diff --git a/asconf/asconf.go b/asconf/asconf.go
index 632084f..c88a552 100644
--- a/asconf/asconf.go
+++ b/asconf/asconf.go
@@ -2,7 +2,10 @@ package asconf
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"sort"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/aerospike/aerospike-management-lib/asconfig"
 	"github.com/go-logr/logr"
@@ -59,21 +62,85 @@ func NewAsconf(source []byte, srcFmt, outFmt Format, aerospikeVersion string, lo
 	return ac, err
 }
 
-func (ac *asconf) Validate() error {
+type ValidationErr struct {
+	asconfig.ValidationErr
+}
+
+type VErrSlice []ValidationErr
+
+func (a VErrSlice) Len() int           { return len(a) }
+func (a VErrSlice) Swap(i, j int)      { a[i], a[j] = a[j], a[i] }
+func (a VErrSlice) Less(i, j int) bool { return strings.Compare(a[i].Error(), a[j].Error()) == -1 }
+
+func (o ValidationErr) Error() string {
+	verrTemplate := "description: %s, error-type: %s"
+	return fmt.Sprintf(verrTemplate, o.Description, o.ErrType)
+}
+
+type ValidationErrors struct {
+	Errors VErrSlice
+}
+
+func (o ValidationErrors) Error() string {
+	errorsByContext := map[string]VErrSlice{}
+
+	sort.Sort(o.Errors)
+
+	for _, err := range o.Errors {
+		errorsByContext[err.Context] = append(errorsByContext[err.Context], err)
+	}
+
+	contexts := []string{}
+	for ctx := range errorsByContext {
+		contexts = append(contexts, ctx)
+	}
+
+	sort.Strings(contexts)
+
+	errString := ""
+
+	for _, ctx := range contexts {
+		errString += fmt.Sprintf("context: %s\n", ctx)
+
+		errList := errorsByContext[ctx]
+		for _, err := range errList {
+
+			// filter "Must validate one and only one schema " errors
+			// I have never seen a useful one and they seem to always be
+			// accompanied by another more useful error that will be displayed
+			if err.ErrType == "number_one_of" {
+				continue
+			}
+
+			errString += fmt.Sprintf("\t- %s\n", err.Error())
+		}
+	}
+
+	return errString
+}
+
+// Validate validates the parsed configuration in ac against
+// the Aerospike schema matching ac.aerospikeVersion.
+// ValidationErrors is not nil if any errors during validation occur.
+// ValidationErrors Error() method outputs a human readable string of validation error details.
+// error is not nil if validation, or any other type of error occurs.
+func (ac *asconf) Validate() (*ValidationErrors, error) {
 
-	valid, validationErrors, err := ac.cfg.IsValid(ac.managementLibLogger, ac.aerospikeVersion)
+	valid, tempVerrs, err := ac.cfg.IsValid(ac.managementLibLogger, ac.aerospikeVersion)
 
-	if len(validationErrors) > 0 {
-		for _, e := range validationErrors {
-			ac.logger.Errorf("Aerospike config validation error: %+v", e)
+	verrs := ValidationErrors{}
+	for _, v := range tempVerrs {
+		verr := ValidationErr{
+			ValidationErr: *v,
 		}
+		verrs.Errors = append(verrs.Errors, verr)
 	}
 
-	if !valid || err != nil || len(validationErrors) > 0 {
-		return fmt.Errorf("%w, %w", ErrConfigValidation, err)
+	if !valid || err != nil || len(verrs.Errors) > 0 {
+		return &verrs, errors.Join(ErrConfigValidation, err)
 	}
 
-	return err
+	return nil, nil
 }
 
 func (ac *asconf) MarshalText() (text []byte, err error) {
diff --git a/asconf/asconf_test.go b/asconf/asconf_test.go
index 9eb7e0f..f5551df 100644
--- a/asconf/asconf_test.go
+++ b/asconf/asconf_test.go
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ func Test_asconf_Validate(t *testing.T) {
 				src:                 tt.fields.src,
 				aerospikeVersion:    tt.fields.aerospikeVersion,
 			}
-			if err := ac.Validate(); (err != nil) != tt.wantErr {
+			if _, err := ac.Validate(); (err != nil) != tt.wantErr {
 				t.Errorf("asconf.Validate() error = %v, wantErr %v", err, tt.wantErr)
 			}
 		})
diff --git a/cmd/convert.go b/cmd/convert.go
index cb7b6bb..7f879e8 100644
--- a/cmd/convert.go
+++ b/cmd/convert.go
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ var convertCmd = newConvertCmd()
 
 func newConvertCmd() *cobra.Command {
 	res := &cobra.Command{
-		Use:   "convert [flags] <path/to/config.yaml>",
+		Use:   "convert [flags] <path/to/config_file>",
 		Short: "Convert between yaml and Aerospike config format.",
 		Long: `Convert is used to convert between yaml and aerospike configuration
 				files. Input files are converted to their opposite format, yaml -> conf, conf -> yaml.
@@ -115,9 +115,9 @@ func newConvertCmd() *cobra.Command {
 			}
 
 			if !force {
-				err = conf.Validate()
-				if err != nil {
-					return err
+				verrs, err := conf.Validate()
+				if err != nil || verrs != nil {
+					return errors.Join(err, verrs)
 				}
 			}
 
@@ -222,7 +222,8 @@ func newConvertCmd() *cobra.Command {
 
 	// flags and configuration settings
 	// aerospike-version is marked required in this cmd's PreRun if the --force flag is not provided
-	res.Flags().StringP("aerospike-version", "a", "", "Aerospike server version to validate the configuration file for. Ex: 6.2.0.\nThe first 3 digits of the Aerospike version number are required.\nThis option is required unless --force is used")
+	commonFlags := getCommonFlags()
+	res.Flags().AddFlagSet(commonFlags)
 	res.Flags().BoolP("force", "f", false, "Override checks for supported server version and config validation")
 	res.Flags().StringP("output", "o", os.Stdout.Name(), "File path to write output to")
 
diff --git a/cmd/diff_test.go b/cmd/diff_test.go
index bb1da13..596c516 100644
--- a/cmd/diff_test.go
+++ b/cmd/diff_test.go
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ type runTestDiff struct {
 	expectError bool
 }
 
-var testArgs = []runTestDiff{
+var testDiffArgs = []runTestDiff{
 	{
 		flags:       []string{},
 		arguments:   []string{"not_enough_args"},
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ var testArgs = []runTestDiff{
 func TestRunEDiff(t *testing.T) {
 	cmd := diffCmd
 
-	for i, test := range testArgs {
+	for i, test := range testDiffArgs {
 		cmd.ParseFlags(test.flags)
 		err := cmd.RunE(cmd, test.arguments)
 		if test.expectError == (err == nil) {
diff --git a/cmd/utils.go b/cmd/utils.go
index 3c67cd1..e65639f 100644
--- a/cmd/utils.go
+++ b/cmd/utils.go
@@ -8,8 +8,17 @@ import (
 	"github.com/aerospike/asconfig/asconf"
 
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
 )
 
+// common flags
+func getCommonFlags() *pflag.FlagSet {
+	res := &pflag.FlagSet{}
+	res.StringP("aerospike-version", "a", "", "Aerospike server version to validate the configuration file for. Ex: 6.2.0.\nThe first 3 digits of the Aerospike version number are required.\nThis option is required unless --force is used.")
+
+	return res
+}
+
 // getConfFileFormat guesses the format of an input config file
 // based on file extension and the --format flag of the cobra command
 // this function implements the defaults scheme for file formats in asconfig
diff --git a/cmd/validate.go b/cmd/validate.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b193d47
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/validate.go
@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+package cmd
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+
+	"github.com/aerospike/asconfig/asconf"
+	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+)
+
+const (
+	validateArgMax = 1
+)
+
+var (
+	errValidateTooManyArguments = fmt.Errorf("expected a maximum of %d arguments", convertArgMax)
+)
+
+func init() {
+	rootCmd.AddCommand(validateCmd)
+}
+
+var validateCmd = newValidateCmd()
+
+func newValidateCmd() *cobra.Command {
+	res := &cobra.Command{
+		Use:   "validate [flags] <path/to/config_file>",
+		Short: "Validate an Aerospike configuration file.",
+		Long: `Validate an Aerospike configuration file in any supported format
+				against a versioned Aerospike configuration schema.
+				If a file passes validation nothing is output, otherwise errors
+				indicating problems with the configuration file are shown.
+				If a file path is not provided, validate reads from stdin.
+				Ex: asconfig validate --aerospike-version 7.0.0 aerospike.conf`,
+		RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
+			logger.Debug("Running validate command")
+
+			if len(args) > validateArgMax {
+				return errValidateTooManyArguments
+			}
+
+			// read stdin by default
+			var srcPath string
+			if len(args) == 0 {
+				srcPath = os.Stdin.Name()
+			} else {
+				srcPath = args[0]
+			}
+
+			version, err := cmd.Flags().GetString("aerospike-version")
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+
+			logger.Debugf("Processing flag aerospike-version value=%s", version)
+
+			srcFormat, err := getConfFileFormat(srcPath, cmd)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+
+			logger.Debugf("Processing flag format value=%v", srcFormat)
+
+			fdata, err := os.ReadFile(srcPath)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+
+			conf, err := asconf.NewAsconf(
+				fdata,
+				srcFormat,
+				// we aren't converting to anything so set
+				// output format to Invalid as a place holder
+				asconf.Invalid,
+				version,
+				logger,
+				managementLibLogger,
+			)
+
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+
+			verrs, err := conf.Validate()
+			if verrs != nil {
+				// force validation errors to be written to stdout
+				// so they can more easily be grepd etc.
+				cmd.Print(verrs.Error())
+				return errors.Join(asconf.ErrConfigValidation, SilentError)
+			}
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+
+			return err
+		},
+	}
+
+	// flags and configuration settings
+	commonFlags := getCommonFlags()
+	res.Flags().AddFlagSet(commonFlags)
+	res.MarkFlagRequired("aerospike-version")
+
+	res.Version = VERSION
+
+	return res
+}
diff --git a/cmd/validate_test.go b/cmd/validate_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6964af6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/validate_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+//go:build unit
+// +build unit
+
+package cmd
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+)
+
+type runTestValidate struct {
+	flags       []string
+	arguments   []string
+	expectError bool
+}
+
+var testValidateArgs = []runTestValidate{
+	{
+		flags:       []string{},
+		arguments:   []string{"too", "many", "args"},
+		expectError: true,
+	},
+	{
+		// missing arg to -a-aerospike-version
+		flags:       []string{"--aerospike-version"},
+		arguments:   []string{"../testdata/sources/all_flash_cluster_cr.yaml"},
+		expectError: true,
+	},
+	{
+		flags:       []string{"--aerospike-version"},
+		arguments:   []string{"./bad_extension.ymml"},
+		expectError: true,
+	},
+	{
+		flags:       []string{"--aerospike-version", "bad_version"},
+		arguments:   []string{"../testdata/sources/all_flash_cluster_cr.yaml"},
+		expectError: true,
+	},
+	{
+		flags:       []string{"--aerospike-version", "6.4.0"},
+		arguments:   []string{"./fake_file.yaml"},
+		expectError: true,
+	},
+	{
+		flags:       []string{"--aerospike-version", "6.4.0"},
+		arguments:   []string{"../testdata/cases/server64/server64.yaml"},
+		expectError: false,
+	},
+	{
+		flags:       []string{"--log-level", "debug", "--aerospike-version", "7.0.0"},
+		arguments:   []string{"../testdata/cases/server70/server70.conf"},
+		expectError: false,
+	},
+}
+
+func TestRunEValidate(t *testing.T) {
+	cmd := validateCmd
+
+	for i, test := range testValidateArgs {
+		cmd.Parent().ParseFlags(test.flags)
+		cmd.ParseFlags(test.flags)
+		err := cmd.RunE(cmd, test.arguments)
+		if test.expectError == (err == nil) {
+			t.Fatalf("case: %d, expectError: %v does not match err: %v", i, test.expectError, err)
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index fdc6c85..8f16b0c 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/opencontainers/image-spec v1.0.2
 	github.com/sirupsen/logrus v1.9.3
 	github.com/spf13/cobra v1.7.0
+	github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.5
 	gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.1
 )
 
@@ -25,7 +26,6 @@ require (
 	github.com/opencontainers/go-digest v1.0.0 // indirect
 	github.com/pkg/errors v0.9.1 // indirect
 	github.com/qdm12/reprint v0.0.0-20200326205758-722754a53494 // indirect
-	github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.5 // indirect
 	github.com/xeipuuv/gojsonpointer v0.0.0-20190905194746-02993c407bfb // indirect
 	github.com/xeipuuv/gojsonreference v0.0.0-20180127040603-bd5ef7bd5415 // indirect
 	github.com/xeipuuv/gojsonschema v1.2.0 // indirect
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 11aeebe..46549fa 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -1,10 +1,6 @@
 github.com/Azure/go-ansiterm v0.0.0-20210617225240-d185dfc1b5a1 h1:UQHMgLO+TxOElx5B5HZ4hJQsoJ/PvUvKRhJHDQXO8P8=
 github.com/Microsoft/go-winio v0.6.1 h1:9/kr64B9VUZrLm5YYwbGtUJnMgqWVOdUAXu6Migciow=
 github.com/Microsoft/go-winio v0.6.1/go.mod h1:LRdKpFKfdobln8UmuiYcKPot9D2v6svN5+sAH+4kjUM=
-github.com/aerospike/aerospike-management-lib v0.0.0-20231025222637-439d643badb8 h1:DhmnlRVu4CURbZhA6oTSyTUSKaG3XWYOviEnyxOzy0g=
-github.com/aerospike/aerospike-management-lib v0.0.0-20231025222637-439d643badb8/go.mod h1:O4v2oGl4VjG9KwYJoSVEwZXv1PUB4ioKAsrm2tczJPQ=
-github.com/aerospike/aerospike-management-lib v0.0.0-20231025224657-765f71b4994d h1:WqKtqOqdZ41/WvbPV/3tGa4KNXZOOTdhwz/K1+P2CuI=
-github.com/aerospike/aerospike-management-lib v0.0.0-20231025224657-765f71b4994d/go.mod h1:O4v2oGl4VjG9KwYJoSVEwZXv1PUB4ioKAsrm2tczJPQ=
 github.com/aerospike/aerospike-management-lib v0.0.0-20231106202816-b2438dbb7e03 h1:Od7oCSBCTfpRmk73fbNGXA53U1in38iNSklCEwMMZFc=
 github.com/aerospike/aerospike-management-lib v0.0.0-20231106202816-b2438dbb7e03/go.mod h1:O4v2oGl4VjG9KwYJoSVEwZXv1PUB4ioKAsrm2tczJPQ=
 github.com/bombsimon/logrusr/v4 v4.0.0 h1:Pm0InGphX0wMhPqC02t31onlq9OVyJ98eP/Vh63t1Oo=
diff --git a/integration_test.go b/integration_test.go
index abaca4a..1c6108a 100644
--- a/integration_test.go
+++ b/integration_test.go
@@ -916,3 +916,81 @@ func TestConvertStdin(t *testing.T) {
 
 	}
 }
+
+type validateTest struct {
+	arguments      []string
+	source         string
+	expectError    bool
+	expectedResult string
+}
+
+var validateTests = []validateTest{
+	{
+		arguments:      []string{"validate", "-a", "6.2.0", filepath.Join(sourcePath, "pmem_cluster_cr.yaml")},
+		expectError:    false,
+		expectedResult: "",
+		source:         filepath.Join(sourcePath, "pmem_cluster_cr.yaml"),
+	},
+	{
+		arguments:   []string{"validate", "-a", "7.0.0", filepath.Join(extraTestPath, "server64/server64.yaml")},
+		expectError: true,
+		source:      filepath.Join(extraTestPath, "server64/server64.yaml"),
+		expectedResult: `context: (root).namespaces.0
+	- description: Additional property memory-size is not allowed, error-type: additional_property_not_allowed
+context: (root).namespaces.0.storage-engine
+	- description: data-size is required, error-type: required
+context: (root).namespaces.1
+	- description: Additional property memory-size is not allowed, error-type: additional_property_not_allowed
+context: (root).namespaces.1.index-type
+	- description: Additional property mounts-high-water-pct is not allowed, error-type: additional_property_not_allowed
+	- description: Additional property mounts-size-limit is not allowed, error-type: additional_property_not_allowed
+	- description: mounts-budget is required, error-type: required
+context: (root).namespaces.1.sindex-type
+	- description: Additional property mounts-high-water-pct is not allowed, error-type: additional_property_not_allowed
+	- description: Additional property mounts-size-limit is not allowed, error-type: additional_property_not_allowed
+	- description: mounts-budget is required, error-type: required
+context: (root).namespaces.1.storage-engine
+	- description: data-size is required, error-type: required
+context: (root).service
+	- description: cluster-name is required, error-type: required
+`,
+	},
+}
+
+func TestValidate(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, tf := range validateTests {
+		com := exec.Command(binPath+"/asconfig.test", tf.arguments...)
+		com.Env = []string{"GOCOVERDIR=" + coveragePath}
+		out, err := com.CombinedOutput()
+		if tf.expectError == (err == nil) {
+			t.Errorf("\nTESTCASE: %+v\nERR: %+v\n", tf.arguments, err)
+		}
+
+		if string(out) != tf.expectedResult {
+			t.Errorf("\nTESTCASE: %+v\nACTUAL: %s\nEXPECTED: %s", tf.arguments, string(out), tf.expectedResult)
+		}
+
+	}
+}
+
+func TestStdinValidate(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, tf := range validateTests {
+		in, err := os.Open(tf.source)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Error(err)
+		}
+		defer in.Close()
+
+		com := exec.Command(binPath+"/asconfig.test", tf.arguments...)
+		com.Env = []string{"GOCOVERDIR=" + coveragePath}
+		com.Stdin = in
+		out, err := com.CombinedOutput()
+		if tf.expectError == (err == nil) {
+			t.Errorf("\nTESTCASE: %+v\nERR: %+v\n", tf.arguments, err)
+		}
+
+		if string(out) != tf.expectedResult {
+			t.Errorf("\nTESTCASE: %+v\nACTUAL: %s\nEXPECTED: %s", tf.arguments, string(out), tf.expectedResult)
+		}
+	}
+}