diff --git a/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/defaults/main.yml b/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/defaults/main.yml
index 9ddf773cf..a880c3cca 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/defaults/main.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 ---
 # defaults file for bifrost-create-vm-nodes
 baremetal_json_file: '/tmp/baremetal.json'
+baremetal_nodes_json: '/tmp/nodes.json'
 test_vm_memory_size: "3072"
 test_vm_num_nodes: 1
 test_vm_domain_type: "qemu"
diff --git a/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/tasks/create_vm.yml b/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/tasks/create_vm.yml
index a6ff44782..1d5ec2975 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/tasks/create_vm.yml
+++ b/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/tasks/create_vm.yml
@@ -152,7 +152,22 @@
         ram: "{{ test_vm_memory_size }}"
         cpus: "{{ test_vm_cpu_count }}"
         disk_size: "{{ test_vm_disk_gib }}"
+    node_entry:
+      name: "{{ vm_name }}"
+      uuid: "{{ vm_name | to_uuid }}"
+      driver: "{{ test_vm_node_driver|default('ipmi') }}"
+      driver_info:
+        ipmi_address: "192.168.122.1"
+        ipmi_port: "{{ virtual_ipmi_port }}"
+        ipmi_username: "admin"
+        ipmi_password: "password"
+      ports:
+        - address: "{{ vm_mac }}"
+      properties:
+        cpu_arch: "{{ test_vm_arch }}"
+        disk_gb: "{{ test_vm_disk_gib }}"
 
 - name: add created vm info
   set_fact:
     testvm_json_data: "{{ testvm_json_data | combine({vm_name: testvm_data}) }}"
+    testvm_nodes_json: "{{ testvm_nodes_json + [node_entry] }}"
diff --git a/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/tasks/main.yml b/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/tasks/main.yml
index 753966ef7..3d79c907f 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/tasks/main.yml
@@ -138,20 +138,21 @@
 - name: create placeholder var for vm entries in JSON format
   set_fact:
     testvm_json_data: {}
+    testvm_nodes_json: []
 
 - include: create_vm.yml
   with_items: "{{ test_vm_node_names }}"
 
-- name: remove previous baremetal data file
-  file:
-    state: absent
-    path: "{{ baremetal_json_file }}"
-
 - name: write to baremetal json file
   copy:
     dest: "{{ baremetal_json_file }}"
     content: "{{ testvm_json_data | to_nice_json }}"
 
+- name: write to nodes json
+  copy:
+    dest: "{{ baremetal_nodes_json }}"
+    content: "{{ {'nodes': testvm_nodes_json} | to_nice_json }}"
+
 - name: >
     "Set file permissions such that the baremetal data file
     can be read by the user executing Ansible"
@@ -161,3 +162,13 @@
   when: >
     ansible_env.SUDO_USER is defined and
     baremetal_json_file != ""
+
+- name: >
+    "Set file permissions such that the nodes json file
+    can be read by the user executing Ansible"
+  file:
+    path: "{{ baremetal_nodes_json }}"
+    owner: "{{ ansible_env.SUDO_USER }}"
+  when: >
+    ansible_env.SUDO_USER is defined and
+    baremetal_nodes_json != ""
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/nodes.json-d47a30a22a04c7ed.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/nodes.json-d47a30a22a04c7ed.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ca80f3f2d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/nodes.json-d47a30a22a04c7ed.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+features:
+  - |
+    A normal ironic ``nodes.json`` (suitable for the ``baremetal create``
+    command) is now generated when creating testing VMs. The default location
+    is ``/tmp/nodes.json``.