diff --git a/armada/cli/__init__.py b/armada/cli/__init__.py
index ee00494a..3f0ab7aa 100644
--- a/armada/cli/__init__.py
+++ b/armada/cli/__init__.py
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@
 from oslo_config import cfg
 from oslo_log import log as logging
 
+
+from armada import conf
+conf.set_app_default_configs()
+
 CONF = cfg.CONF
 
 LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
diff --git a/armada/conf/default.py b/armada/conf/default.py
index d7316900..b48cd3c7 100644
--- a/armada/conf/default.py
+++ b/armada/conf/default.py
@@ -30,6 +30,13 @@ default_options = [
         default='http://0.0.0.0/v3',
         help=utils.fmt('The default Keystone authentication url.')),
 
+    cfg.StrOpt(
+        'certs',
+        default=None,
+        help=utils.fmt("""
+Absolute path to the certificate file to use for chart registries
+""")),
+
     cfg.StrOpt(
         'kubernetes_config_path',
         default='/home/user/.kube/',
diff --git a/armada/handlers/armada.py b/armada/handlers/armada.py
index 57aadc57..abc27a22 100644
--- a/armada/handlers/armada.py
+++ b/armada/handlers/armada.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 import difflib
 import yaml
 
+from oslo_config import cfg
 from oslo_log import log as logging
 from supermutes.dot import dotify
 
@@ -32,7 +33,7 @@ from armada.utils import lint
 from armada import const
 
 LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
-
+CONF = cfg.CONF
 DEFAULT_TIMEOUT = 3600
 
 
@@ -144,7 +145,14 @@ class Armada(object):
             ch.get('chart')['source_dir'] = (location, subpath)
         elif ct_type == 'tar':
             LOG.info('Downloading tarball from: %s', location)
-            tarball_dir = source.get_tarball(location)
+
+            if not CONF.certs:
+                LOG.warn(
+                    'Disabling server validation certs to extract charts')
+                tarball_dir = source.get_tarball(location, verify=False)
+            else:
+                tarball_dir = source.get_tarball(location, verify=CONF.cert)
+
             ch.get('chart')['source_dir'] = (tarball_dir, subpath)
         elif ct_type == 'git':
             reference = ch.get('chart').get('source').get(
diff --git a/armada/tests/unit/utils/test_source.py b/armada/tests/unit/utils/test_source.py
index 43775372..e29b0e41 100644
--- a/armada/tests/unit/utils/test_source.py
+++ b/armada/tests/unit/utils/test_source.py
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ class GitTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
             source.download_tarball(url)
 
         mock_temp.mkstemp.assert_called_once()
-        mock_requests.get.assert_called_once_with(url)
+        mock_requests.get.assert_called_once_with(url, verify=False)
         mock_open.assert_called_once_with('/tmp/armada', 'wb')
         mock_open().write.assert_called_once_with(
             mock_requests.get(url).content)
diff --git a/armada/utils/source.py b/armada/utils/source.py
index 8e60c36b..d6ea2002 100644
--- a/armada/utils/source.py
+++ b/armada/utils/source.py
@@ -12,15 +12,16 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-from os import path
 import os
-import requests
 import shutil
 import tarfile
 import tempfile
+from os import path
 
-from git import Repo
+import requests
 from git import Git
+from git import Repo
+from requests.packages import urllib3
 
 from armada.exceptions import source_exceptions
 
@@ -50,23 +51,28 @@ def git_clone(repo_url, ref='master'):
     return _tmp_dir
 
 
-def get_tarball(tarball_url):
-    tarball_path = download_tarball(tarball_url)
+def get_tarball(tarball_url, verify=False):
+    tarball_path = download_tarball(tarball_url, verify=verify)
     return extract_tarball(tarball_path)
 
 
-def download_tarball(tarball_url):
+def download_tarball(tarball_url, verify=False):
     '''
     Downloads a tarball to /tmp and returns the path
     '''
     try:
+        if not verify:
+            urllib3.disable_warnings(urllib3.exceptions.InsecureRequestWarning)
+
         tarball_filename = tempfile.mkstemp(prefix='armada')[1]
-        response = requests.get(tarball_url)
+        response = requests.get(tarball_url, verify=verify)
+
         with open(tarball_filename, 'wb') as f:
             f.write(response.content)
+
+        return tarball_filename
     except Exception:
         raise source_exceptions.TarballDownloadException(tarball_url)
-    return tarball_filename
 
 
 def extract_tarball(tarball_path):