diff --git a/devstack-vm-gate.sh b/devstack-vm-gate.sh
index 5c2b5355..2a5f9e5d 100755
--- a/devstack-vm-gate.sh
+++ b/devstack-vm-gate.sh
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ function setup_localrc {
 
     if [[ "$DEVSTACK_GATE_CEPH" == "1" ]]; then
         echo "CINDER_ENABLED_BACKENDS=ceph:ceph" >>localrc
+        echo "TEMPEST_STORAGE_PROTOCOL=ceph" >>localrc
     fi
 
     # the exercises we *don't* want to test on for devstack