diff --git a/.bzrignore b/.bzrignore
index 14d8028f..583fd551 100644
--- a/.bzrignore
+++ b/.bzrignore
@@ -13,3 +13,5 @@ nova/vcsversion.py
 clean.sqlite
 run_tests.log
 tests.sqlite
+.coverage
+covhtml
diff --git a/run_tests.sh b/run_tests.sh
index b8078e15..ea0d7557 100755
--- a/run_tests.sh
+++ b/run_tests.sh
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ function usage {
   echo "  -x, --stop               Stop running tests after the first error or failure."
   echo "  -f, --force              Force a clean re-build of the virtual environment. Useful when dependencies have been added."
   echo "  -p, --pep8               Just run pep8"
+  echo "  -c, --coverage           Generate coverage report"
   echo "  -h, --help               Print this usage message"
   echo "  --hide-elapsed           Don't print the elapsed time for each test along with slow test list"
   echo ""
@@ -29,6 +30,7 @@ function process_option {
     -n|--no-recreate-db) let recreate_db=0;;
     -f|--force) let force=1;;
     -p|--pep8) let just_pep8=1;;
+    -c|--coverage) let coverage=1;;
     -*) noseopts="$noseopts $1";;
     *) noseargs="$noseargs $1"
   esac
@@ -43,12 +45,18 @@ noseargs=
 noseopts=
 wrapper=""
 just_pep8=0
+coverage=0
 recreate_db=1
 
 for arg in "$@"; do
   process_option $arg
 done
 
+if [ $coverage -eq 1 ]; then
+    ${wrapper} coverage erase
+    noseopts="$noseopts --with-coverage --cover-package=nova"
+fi
+
 function run_tests {
   # Just run the test suites in current environment
   ${wrapper} $NOSETESTS 2> run_tests.log
@@ -117,6 +125,7 @@ if [ $recreate_db -eq 1 ]; then
     rm -f tests.sqlite
 fi
 
+
 run_tests || exit
 
 # NOTE(sirp): we only want to run pep8 when we're running the full-test suite,
@@ -126,3 +135,8 @@ run_tests || exit
 if [ -z "$noseargs" ]; then
   run_pep8
 fi
+
+if [ $coverage -eq 1 ]; then
+  echo "Generating coverage report in covhtml/"
+  coverage html -d covhtml -i
+fi