diff --git a/probe/kubernetes/reporter.go b/probe/kubernetes/reporter.go
index f7e20acf0..58f5b1341 100644
--- a/probe/kubernetes/reporter.go
+++ b/probe/kubernetes/reporter.go
@@ -561,7 +561,7 @@ func (r *Reporter) podTopology(services []Service, deployments []Deployment, dae
 	}
 
 	var localPodUIDs map[string]struct{}
-	if r.nodeName == "" {
+	if r.nodeName == "" && r.kubeletPort != 0 {
 		// We don't know the node name: fall back to obtaining the local pods from kubelet
 		var err error
 		localPodUIDs, err = GetLocalPodUIDs(fmt.Sprintf("127.0.0.1:%d", r.kubeletPort))
diff --git a/prog/main.go b/prog/main.go
index d9e51ec68..b133a6918 100644
--- a/prog/main.go
+++ b/prog/main.go
@@ -330,7 +330,7 @@ func setupFlags(flags *flags) {
 	flag.StringVar(&flags.probe.kubernetesClientConfig.User, "probe.kubernetes.user", "", "The name of the kubeconfig user to use")
 	flag.StringVar(&flags.probe.kubernetesClientConfig.Username, "probe.kubernetes.username", "", "Username for basic authentication to the API server")
 	flag.StringVar(&flags.probe.kubernetesNodeName, "probe.kubernetes.node-name", "", "Name of this node, for filtering pods")
-	flag.UintVar(&flags.probe.kubernetesKubeletPort, "probe.kubernetes.kubelet-port", 10255, "Node-local TCP port for contacting kubelet")
+	flag.UintVar(&flags.probe.kubernetesKubeletPort, "probe.kubernetes.kubelet-port", 10255, "Node-local TCP port for contacting kubelet (zero to disable)")
 
 	// AWS ECS
 	flag.BoolVar(&flags.probe.ecsEnabled, "probe.ecs", false, "Collect ecs-related attributes for containers on this node")