diff --git a/deepspeed/pt/deepspeed_config.py b/deepspeed/pt/deepspeed_config.py
index 5310a03d3ff6..47828da2f10d 100755
--- a/deepspeed/pt/deepspeed_config.py
+++ b/deepspeed/pt/deepspeed_config.py
@@ -165,6 +165,12 @@ def get_optimizer_legacy_fusion(param_dict):
         return LEGACY_FUSION_DEFAULT
 
 
+def get_zero_allow_untested_optimizer(param_dict):
+    return get_scalar_param(param_dict,
+                            ZERO_ALLOW_UNTESTED_OPTIMIZER,
+                            ZERO_ALLOW_UNTESTED_OPTIMIZER_DEFAULT)
+
+
 def get_scheduler_name(param_dict):
     if SCHEDULER in param_dict.keys() and \
             TYPE in param_dict[SCHEDULER].keys():
@@ -271,6 +277,9 @@ def _initialize_params(self, param_dict):
         self.optimizer_params = get_optimizer_params(param_dict)
         self.optimizer_legacy_fusion = get_optimizer_legacy_fusion(param_dict)
 
+        self.zero_allow_untested_optimizer = get_zero_allow_untested_optimizer(
+            param_dict)
+
         self.scheduler_name = get_scheduler_name(param_dict)
         self.scheduler_params = get_scheduler_params(param_dict)
 
diff --git a/deepspeed/pt/deepspeed_constants.py b/deepspeed/pt/deepspeed_constants.py
index 074d8128c116..429166b11953 100644
--- a/deepspeed/pt/deepspeed_constants.py
+++ b/deepspeed/pt/deepspeed_constants.py
@@ -31,6 +31,12 @@
 SCHEDULER_PARAMS = "params"
 MAX_GRAD_NORM = 'max_grad_norm'
 
+#############################################
+# Optimizer and lr scheduler
+#############################################
+ZERO_ALLOW_UNTESTED_OPTIMIZER = "zero_allow_untested_optimizer"
+ZERO_ALLOW_UNTESTED_OPTIMIZER_DEFAULT = False
+
 #############################################
 # Torch distributed constants
 #############################################
diff --git a/deepspeed/pt/deepspeed_light.py b/deepspeed/pt/deepspeed_light.py
index a4b228f13160..81375eba78d8 100755
--- a/deepspeed/pt/deepspeed_light.py
+++ b/deepspeed/pt/deepspeed_light.py
@@ -271,6 +271,9 @@ def scheduler_params(self):
     def zero_optimization(self):
         return self._config.zero_enabled
 
+    def zero_allow_untested_optimizer(self):
+        return self._config.zero_allow_untested_optimizer
+
     def allgather_size(self):
         return self._config.allgather_size
 
@@ -444,7 +447,10 @@ def _configure_optimizer(self, client_optimizer, model_parameters):
         logging.info('DeepSpeed Basic Optimizer = {}'.format(basic_optimizer))
 
         if self.zero_optimization():
-            if self.optimizer_name != ADAM_OPTIMIZER:
+            if self.optimizer_name() != ADAM_OPTIMIZER:
+                assert self.zero_allow_untested_optimizer(), \
+                'You are using an untested ZeRO Optimizer. Please add <"zero_allow_untested_optimizer": true> in the configuration file to use it.'
+
                 logging.warning(
                     "**** You are using ZeRO with an untested optimizer, proceed with caution *****"
                 )
diff --git a/tests/unit/simple_model.py b/tests/unit/simple_model.py
index 4561ae787c06..bdd9559102a5 100644
--- a/tests/unit/simple_model.py
+++ b/tests/unit/simple_model.py
@@ -18,6 +18,29 @@ def forward(self, x, y):
         return self.cross_entropy_loss(hidden_dim, y)
 
 
+class SimpleOptimizer(torch.optim.Optimizer):
+    def __init__(self, params, lr=0.11072018):
+        defaults = dict(lr=lr)
+        super(SimpleOptimizer, self).__init__(params, defaults)
+
+    def __setstate__(self, state):
+        super(SimpleOptimizer, self).__setstate__(state)
+
+    def step(self, closure=None):
+        loss = None
+        if closure is not None:
+            loss = closure()
+
+        for group in self.param_groups:
+            for p in group['params']:
+                if p.grad is None:
+                    continue
+                d_p = p.grad.data
+                p.data.add_(-group['lr'], d_p)
+
+        return loss
+
+
 def random_dataloader(model, total_samples, hidden_dim, device):
     batch_size = model.train_micro_batch_size_per_gpu()
     train_data = torch.randn(total_samples, hidden_dim, device=device, dtype=torch.half)
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_fp16.py b/tests/unit/test_fp16.py
index b2c91bff4c09..636e941c069e 100755
--- a/tests/unit/test_fp16.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_fp16.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 import json
 import os
 from common import distributed_test
-from simple_model import SimpleModel, random_dataloader, args_from_dict
+from simple_model import SimpleModel, SimpleOptimizer, random_dataloader, args_from_dict
 
 
 def test_lamb_fp16_basic(tmpdir):
@@ -289,3 +289,29 @@ def _test_zero_static_scale(args):
             model.step()
 
     _test_zero_static_scale(args)
+
+
+def test_zero_allow_untested_optimizer(tmpdir):
+    config_dict = {
+        "train_batch_size": 4,
+        "steps_per_print": 1,
+        "fp16": {
+            "enabled": True,
+        },
+        "zero_optimization": True,
+        "zero_allow_untested_optimizer": False
+    }
+    args = args_from_dict(tmpdir, config_dict)
+
+    @distributed_test(world_size=[1])
+    def _test_zero_allow_untested_optimizer(args):
+        hidden_dim = 10
+        model = SimpleModel(hidden_dim, empty_grad=True)
+        optimizer = SimpleOptimizer(model.parameters())
+        with pytest.raises(AssertionError):
+            model, optim, _,_ = deepspeed.initialize(args=args,
+                                                    model=model,
+                                                    optimizer=optimizer,
+                                                    model_parameters=model.parameters())
+
+    _test_zero_allow_untested_optimizer(args)