diff --git a/doc/source/developer-docs/inventory.rst b/doc/source/developer-docs/inventory.rst
index 6080363987..634ea3369c 100644
--- a/doc/source/developer-docs/inventory.rst
+++ b/doc/source/developer-docs/inventory.rst
@@ -124,6 +124,9 @@ Using the ``--check`` flag when running ``dynamic_inventory.py`` will run the
 inventory build process and look for known errors, but not write any files to
 disk.
 
+If any groups defined in the ``openstack_user_config.yml`` or ``conf.d`` files
+are not found in the environment, a warning will be raised.
+
 This check does not do YAML syntax validation, though it will fail if there
 are unparseable errors.
 
diff --git a/lib/generate.py b/lib/generate.py
index e8aaf2608e..1a76604361 100755
--- a/lib/generate.py
+++ b/lib/generate.py
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import Queue
 import random
 import tarfile
 import uuid
+import warnings
 import yaml
 
 logger = logging.getLogger('osa-inventory')
@@ -1053,6 +1054,34 @@ def _check_config_settings(cidr_networks, config, container_skel):
     _check_lxc_hosts(config)
 
 
+def _check_all_conf_groups_present(config, environment):
+    """Verifies that all groups defined in the config are in the environment
+
+    If a group is in config but not the environment, a warning will be raised.
+    Multiple warnings can be raised, and the return value will be set to False.
+
+    If all groups found are in the environment, the function returns True
+
+    :param config: ``dict`` user's provided configuration
+    :param environment: ``dict`` group membership mapping
+    :rtype: bool, True if all groups are in environment, False otherwise
+    """
+    excludes = ('global_overrides', 'cidr_networks', 'used_ips')
+    config_groups = [k for k in config.keys() if k not in excludes]
+    env_groups = environment['physical_skel'].keys()
+
+    retval = True
+
+    for group in config_groups:
+        if group not in env_groups:
+            msg = ("Group %s was found in configuration but "
+                   "not the environment." % group)
+            warnings.warn(msg)
+
+            retval = False
+    return retval
+
+
 def load_environment(config_path, environment):
     """Create an environment dictionary from config files
 
@@ -1224,7 +1253,8 @@ def main(config=None, check=False, debug=False, environment=None, **kwargs):
     )
 
     if check:
-        return 'Configuration ok!'
+        if _check_all_conf_groups_present(user_defined_config, environment):
+            return 'Configuration ok!'
 
     # Generate a list of all hosts and their used IP addresses
     hostnames_ips = {}
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/inventory-check-groups-1cc245cdcbb999df.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/inventory-check-groups-1cc245cdcbb999df.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8371fb13dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/inventory-check-groups-1cc245cdcbb999df.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+features:
+  - The ``--check`` parameter for ``dynamic_inventory.py`` will now raise
+    warnings if there are any groups defined in the user configuration that
+    are not also found in the environment definition.
diff --git a/tests/test_inventory.py b/tests/test_inventory.py
index 706dcc6d98..caad0cb375 100644
--- a/tests/test_inventory.py
+++ b/tests/test_inventory.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ from os import path
 import Queue
 import sys
 import unittest
+import warnings
 import yaml
 
 INV_DIR = 'playbooks/inventory'
@@ -1207,5 +1208,59 @@ class TestLxcHosts(TestConfigCheckBase):
             get_inventory()
 
 
+class TestConfigMatchesEnvironment(unittest.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.env = di.load_environment(BASE_ENV_DIR, {})
+
+    def test_matching_keys(self):
+        config = get_config()
+
+        result = di._check_all_conf_groups_present(config, self.env)
+        self.assertTrue(result)
+
+    def test_failed_match(self):
+        bad_config = get_config()
+        bad_config['bogus_key'] = []
+
+        result = di._check_all_conf_groups_present(bad_config, self.env)
+        self.assertFalse(result)
+
+    def test_extra_config_key_warning(self):
+        bad_config = get_config()
+        bad_config['bogus_key'] = []
+        with warnings.catch_warnings(record=True) as wl:
+            di._check_all_conf_groups_present(bad_config, self.env)
+            self.assertEqual(1, len(wl))
+            self.assertTrue('bogus_key' in str(wl[0].message))
+
+    def test_multiple_extra_keys(self):
+        bad_config = get_config()
+        bad_config['bogus_key1'] = []
+        bad_config['bogus_key2'] = []
+
+        with warnings.catch_warnings(record=True) as wl:
+            di._check_all_conf_groups_present(bad_config, self.env)
+            self.assertEqual(2, len(wl))
+            warn_msgs = [str(warn.message) for warn in wl]
+            warn_msgs.sort()
+            self.assertTrue('bogus_key1' in warn_msgs[0])
+            self.assertTrue('bogus_key2' in warn_msgs[1])
+
+    def test_confirm_exclusions(self):
+        """Ensure the the excluded keys in the function are present."""
+        config = get_config()
+        excluded_keys = ('global_overrides', 'cidr_networks', 'used_ips')
+
+        for key in excluded_keys:
+            config[key] = 'sentinel value'
+
+        with warnings.catch_warnings(record=True) as wl:
+            di._check_all_conf_groups_present(config, self.env)
+            self.assertEqual(0, len(wl))
+
+        for key in excluded_keys:
+            self.assertIn(key, config.keys())
+
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()