diff --git a/plugins/terminal/vyos.py b/plugins/terminal/vyos.py
index fe7712f..8283927 100644
--- a/plugins/terminal/vyos.py
+++ b/plugins/terminal/vyos.py
@@ -1,53 +1,57 @@
 #
 # (c) 2016 Red Hat Inc.
 #
 # This file is part of Ansible
 #
 # Ansible is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 # it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 # the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
 # (at your option) any later version.
 #
 # Ansible is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 # but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 # MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 # GNU General Public License for more details.
 #
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with Ansible.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 #
 from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 
 __metaclass__ = type
 
 import os
 import re
 
 from ansible.plugins.terminal import TerminalBase
 from ansible.errors import AnsibleConnectionFailure
 
 
 class TerminalModule(TerminalBase):
 
     terminal_stdout_re = [
         re.compile(br"[\r\n]?[\w+\-\.:\/\[\]]+(?:\([^\)]+\)){,3}(?:>|#) ?$"),
         re.compile(br"\@[\w\-\.]+:\S+?[>#\$] ?$"),
     ]
 
     terminal_stderr_re = [
         re.compile(br"\n\s*Invalid command:"),
         re.compile(br"\nCommit failed"),
         re.compile(br"\n\s+Set failed"),
     ]
 
-    terminal_length = os.getenv("ANSIBLE_VYOS_TERMINAL_LENGTH", 10000)
+    try:
+        terminal_length = os.getenv('ANSIBLE_VYOS_TERMINAL_LENGTH', 10000)
+        terminal_length = int(terminal_length)
+    except ValueError:
+        raise AnsibleConnectionFailure("Invalid value set for vyos terminal length '%s', value should be a valid integer string" % terminal_length)
 
     def on_open_shell(self):
         try:
             for cmd in (b"set terminal length 0", b"set terminal width 512"):
                 self._exec_cli_command(cmd)
             self._exec_cli_command(
                 b"set terminal length %d" % self.terminal_length
             )
         except AnsibleConnectionFailure:
             raise AnsibleConnectionFailure("unable to set terminal parameters")