diff --git a/cinder/objects/volume.py b/cinder/objects/volume.py
index e44babfb1e8..08d0e9860cf 100644
--- a/cinder/objects/volume.py
+++ b/cinder/objects/volume.py
@@ -75,7 +75,11 @@ class Volume(cleanable.CinderCleanableObject, base.CinderObject,
 
     # NOTE: When adding a field obj_make_compatible needs to be updated
     fields = {
+        # id is the user facing UUID that should be passed to API calls
         'id': fields.UUIDField(),
+        # _name_id is the real volume's UUID that should be used by the driver
+        # when it is set.  This is used when migrating a volume.  Property
+        # name_id is provided for convenience.
         '_name_id': fields.UUIDField(nullable=True),
         'ec2_id': fields.UUIDField(nullable=True),
         'user_id': fields.StringField(nullable=True),
@@ -154,6 +158,22 @@ class Volume(cleanable.CinderCleanableObject, base.CinderObject,
 
     @property
     def name_id(self):
+        """Actual volume's UUID for driver usage.
+
+        There may be two different UUIDs for the same volume, the user facing
+        one, and the one the driver should be using.
+
+        When a volume is created these two are the same, but when doing a
+        generic migration (create new volume, then copying data) they will be
+        different if we were unable to rename the new volume in the final
+        migration steps.
+
+        So the volume will have been created using the new volume's UUID and
+        the driver will have to look for it using that UUID, but the user on
+        the other hand will keep referencing the volume with the original UUID.
+
+        This property facilitates using the right UUID in the driver's code.
+        """
         return self.id if not self._name_id else self._name_id
 
     @name_id.setter
diff --git a/cinder/volume/drivers/nfs.py b/cinder/volume/drivers/nfs.py
index 2315d899d67..2ef4cb42e8d 100644
--- a/cinder/volume/drivers/nfs.py
+++ b/cinder/volume/drivers/nfs.py
@@ -473,6 +473,14 @@ class NfsDriver(remotefs.RemoteFSSnapDriverDistributed):
         This method should rename the back-end volume name(id) on the
         destination host back to its original name(id) on the source host.
 
+        Due to this renaming, inheriting drivers may need to also re-associate
+        other entities (such as backend QoS) with the new name.  Alternatively
+        they could overwrite this method and raise NotImplemented.
+
+        In any case, driver's code should always use the volume OVO's 'name_id'
+        field instead of 'id' to get the volume's real UUID, as the renaming
+        could fail.
+
         :param ctxt: The context used to run the method update_migrated_volume
         :param volume: The original volume that was migrated to this backend
         :param new_volume: The migration volume object that was created on
diff --git a/doc/source/contributor/drivers.rst b/doc/source/contributor/drivers.rst
index ea96c2b1579..226d7f3d9e3 100644
--- a/doc/source/contributor/drivers.rst
+++ b/doc/source/contributor/drivers.rst
@@ -171,6 +171,23 @@ The LVM driver is our reference for all new driver implementations. The
 information below can provide additional documentation for the methods that
 volume drivers need to implement.
 
+Volume ID
+`````````
+
+Drivers should always get a volume's ID using the ``name_id`` attribute instead
+of the ``id`` attribute.
+
+A Cinder volume may have two different UUIDs, a user facing one, and one the
+driver should use.
+
+When a volume is created these two are the same, but when doing a generic
+migration (create new volume, then copying data) they will be different if we
+were unable to rename the new volume in the final migration steps.
+
+So the volume will have been created using the new volume's UUID and the driver
+will have to look for it using that UUID, but the user on the other hand will
+keep referencing the volume with the original UUID.
+
 Base Driver Interface
 `````````````````````
 The methods documented below are the minimum required interface for a volume
diff --git a/doc/source/contributor/new_driver_checklist.rst b/doc/source/contributor/new_driver_checklist.rst
index 8bd131e91f3..3307e202022 100644
--- a/doc/source/contributor/new_driver_checklist.rst
+++ b/doc/source/contributor/new_driver_checklist.rst
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ Review Checklist
 
 * Common gotchas
 
+  * Code should use ``volume.name_id`` instead of ``volume.id``.
   * Handles detach where ``connector == None`` for force detach
   * Create from snapshot and clone properly account for new volume size being
     larger than original volume size