diff --git a/nova/tests/virt/libvirt/test_libvirt.py b/nova/tests/virt/libvirt/test_libvirt.py
index c17698502a6..ea2aacde757 100644
--- a/nova/tests/virt/libvirt/test_libvirt.py
+++ b/nova/tests/virt/libvirt/test_libvirt.py
@@ -3047,6 +3047,48 @@ def test_create_images_and_backing(self):
         conn._create_images_and_backing(self.context, self.test_instance,
                                         "/fake/instance/dir", disk_info_json)
 
+    def test_create_images_and_backing_ephemeral_gets_created(self):
+        conn = libvirt_driver.LibvirtDriver(fake.FakeVirtAPI(), False)
+        disk_info_json = jsonutils.dumps(
+            [{u'backing_file': u'fake_image_backing_file',
+              u'disk_size': 10747904,
+              u'path': u'disk_path',
+              u'type': u'qcow2',
+              u'virt_disk_size': 25165824},
+             {u'backing_file': u'ephemeral_1_default',
+              u'disk_size': 393216,
+              u'over_committed_disk_size': 1073348608,
+              u'path': u'disk_eph_path',
+              u'type': u'qcow2',
+              u'virt_disk_size': 1073741824}])
+
+        base_dir = os.path.join(CONF.instances_path,
+                                CONF.base_dir_name)
+        self.test_instance.update({'name': 'fake_instance',
+                                   'user_id': 'fake-user',
+                                   'os_type': None,
+                                   'project_id': 'fake-project'})
+
+        with contextlib.nested(
+            mock.patch.object(conn, '_fetch_instance_kernel_ramdisk'),
+            mock.patch.object(libvirt_driver.libvirt_utils, 'fetch_image'),
+            mock.patch.object(conn, '_create_ephemeral')
+        ) as (fetch_kernel_ramdisk_mock, fetch_image_mock,
+                create_ephemeral_mock):
+            conn._create_images_and_backing(self.context, self.test_instance,
+                                            "/fake/instance/dir",
+                                            disk_info_json)
+            self.assertEqual(len(create_ephemeral_mock.call_args_list), 1)
+            m_args, m_kwargs = create_ephemeral_mock.call_args_list[0]
+            self.assertEqual(
+                    os.path.join(base_dir, 'ephemeral_1_default'),
+                    m_kwargs['target'])
+            self.assertEqual(len(fetch_image_mock.call_args_list), 1)
+            m_args, m_kwargs = fetch_image_mock.call_args_list[0]
+            self.assertEqual(
+                    os.path.join(base_dir, 'fake_image_backing_file'),
+                    m_kwargs['target'])
+
     def test_create_images_and_backing_disk_info_none(self):
         conn = libvirt_driver.LibvirtDriver(fake.FakeVirtAPI(), False)
         self.mox.StubOutWithMock(conn, '_fetch_instance_kernel_ramdisk')
diff --git a/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py b/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py
index 500ce516f0d..19875fe2392 100644
--- a/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py
+++ b/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py
@@ -4210,13 +4210,28 @@ def _create_images_and_backing(self, context, instance, instance_dir,
                 image = self.image_backend.image(instance,
                                                  instance_disk,
                                                  CONF.libvirt_images_type)
-                image.cache(fetch_func=libvirt_utils.fetch_image,
-                            context=context,
-                            filename=cache_name,
-                            image_id=instance['image_ref'],
-                            user_id=instance['user_id'],
-                            project_id=instance['project_id'],
-                            size=info['virt_disk_size'])
+                if cache_name.startswith('ephemeral'):
+                    image.cache(fetch_func=self._create_ephemeral,
+                                fs_label=cache_name,
+                                os_type=instance["os_type"],
+                                filename=cache_name,
+                                size=info['virt_disk_size'],
+                                ephemeral_size=instance['ephemeral_gb'])
+                elif cache_name.startswith('swap'):
+                    inst_type = flavors.extract_flavor(instance)
+                    swap_mb = inst_type['swap']
+                    image.cache(fetch_func=self._create_swap,
+                                filename="swap_%s" % swap_mb,
+                                size=swap_mb * (1024 ** 2),
+                                swap_mb=swap_mb)
+                else:
+                    image.cache(fetch_func=libvirt_utils.fetch_image,
+                                context=context,
+                                filename=cache_name,
+                                image_id=instance['image_ref'],
+                                user_id=instance['user_id'],
+                                project_id=instance['project_id'],
+                                size=info['virt_disk_size'])
 
         # if image has kernel and ramdisk, just download
         # following normal way.