diff --git a/src/emuvim/api/openstack/compute.py b/src/emuvim/api/openstack/compute.py
index d632de3..910bc22 100755
--- a/src/emuvim/api/openstack/compute.py
+++ b/src/emuvim/api/openstack/compute.py
@@ -520,10 +520,19 @@
         Docker does not like too long instance names.
         This function provides a shorter name if needed
         """
+        # fix for NetSoft'17 demo
+        # TODO remove this after the demo
+        if "http" in name or "apache" in name:
+            return "http"
+        elif "l4fw" in name or "socat" in name:
+            return "l4fw"
+        elif "proxy" in name or "squid" in name:
+            return "proxy"
         # this is a ugly fix, but we cannot do better for now (interface names are to long)
         if len(name) > char_limit:
             LOG.info("Long server name: {}".format(name))
             # construct a short name
+            name = name.strip("-_ .")
             name = name.replace("_vnf", "")
             p = name.split("_")
             if len(p) > 0: