diff --git a/roles/cloud_compute/tasks/main.yml b/roles/cloud_compute/tasks/main.yml
index dd96fe0d7b..3ee83d0be2 100644
--- a/roles/cloud_compute/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/cloud_compute/tasks/main.yml
@@ -115,6 +115,14 @@
 - ini_file: dest=/etc/nova/nova.conf section=DEFAULT option=glance_api_servers value=https://{{ controller_hostname }}:9292
   notify:
     - restart openstack-nova-compute
+- name: set up storage for ephemeral disks
+  ini_file: dest=/etc/nova/nova.conf section=libvirt option=images_type value=lvm
+  notify:
+    - restart openstack-nova-compute
+- ini_file: dest=/etc/nova/nova.conf section=libvirt option=images_volume_group value=vg_guests
+  notify:
+    - restart openstack-nova-compute
+
 
 - service: name=libvirtd state=started enabled=yes
 - service: name=messagebus state=started