diff --git a/nova/tests/test_libvirt.py b/nova/tests/test_libvirt.py
index d2ac73ba8a96..d9c7405d1ffb 100644
--- a/nova/tests/test_libvirt.py
+++ b/nova/tests/test_libvirt.py
@@ -2346,6 +2346,69 @@ class LibvirtConnTestCase(test.TestCase):
 
         db.instance_destroy(self.context, instance_ref['uuid'])
 
+    def test_create_images_and_backing(self):
+        conn = libvirt_driver.LibvirtDriver(fake.FakeVirtAPI(), False)
+        self.mox.StubOutWithMock(conn, '_fetch_instance_kernel_ramdisk')
+        self.mox.StubOutWithMock(libvirt_driver.libvirt_utils, 'create_image')
+
+        libvirt_driver.libvirt_utils.create_image(mox.IgnoreArg(),
+                                                  mox.IgnoreArg(),
+                                                  mox.IgnoreArg())
+        conn._fetch_instance_kernel_ramdisk(self.context, self.test_instance)
+        self.mox.ReplayAll()
+
+        self.stubs.Set(os.path, 'exists', lambda *args: False)
+        disk_info_json = jsonutils.dumps([{'path': 'foo', 'type': None,
+                                           'disk_size': 0,
+                                           'backing_file': None}])
+        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, '_base')
+        ephemeral_target = os.path.join(base_dir, 'ephemeral_1_default')
+        image_target = os.path.join(base_dir, 'fake_image_backing_file')
+        self.test_instance.update({'name': 'fake_instance',
+                                   'user_id': 'fake-user',
+                                   'os_type': None,
+                                   'project_id': 'fake-project'})
+
+        self.mox.StubOutWithMock(libvirt_driver.libvirt_utils, 'fetch_image')
+        self.mox.StubOutWithMock(conn, '_create_ephemeral')
+        self.mox.StubOutWithMock(conn, '_fetch_instance_kernel_ramdisk')
+
+        conn._create_ephemeral(
+                target=ephemeral_target,
+                ephemeral_size=self.test_instance['ephemeral_gb'],
+                max_size=mox.IgnoreArg(), os_type=mox.IgnoreArg(),
+                fs_label=mox.IgnoreArg())
+        libvirt_driver.libvirt_utils.fetch_image(context=self.context,
+                image_id=mox.IgnoreArg(),
+                user_id=mox.IgnoreArg(), project_id=mox.IgnoreArg(),
+                max_size=mox.IgnoreArg(), target=image_target)
+        conn._fetch_instance_kernel_ramdisk(
+                self.context, self.test_instance).AndReturn(None)
+
+        self.mox.ReplayAll()
+
+        conn._create_images_and_backing(self.context, self.test_instance,
+                                        "/fake/instance/dir",
+                                        disk_info_json)
+
     def test_pre_live_migration_works_correctly_mocked(self):
         # Creating testdata
         vol = {'block_device_mapping': [
diff --git a/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py b/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py
index 0f0ea46275a2..6c2a22c82d2a 100755
--- a/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py
+++ b/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py
@@ -3304,19 +3304,32 @@ class LibvirtDriver(driver.ComputeDriver):
             elif info['backing_file']:
                 # Creating backing file follows same way as spawning instances.
                 cache_name = os.path.basename(info['backing_file'])
-                # Remove any size tags which the cache manages
-                cache_name = cache_name.split('_')[0]
 
                 image = self.image_backend.image(instance,
                                                  instance_disk,
                                                  CONF.libvirt_images_type)
-                image.cache(fetch_func=libvirt_utils.fetch_image,
-                            context=ctxt,
-                            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 = instance_types.extract_instance_type(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=ctxt,
+                                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.