diff --git a/roles/bodhi2/backend/tasks/main.yml b/roles/bodhi2/backend/tasks/main.yml
index 5fd47a63e5..0634301a08 100644
--- a/roles/bodhi2/backend/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/bodhi2/backend/tasks/main.yml
@@ -127,8 +127,11 @@
   - packages
   - bodhi
 
+#
 # koji ssl cert for owner sync jobs below
 #
+- name: create pki dir
+  file: path=/etc/pki/pkgdb mode=700 state=directory
 
 - name: copy koji ssl cert for owner sync
   copy: src="{{ puppet_private }}/pkgdb_key_and_cert.pem" dest=/etc/pki/pkgdb/pkgdb.pem mode=600