diff --git a/bin/nova-manage b/bin/nova-manage
index 372d69ea6313..7ac365950fc5 100755
--- a/bin/nova-manage
+++ b/bin/nova-manage
@@ -1084,7 +1084,7 @@ class ServiceCommands(object):
                      {"method": "show_host_resources",
                       "args": {"host": host}})
 
-        if type(result) != dict:
+        if not isinstance(result, dict):
             print _('An unexpected error has occurred.')
             print _('[Result]'), result
         else:
diff --git a/nova/api/direct.py b/nova/api/direct.py
index 1a86b0c97172..b3d683b53da5 100644
--- a/nova/api/direct.py
+++ b/nova/api/direct.py
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ class ServiceWrapper(object):
         params = dict([(str(k), v) for (k, v) in params.iteritems()])
         result = method(context, **params)
 
-        if result is None or type(result) is str or type(result) is unicode:
+        if result is None or isinstance(result, basestring):
             return result
 
         try:
diff --git a/nova/api/ec2/cloud.py b/nova/api/ec2/cloud.py
index a965b84b6292..dccb358aa8d6 100644
--- a/nova/api/ec2/cloud.py
+++ b/nova/api/ec2/cloud.py
@@ -812,7 +812,7 @@ class CloudController(object):
         LOG.audit(_("Get console output for instance %s"), instance_id,
                   context=context)
         # instance_id may be passed in as a list of instances
-        if type(instance_id) == list:
+        if isinstance(instance_id, list):
             ec2_id = instance_id[0]
         else:
             ec2_id = instance_id
diff --git a/nova/api/openstack/wsgi.py b/nova/api/openstack/wsgi.py
index 7b2f3b90dfe2..59cc67bb7e29 100644
--- a/nova/api/openstack/wsgi.py
+++ b/nova/api/openstack/wsgi.py
@@ -366,7 +366,7 @@ class XMLDictSerializer(DictSerializer):
             result.setAttribute('xmlns', xmlns)
 
         #TODO(bcwaldon): accomplish this without a type-check
-        if type(data) is list:
+        if isinstance(data, list):
             collections = metadata.get('list_collections', {})
             if nodename in collections:
                 metadata = collections[nodename]
@@ -385,7 +385,7 @@ class XMLDictSerializer(DictSerializer):
                 node = self._to_xml_node(doc, metadata, singular, item)
                 result.appendChild(node)
         #TODO(bcwaldon): accomplish this without a type-check
-        elif type(data) is dict:
+        elif isinstance(data, dict):
             collections = metadata.get('dict_collections', {})
             if nodename in collections:
                 metadata = collections[nodename]
@@ -573,7 +573,7 @@ class Resource(wsgi.Application):
             LOG.info(_("HTTP exception thrown: %s"), unicode(ex))
             action_result = Fault(ex)
 
-        if type(action_result) is dict or action_result is None:
+        if isinstance(action_result, dict) or action_result is None:
             response = self.serializer.serialize(request,
                                                  action_result,
                                                  accept,
diff --git a/nova/api/openstack/xmlutil.py b/nova/api/openstack/xmlutil.py
index f0293b50fb7f..cc689e2c8e8c 100644
--- a/nova/api/openstack/xmlutil.py
+++ b/nova/api/openstack/xmlutil.py
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ XMLNS_ATOM = 'http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom'
 
 
 def validate_schema(xml, schema_name):
-    if type(xml) is str:
+    if isinstance(xml, str):
         xml = etree.fromstring(xml)
     base_path = 'nova/api/openstack/v2/schemas/v1.1/'
     if schema_name in ('atom', 'atom-link'):
diff --git a/nova/auth/ldapdriver.py b/nova/auth/ldapdriver.py
index 6b9969dad157..6f8ae6e67f58 100644
--- a/nova/auth/ldapdriver.py
+++ b/nova/auth/ldapdriver.py
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ def _clean(attr):
     """Clean attr for insertion into ldap"""
     if attr is None:
         return None
-    if type(attr) is unicode:
+    if isinstance(attr, unicode):
         return str(attr)
     return attr
 
diff --git a/nova/common/cfg.py b/nova/common/cfg.py
index 0cb7abfb68ea..68c5059325e5 100644
--- a/nova/common/cfg.py
+++ b/nova/common/cfg.py
@@ -962,9 +962,9 @@ class ConfigOpts(object):
         :param value: the string value, or list of string values
         :returns: the substituted string(s)
         """
-        if type(value) is list:
+        if isinstance(value, list):
             return [self._substitute(i) for i in value]
-        elif type(value) is str:
+        elif isinstance(value, str):
             tmpl = string.Template(value)
             return tmpl.safe_substitute(self.StrSubWrapper(self))
         else:
diff --git a/nova/network/model.py b/nova/network/model.py
index 92094f23b343..2a9a7741886a 100644
--- a/nova/network/model.py
+++ b/nova/network/model.py
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@
 
 import json
 import netaddr
-import types
 
 from nova import exception
 
@@ -247,7 +246,7 @@ class NetworkInfo(list):
 
     @classmethod
     def hydrate(cls, network_info):
-        if isinstance(network_info, types.StringTypes):
+        if isinstance(network_info, basestring):
             network_info = json.loads(network_info)
         return NetworkInfo([VIF.hydrate(vif) for vif in network_info])
 
diff --git a/nova/network/quantum/client.py b/nova/network/quantum/client.py
index 0ba254e45425..bcf8e1cb7984 100644
--- a/nova/network/quantum/client.py
+++ b/nova/network/quantum/client.py
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ class Client(object):
         action = Client.action_prefix + action
         action = action.replace('{tenant_id}', self.tenant)
 
-        if type(params) is dict:
+        if isinstance(params, dict):
             action += '?' + urllib.urlencode(params)
 
         try:
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ class Client(object):
     def serialize(self, data):
         if not data:
             return None
-        elif type(data) is dict:
+        elif isinstance(data, dict):
             return JSONSerializer().serialize(data, self.content_type())
         else:
             raise Exception(_("unable to deserialize object of type = '%s'" %
diff --git a/nova/rpc/impl_carrot.py b/nova/rpc/impl_carrot.py
index d5a7d5ca4533..ee6bac1e52c7 100644
--- a/nova/rpc/impl_carrot.py
+++ b/nova/rpc/impl_carrot.py
@@ -24,11 +24,11 @@ No fan-out support yet.
 
 """
 
+import inspect
 import json
 import sys
 import time
 import traceback
-import types
 import uuid
 
 from carrot import connection as carrot_connection
@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ class AdapterConsumer(Consumer):
         try:
             rval = node_func(context=ctxt, **node_args)
             # Check if the result was a generator
-            if isinstance(rval, types.GeneratorType):
+            if inspect.isgenerator(rval):
                 for x in rval:
                     ctxt.reply(x, None)
             else:
diff --git a/nova/rpc/impl_fake.py b/nova/rpc/impl_fake.py
index cacf2a37266f..9d7f867a2b58 100644
--- a/nova/rpc/impl_fake.py
+++ b/nova/rpc/impl_fake.py
@@ -17,9 +17,9 @@
 queues.  Casts will block, but this is very useful for tests.
 """
 
+import inspect
 import sys
 import traceback
-import types
 
 from nova import context
 from nova.rpc import common as rpc_common
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ class Consumer(object):
             # if ending not 'sent'...we might have more data to
             # return from the function itself
             if not ctxt._done:
-                if isinstance(rval, types.GeneratorType):
+                if inspect.isgenerator(rval):
                     for val in rval:
                         yield val
                 else:
diff --git a/nova/rpc/impl_kombu.py b/nova/rpc/impl_kombu.py
index 810a6629e0d6..5f47737d0363 100644
--- a/nova/rpc/impl_kombu.py
+++ b/nova/rpc/impl_kombu.py
@@ -18,11 +18,11 @@ import kombu
 import kombu.entity
 import kombu.messaging
 import kombu.connection
+import inspect
 import itertools
 import sys
 import time
 import traceback
-import types
 import uuid
 
 import eventlet
@@ -651,7 +651,7 @@ class ProxyCallback(object):
         try:
             rval = node_func(context=ctxt, **node_args)
             # Check if the result was a generator
-            if isinstance(rval, types.GeneratorType):
+            if inspect.isgenerator(rval):
                 for x in rval:
                     ctxt.reply(x, None)
             else:
diff --git a/nova/scheduler/distributed_scheduler.py b/nova/scheduler/distributed_scheduler.py
index 1d149a13926d..4ea27910d0ce 100644
--- a/nova/scheduler/distributed_scheduler.py
+++ b/nova/scheduler/distributed_scheduler.py
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ Weighing Functions.
 
 import json
 import operator
-import types
 
 import M2Crypto
 
@@ -358,7 +357,7 @@ class DistributedScheduler(driver.Scheduler):
             return getattr(filters, nm)
 
         return [get_itm(itm) for itm in dir(filters)
-                if (type(get_itm(itm)) is types.TypeType)
+                if isinstance(get_itm(itm), type)
                 and issubclass(get_itm(itm), filters.AbstractHostFilter)
                 and get_itm(itm) is not filters.AbstractHostFilter]
 
diff --git a/nova/scheduler/zone_manager.py b/nova/scheduler/zone_manager.py
index 543e8567e4fe..e7c7b6114f4c 100644
--- a/nova/scheduler/zone_manager.py
+++ b/nova/scheduler/zone_manager.py
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ class ReadOnlyDict(UserDict.IterableUserDict):
             return
         elif isinstance(source, UserDict.UserDict):
             self.data = source.data
-        elif isinstance(source, type({})):
+        elif isinstance(source, dict):
             self.data = source
         else:
             raise TypeError
diff --git a/nova/tests/fake_utils.py b/nova/tests/fake_utils.py
index 84ab641ea538..1f3b5e260ea6 100644
--- a/nova/tests/fake_utils.py
+++ b/nova/tests/fake_utils.py
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@
 """This modules stubs out functions in nova.utils."""
 
 import re
-import types
 
 from eventlet import greenthread
 
diff --git a/nova/utils.py b/nova/utils.py
index 7f37cc80122d..e6a6115fc602 100644
--- a/nova/utils.py
+++ b/nova/utils.py
@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@ import socket
 import struct
 import sys
 import time
-import types
 import uuid
 import pyclbr
 from xml.sax import saxutils
@@ -176,11 +175,11 @@ def execute(*cmd, **kwargs):
     process_input = kwargs.pop('process_input', None)
     check_exit_code = kwargs.pop('check_exit_code', [0])
     ignore_exit_code = False
-    if type(check_exit_code) == int:
-        check_exit_code = [check_exit_code]
-    elif type(check_exit_code) == bool:
+    if isinstance(check_exit_code, bool):
         ignore_exit_code = not check_exit_code
         check_exit_code = [0]
+    elif isinstance(check_exit_code, int):
+        check_exit_code = [check_exit_code]
     delay_on_retry = kwargs.pop('delay_on_retry', True)
     attempts = kwargs.pop('attempts', 1)
     run_as_root = kwargs.pop('run_as_root', False)
@@ -569,7 +568,7 @@ class LazyPluggable(object):
                 raise exception.Error(_('Invalid backend: %s') % backend_name)
 
             backend = self.__backends[backend_name]
-            if type(backend) == type(tuple()):
+            if isinstance(backend, tuple):
                 name = backend[0]
                 fromlist = backend[1]
             else:
@@ -696,13 +695,13 @@ def to_primitive(value, convert_instances=False, level=0):
     # The try block may not be necessary after the class check above,
     # but just in case ...
     try:
-        if type(value) is type([]) or type(value) is type((None,)):
+        if isinstance(value, (list, tuple)):
             o = []
             for v in value:
                 o.append(to_primitive(v, convert_instances=convert_instances,
                                       level=level))
             return o
-        elif type(value) is type({}):
+        elif isinstance(value, dict):
             o = {}
             for k, v in value.iteritems():
                 o[k] = to_primitive(v, convert_instances=convert_instances,
@@ -858,7 +857,7 @@ def get_from_path(items, path):
     if items is None:
         return results
 
-    if not isinstance(items, types.ListType):
+    if not isinstance(items, list):
         # Wrap single objects in a list
         items = [items]
 
@@ -871,7 +870,7 @@ def get_from_path(items, path):
         child = get_method(first_token)
         if child is None:
             continue
-        if isinstance(child, types.ListType):
+        if isinstance(child, list):
             # Flatten intermediate lists
             for x in child:
                 results.append(x)
diff --git a/nova/virt/vmwareapi/vim.py b/nova/virt/vmwareapi/vim.py
index 0cbdba3636f8..e657824da5f2 100644
--- a/nova/virt/vmwareapi/vim.py
+++ b/nova/virt/vmwareapi/vim.py
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ class Vim:
     def _request_managed_object_builder(self, managed_object):
         """Builds the request managed object."""
         # Request Managed Object Builder
-        if type(managed_object) == type(""):
+        if isinstance(managed_object, str):
             mo = suds.sudsobject.Property(managed_object)
             mo._type = managed_object
         else:
diff --git a/tools/ajaxterm/qweb.py b/tools/ajaxterm/qweb.py
index 20c5092300ab..630325c9576a 100644
--- a/tools/ajaxterm/qweb.py
+++ b/tools/ajaxterm/qweb.py
@@ -1035,7 +1035,7 @@ class QWebRequest:
                 name_dict = cgi.parse_header(sub['Content-Disposition'])[1]
                 if 'filename' in name_dict:
                     # Nested MIME Messages are not supported'
-                    if type([]) == type(sub.get_payload()):
+                    if isinstance(sub.get_payload(), list):
                         continue
                     if not name_dict['filename'].strip():
                         continue