diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 86c932ad7..ee886f92b 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ example.nomad
 nomad_linux_amd64
 nomad_darwin_amd64
 TODO.md
+*.generated.go
+
 
 .terraform
 *.tfstate*
diff --git a/GNUmakefile b/GNUmakefile
index 118645cc2..2f09d5948 100644
--- a/GNUmakefile
+++ b/GNUmakefile
@@ -13,10 +13,10 @@ GOFILES_NOVENDOR = $(shell find . -type f -name '*.go' -not -path "./vendor/*")
 
 all: test
 
-dev: format
+dev: format generate
 	@NOMAD_DEV=1 sh -c "'$(PWD)/scripts/build.sh'"
 
-bin:
+bin: generate
 	@sh -c "'$(PWD)/scripts/build.sh'"
 
 release: 
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ cov:
 	gocov test ./... | gocov-html > /tmp/coverage.html
 	open /tmp/coverage.html
 
-test: 
+test: generate
 	@sh -c "'$(PWD)/scripts/test.sh'"
 	@$(MAKE) vet
 
@@ -37,6 +37,10 @@ format:
 	@echo "--> Running go fmt"
 	@go fmt $(PACKAGES)
 
+generate:
+	@echo "--> Running go generate"
+	@go generate $(PACKAGES)
+
 vet:
 	@go tool vet 2>/dev/null ; if [ $$? -eq 3 ]; then \
 		go get golang.org/x/tools/cmd/vet; \
diff --git a/nomad/core_sched_test.go b/nomad/core_sched_test.go
index 7ef97a510..249b071f9 100644
--- a/nomad/core_sched_test.go
+++ b/nomad/core_sched_test.go
@@ -407,4 +407,3 @@ func TestCoreScheduler_JobGC_Force(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
-
diff --git a/nomad/fsm.go b/nomad/fsm.go
index 7e9a57f3f..74449d17c 100644
--- a/nomad/fsm.go
+++ b/nomad/fsm.go
@@ -7,10 +7,10 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/armon/go-metrics"
-	"github.com/hashicorp/go-msgpack/codec"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/nomad/state"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/nomad/structs"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/raft"
+	"github.com/ugorji/go/codec"
 )
 
 const (
diff --git a/nomad/rpc.go b/nomad/rpc.go
index e52e258f0..a25566f11 100644
--- a/nomad/rpc.go
+++ b/nomad/rpc.go
@@ -55,13 +55,13 @@ const (
 // NewClientCodec returns a new rpc.ClientCodec to be used to make RPC calls to
 // the Nomad Server.
 func NewClientCodec(conn io.ReadWriteCloser) rpc.ClientCodec {
-	return msgpackrpc.NewCodecFromHandle(true, true, conn, structs.MsgpackHandle)
+	return msgpackrpc.NewCodecFromHandle(true, true, conn, structs.HashiMsgpackHandle)
 }
 
 // NewServerCodec returns a new rpc.ServerCodec to be used by the Nomad Server
 // to handle rpcs.
 func NewServerCodec(conn io.ReadWriteCloser) rpc.ServerCodec {
-	return msgpackrpc.NewCodecFromHandle(true, true, conn, structs.MsgpackHandle)
+	return msgpackrpc.NewCodecFromHandle(true, true, conn, structs.HashiMsgpackHandle)
 }
 
 // listen is used to listen for incoming RPC connections
diff --git a/nomad/structs/structs.go b/nomad/structs/structs.go
index c79878383..1e19f6973 100644
--- a/nomad/structs/structs.go
+++ b/nomad/structs/structs.go
@@ -13,11 +13,13 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/gorhill/cronexpr"
-	"github.com/hashicorp/go-msgpack/codec"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/go-multierror"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/go-version"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/helper/args"
 	"github.com/mitchellh/copystructure"
+	"github.com/ugorji/go/codec"
+
+	hcodec "github.com/hashicorp/go-msgpack/codec"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -2501,6 +2503,16 @@ var MsgpackHandle = func() *codec.MsgpackHandle {
 	return h
 }()
 
+var HashiMsgpackHandle = func() *hcodec.MsgpackHandle {
+	h := &hcodec.MsgpackHandle{RawToString: true}
+
+	// Sets the default type for decoding a map into a nil interface{}.
+	// This is necessary in particular because we store the driver configs as a
+	// nil interface{}.
+	h.MapType = reflect.TypeOf(map[string]interface{}(nil))
+	return h
+}()
+
 // Decode is used to decode a MsgPack encoded object
 func Decode(buf []byte, out interface{}) error {
 	return codec.NewDecoder(bytes.NewReader(buf), MsgpackHandle).Decode(out)
diff --git a/nomad/structs/structs_codegen.go b/nomad/structs/structs_codegen.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0ed7c3dc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nomad/structs/structs_codegen.go
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+package structs
+
+//go:generate codecgen -o structs.generated.go structs.go
diff --git a/nomad/timetable.go b/nomad/timetable.go
index 36076ce4a..faa97f6f7 100644
--- a/nomad/timetable.go
+++ b/nomad/timetable.go
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"sync"
 	"time"
 
-	"github.com/hashicorp/go-msgpack/codec"
+	"github.com/ugorji/go/codec"
 )
 
 // TimeTable is used to associate a Raft index with a timestamp.
diff --git a/nomad/timetable_test.go b/nomad/timetable_test.go
index a76446a13..4bc879ed7 100644
--- a/nomad/timetable_test.go
+++ b/nomad/timetable_test.go
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
-	"github.com/hashicorp/go-msgpack/codec"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/nomad/structs"
+	"github.com/ugorji/go/codec"
 )
 
 func TestTimeTable(t *testing.T) {