diff --git a/playbooks/roles/install-zookeeper/README.rst b/playbooks/roles/install-zookeeper/README.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..32679cb981
--- /dev/null
+++ b/playbooks/roles/install-zookeeper/README.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+An ansible role to install Zookeeper
+
+**Role Variables**
+
diff --git a/playbooks/roles/install-zookeeper/tasks/main.yaml b/playbooks/roles/install-zookeeper/tasks/main.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8373973487
--- /dev/null
+++ b/playbooks/roles/install-zookeeper/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+- name: Install zookeeper
+  package:
+    name:
+      - zookeeper
+      - zookeeperd
+    state: present
+
+- name: Start zookeeper service
+  service:
+    name: zookeeper
+    state: started
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/playbooks/roles/nodepool-base/README.rst b/playbooks/roles/nodepool-base/README.rst
index 0affcb4c94..d12b86e5e8 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/nodepool-base/README.rst
+++ b/playbooks/roles/nodepool-base/README.rst
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
 nodepool base setup
 
 **Role Variables**
+
+.. zuul:rolevar:: nodepool_base_install_zookeeper
+
+   Install zookeeper to the node.  This is not expected to be used in
+   production, where the nodes would connect to an externally
+   configured zookeeper instance.  It can be useful for basic loopback
+   tests in the gate, however.
diff --git a/playbooks/roles/nodepool-base/defaults/main.yaml b/playbooks/roles/nodepool-base/defaults/main.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4f299f5df0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/playbooks/roles/nodepool-base/defaults/main.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+nodepool_base_install_zookeeper: False
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/playbooks/roles/nodepool-base/tasks/main.yaml b/playbooks/roles/nodepool-base/tasks/main.yaml
index 5704ecf034..df43052c00 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/nodepool-base/tasks/main.yaml
+++ b/playbooks/roles/nodepool-base/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -11,6 +11,11 @@
     create_home: yes
     shell: /bin/bash
 
+- name: Install zookeeper
+  include_role:
+    name: install-zookeeper
+  when: nodepool_base_install_zookeeper
+
 # NOTE(ianw) : A note on testing; we have some configurations for
 # system-config-run-nodepool test hosts committed to project-config.
 # Since this is a protected repo we can't speculatively test, which is
diff --git a/playbooks/zuul/run-base.yaml b/playbooks/zuul/run-base.yaml
index 3a8d553619..ff335289c1 100644
--- a/playbooks/zuul/run-base.yaml
+++ b/playbooks/zuul/run-base.yaml
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@
         - host_vars/mirror-update01.opendev.org.yaml
         - host_vars/backup-test01.opendev.org.yaml
         - host_vars/backup-test02.opendev.org.yaml
+        - host_vars/nb01-test.opendev.org.yaml
     - name: Display group membership
       command: ansible localhost -m debug -a 'var=groups'
     - name: Run base.yaml
diff --git a/playbooks/zuul/templates/host_vars/nb01-test.opendev.org.yaml.j2 b/playbooks/zuul/templates/host_vars/nb01-test.opendev.org.yaml.j2
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d2799c226a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/playbooks/zuul/templates/host_vars/nb01-test.opendev.org.yaml.j2
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+nodepool_base_install_zookeeper: True
\ No newline at end of file