diff --git a/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/defaults/required_defaults_CentOS.yml b/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/defaults/required_defaults_CentOS.yml
index 6361fdd31..d16980c9f 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/defaults/required_defaults_CentOS.yml
+++ b/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/defaults/required_defaults_CentOS.yml
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ required_packages:
  - libvirt-daemon-driver-secret
  - libvirt-daemon-driver-storage
  - libvirt-daemon-kvm
- - pkgconfig
- - libvirt-devel
+ - python3-libvirt
  - edk2-ovmf
 test_vm_emulator: "/usr/libexec/qemu-kvm"
diff --git a/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/defaults/required_defaults_Fedora.yml b/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/defaults/required_defaults_Fedora.yml
index 961195ef6..992f814e7 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/defaults/required_defaults_Fedora.yml
+++ b/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/defaults/required_defaults_Fedora.yml
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ required_packages:
  - libvirt
  - libvirt-client
  - libvirt-daemon
- - pkgconfig
- - libvirt-devel
+ - python3-libvirt
  - python3-libselinux
  - edk2-ovmf
diff --git a/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/defaults/required_defaults_RedHat.yml b/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/defaults/required_defaults_RedHat.yml
index 813fb01c0..605745b83 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/defaults/required_defaults_RedHat.yml
+++ b/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/defaults/required_defaults_RedHat.yml
@@ -12,8 +12,7 @@ required_packages:
  - libvirt
  - libvirt-client
  - libvirt-daemon
- - pkgconfig
- - libvirt-devel
+ - python3-libvirt
  - libxslt-devel
  - libxml2-devel
  - edk2-ovmf
diff --git a/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/tasks/prepare_libvirt.yml b/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/tasks/prepare_libvirt.yml
index a6f516420..c4ca4971b 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/tasks/prepare_libvirt.yml
+++ b/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/tasks/prepare_libvirt.yml
@@ -22,16 +22,22 @@
     - default_boot_mode != 'uefi'
     - test_vm_secure_boot | bool
 
-- name: install libvirt-python, gunicorn and lxml
+- name: install gunicorn and lxml
   include_role:
     name: bifrost-pip-install
   vars:
     package: "{{ item }}"
   loop:
-    - libvirt-python
     - gunicorn
     - lxml
 
+- name: install libvirt-python if needed
+  include_role:
+    name: bifrost-pip-install
+  vars:
+    package: libvirt-python
+  when: ansible_os_family != 'RedHat'
+
 - name: configure libvirt log filters for qemu
   blockinfile:
     path: /etc/libvirt/libvirtd.conf
@@ -161,6 +167,15 @@
     path: "{{ test_vm_logdir | dirname }}"
     mode: "0755"
 
+# NOTE(dtantsur): pypi version can easily get out of sync, we need to use
+# the version from the distribution.
+- name: edit libvirt-python out of upper constraints
+  lineinfile:
+    path: "{{ upper_constraints_file }}"
+    regexp: "^libvirt\\-python"
+    state: absent
+  when: ansible_os_family == 'RedHat'
+
 - name: install virtualbmc
   include_role:
     name: bifrost-pip-install