -270,7 +270,8 @@ def setup_rax_module(module, rax_module):
     except Exception, e:
         module.fail_json(msg='%s' % e.message)
 
-    rax_module.USER_AGENT = 'ansible/%s %s' % (ANSIBLE_VERSION,
-                                               rax_module.USER_AGENT)
+    if region_required and region not in rax_module.regions:
+        module.fail_json(msg='%s is not a valid region, must be one of: %s' %
+                         (region, ','.join(rax_module.regions)))
 
     return rax_module
diff --git a/library/cloud/rax_dns b/library/cloud/rax_dns
index e726851d609..dacc4c672fe 100644
--- a/library/cloud/rax_dns
+++ b/library/cloud/rax_dns
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ def main():
     state = module.params.get('state')
     ttl = module.params.get('ttl')
 
-    setup_rax_module(module, pyrax)
+    setup_rax_module(module, pyrax, False)
 
     rax_dns(module, comment, email, name, state, ttl)
 
diff --git a/library/cloud/rax_dns_record b/library/cloud/rax_dns_record
index 561758f4fd8..a28f5b9a9b3 100644
--- a/library/cloud/rax_dns_record
+++ b/library/cloud/rax_dns_record
@@ -312,7 +312,7 @@ def main():
     ttl = module.params.get('ttl')
     record_type = module.params.get('type')
 
-    setup_rax_module(module, pyrax)
+    setup_rax_module(module, pyrax, False)
 
     if record_type.upper() == 'PTR':
         if not server and not loadbalancer: