diff --git a/devstack-vm-gate.sh b/devstack-vm-gate.sh
index 3dc25e3a..0c899367 100755
--- a/devstack-vm-gate.sh
+++ b/devstack-vm-gate.sh
@@ -40,6 +40,10 @@ function setup_localrc() {
         MY_ENABLED_SERVICES+=,$ENABLED_SERVICES
     fi
 
+    if [[ "$DEVSTACK_GATE_CEPH" == "1" ]]; then
+        echo "CINDER_ENABLED_BACKENDS=ceph:ceph" >>localrc
+    fi
+
     # the exercises we *don't* want to test on for devstack
     SKIP_EXERCISES=boot_from_volume,bundle,client-env,euca
 
diff --git a/features.yaml b/features.yaml
index 90605819..0cd5d718 100644
--- a/features.yaml
+++ b/features.yaml
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ config:
     features: [qpid]
   zeromq:
     features: [zeromq]
+  ceph:
+    features: [ceph]
 
 branches:
   # The value of ""default" is the name of the "trunk" branch
@@ -132,3 +134,7 @@ features:
     base:
       services: [qpid]
       rm-services: [rabbit]
+
+  ceph:
+    base:
+      services: [ceph]