diff --git a/playbooks/common-playbooks/cinder.yml b/playbooks/common-playbooks/cinder.yml
index e58c5d293e..18cda91272 100644
--- a/playbooks/common-playbooks/cinder.yml
+++ b/playbooks/common-playbooks/cinder.yml
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@
         {% endif %}
       with_dict: "{{ cinder_backends | default({}) }}"
       when:
-        - container_tech == 'lxc'
+        - container_tech | default('lxc') == 'lxc'
         - physical_host != container_name
         - cinder_backend_lvm_inuse | bool
       delegate_to: "{{ physical_host }}"
diff --git a/playbooks/common-playbooks/nova.yml b/playbooks/common-playbooks/nova.yml
index 0de833892d..a31635b43e 100644
--- a/playbooks/common-playbooks/nova.yml
+++ b/playbooks/common-playbooks/nova.yml
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@
         'added' in device_add.stdout.lower()
       delegate_to: "{{ physical_host }}"
       when:
-        - container_tech == 'lxc'
+        - container_tech | default('lxc') == 'lxc'
         - "'nova_compute' in group_names"
         - "not is_metal | bool"
       tags:
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@
         lxc-device -n {{ container_name }} add /dev/net/tun /dev/net/tun
       delegate_to: "{{ physical_host }}"
       when:
-        - container_tech == 'lxc'
+        - container_tech | default('lxc') == 'lxc'
         - "'nova_compute' in group_names"
         - "not is_metal | bool"
       tags:
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@
       delegate_to: "{{ physical_host }}"
       register: kvm_device
       when:
-        - container_tech == 'lxc'
+        - container_tech | default('lxc') == 'lxc'
         - "'nova_compute' in group_names"
         - "not is_metal | bool"
       tags:
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@
       changed_when: >
         'added' in device_add.stdout.lower()
       when:
-        - container_tech == 'lxc'
+        - container_tech | default('lxc') == 'lxc'
         - "'nova_compute' in group_names"
         - "not is_metal | bool"
         - "'ischr' in kvm_device.stat and kvm_device.stat.ischr | bool"