diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index 36315754f6..6a99f45ba1 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ include babel.cfg install.sh run_tests.sh tox.ini uninstall.sh
 graft templates
 include heat/versioninfo
 include heat/cloudinit/config
-include heat/cloudinit/loguserdata.sh
+include heat/cloudinit/loguserdata.py
 include heat/cloudinit/part-handler.py
 include heat/db/sqlalchemy/migrate_repo/migrate.cfg
 include heat/db/sqlalchemy/migrate_repo/README
diff --git a/heat/cloudinit/loguserdata.py b/heat/cloudinit/loguserdata.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b5a224668c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/heat/cloudinit/loguserdata.py
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+
+import cloudinit
+import sys
+import os
+import stat
+import subprocess
+import datetime
+
+path = None
+
+try:
+    path = cloudinit.get_cpath('data')
+except AttributeError:
+    # pre 0.6.0 - user data executed via cloudinit, not this helper
+    with open('/var/log/heat-provision.log', 'w') as log:
+        log.write('Unable to log provisioning, need a newer version of'
+                  ' cloud-init\n')
+        sys.exit(0)
+
+os.chmod(path + '/cfn-userdata', stat.S_IXUSR | stat.S_IXGRP | stat.S_IXOTH)
+
+with open('/var/log/heat-provision.log', 'w') as log:
+    log.write('Provision began: %s\n' % datetime.datetime.now())
+    log.flush()
+    p = subprocess.Popen(path + '/cfn-userdata', stdout=log, stderr=log)
+    p.wait()
+    log.write('Provision done: %s\n' % datetime.datetime.now())
+    if p.returncode:
+        sys.exit(p.returncode)
+
+with open(cloudinit.get_ipath_cur() + '/provision-finished', 'w') as log:
+    log.write('%s\n' % datetime.datetime.now())
diff --git a/heat/cloudinit/loguserdata.sh b/heat/cloudinit/loguserdata.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 1a54dfffba..0000000000
--- a/heat/cloudinit/loguserdata.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-chmod +x /var/lib/cloud/data/cfn-userdata
-script -f -c /var/lib/cloud/data/cfn-userdata /var/log/heat-provision.log
diff --git a/heat/cloudinit/part-handler.py b/heat/cloudinit/part-handler.py
index bf52efbac2..978566c771 100644
--- a/heat/cloudinit/part-handler.py
+++ b/heat/cloudinit/part-handler.py
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 #part-handler
 
+import datetime
+
 
 def list_types():
     return(["text/x-cfninitdata"])
@@ -11,7 +13,10 @@ def handle_part(data, ctype, filename, payload):
     if ctype == "__end__":
         return
 
+    with open('/var/log/part-handler.log', 'a') as log:
+        timestamp = datetime.datetime.now()
+        log.write('%s filename:%s, ctype:%s\n' % (timestamp, filename, ctype))
+
     if ctype == 'text/x-cfninitdata':
-        f = open('/var/lib/cloud/data/%s' % filename, 'w')
-        f.write(payload)
-        f.close()
+        with open('/var/lib/cloud/data/%s' % filename, 'w') as f:
+            f.write(payload)
diff --git a/heat/engine/resources/instance.py b/heat/engine/resources/instance.py
index 5836c3a942..15e17d5f15 100644
--- a/heat/engine/resources/instance.py
+++ b/heat/engine/resources/instance.py
@@ -174,8 +174,8 @@ class Instance(resource.Resource):
                            (read_cloudinit_file('part-handler.py'),
                             'part-handler.py'),
                            (userdata, 'cfn-userdata', 'x-cfninitdata'),
-                           (read_cloudinit_file('loguserdata.sh'),
-                            'loguserdata.sh', 'x-shellscript')]
+                           (read_cloudinit_file('loguserdata.py'),
+                            'loguserdata.py', 'x-shellscript')]
 
             if 'Metadata' in self.t:
                 attachments.append((json.dumps(self.metadata),
@@ -217,7 +217,6 @@ class Instance(resource.Resource):
                                for sg in self.properties.get('SecurityGroups')]
 
         userdata = self.properties['UserData'] or ''
-        userdata += '\ntouch /var/lib/cloud/instance/provision-finished\n'
         flavor = self.properties['InstanceType']
         key_name = self.properties['KeyName']