diff --git a/integration/scripts/trovestack b/integration/scripts/trovestack
index 405a04956c..0636fb4b73 100755
--- a/integration/scripts/trovestack
+++ b/integration/scripts/trovestack
@@ -1283,29 +1283,29 @@ function cmd_dsvm_gate_tests() {
     exclaim "Running cmd_dsvm_gate_tests ..."
 
     # Sometimes in the gate the ACTUAL_HOSTNAME is blank - this code attempts to debug it
-    if [[ -z "${CONTROLLER_IP}" ]]; then
+    if [[ -z "${CONTROLLER_IP// }" ]]; then
         echo "*** CONTROLLER_IP is blank, trying to determine actual hostname"
         local hostname_part=$(hostname -I)
-        echo "Hostname pass 1: $hostname_part"
+        echo "Hostname pass 1: '$hostname_part'"
         hostname_part=$(echo $hostname_part | sed 's/[0-9a-z][0-9a-z]*:.*:[0-9a-z][0-9a-z]*//g')
-        echo "Hostname pass 2: $hostname_part"
+        echo "Hostname pass 2: '$hostname_part'"
         hostname_part_no_ip6=$hostname_part
         hostname_part=$(echo $hostname_part | sed 's/[0-9]*\.[0-9]*\.[0-9]*\.1\b//g')
-        echo "Hostname pass 3: $hostname_part"
-        if [[ -z "${hostname_part}" ]]; then
+        echo "Hostname pass 3: '$hostname_part'"
+        if [[ -z "${hostname_part// }" ]]; then
             # This seems to occur when the actual hostname ends with '.1'
             # If this happens, take the first one that doesn't start with '192' or '172'
             hostname_part=$(echo $hostname_part_no_ip6 | sed 's/1[79]2\.[0-9]*\.[0-9]*\.1\b//g')
-            echo "Hostname pass 3a: $hostname_part"
+            echo "Hostname pass 3a: '$hostname_part'"
         fi
         hostname_part=$(echo $hostname_part | sed 's/ /\n/g')
-        echo "Hostname pass 4: $hostname_part"
+        echo "Hostname pass 4: '$hostname_part'"
         hostname_part=$(echo $hostname_part | sed '/^$/d')
-        echo "Hostname pass 5: $hostname_part"
+        echo "Hostname pass 5: '$hostname_part'"
         hostname_part=$(echo $hostname_part | sort -bu)
-        echo "Hostname pass 6: $hostname_part"
+        echo "Hostname pass 6: '$hostname_part'"
         hostname_part=$(echo $hostname_part | head -1)
-        echo "Hostname pass 7: $hostname_part"
+        echo "Hostname pass 7: '$hostname_part'"
         CONTROLLER_IP=$hostname_part
         echo "*** CONTROLLER_IP was blank (CONTROLLER_IP now set to '$CONTROLLER_IP')"
     fi