diff --git a/nova/scheduler/filter_scheduler.py b/nova/scheduler/filter_scheduler.py
index a77b5a0bf3c0..5de9ed3aea55 100644
--- a/nova/scheduler/filter_scheduler.py
+++ b/nova/scheduler/filter_scheduler.py
@@ -158,7 +158,8 @@ class FilterScheduler(driver.Scheduler):
         # is based on CONF.scheduler.max_attempts; note that if there are not
         # enough filtered hosts to provide the full number of alternates, the
         # list of hosts may be shorter than this amount.
-        num_alts = CONF.scheduler.max_attempts if return_alternates else 0
+        num_alts = (CONF.scheduler.max_attempts - 1
+                    if return_alternates else 0)
 
         if (instance_uuids is None or
                 not self.USES_ALLOCATION_CANDIDATES or
@@ -332,9 +333,8 @@ class FilterScheduler(driver.Scheduler):
                              num_alts, alloc_reqs_by_rp_uuid=None,
                              allocation_request_version=None):
         # We only need to filter/weigh the hosts again if we're dealing with
-        # more than one instance since the single selected host will get
-        # filtered out of the list of alternates below.
-        if index > 0:
+        # more than one instance and are going to be picking alternates.
+        if index > 0 and num_alts > 0:
             # The selected_hosts have all had resources 'claimed' via
             # _consume_selected_host, so we need to filter/weigh and sort the
             # hosts again to get an accurate count for alternates.
@@ -364,7 +364,7 @@ class FilterScheduler(driver.Scheduler):
             # will have had its resources reduced and will have a much lower
             # chance of being able to fit another instance on it.
             for host in hosts:
-                if len(selected_plus_alts) >= num_alts:
+                if len(selected_plus_alts) >= num_alts + 1:
                     break
                 if host.cell_uuid == cell_uuid and host not in selected_hosts:
                     if alloc_reqs_by_rp_uuid is not None:
diff --git a/nova/tests/functional/test_servers.py b/nova/tests/functional/test_servers.py
index a9a7887fce93..e292408b54f6 100644
--- a/nova/tests/functional/test_servers.py
+++ b/nova/tests/functional/test_servers.py
@@ -154,6 +154,46 @@ class ServersTest(ServersTestBase):
         self.assertEqual('ERROR', found_server['status'])
         self._delete_server(created_server_id)
 
+    def _test_create_server_with_error_with_retries(self):
+        # Create a server which will enter error state.
+
+        fake.set_nodes(['host2'])
+        self.addCleanup(fake.restore_nodes)
+        self.flags(host='host2')
+        self.compute2 = self.start_service('compute', host='host2')
+
+        fails = []
+
+        def throw_error(*args, **kwargs):
+            fails.append('one')
+            raise test.TestingException('Please retry me')
+
+        self.stub_out('nova.virt.fake.FakeDriver.spawn', throw_error)
+
+        server = self._build_minimal_create_server_request()
+        created_server = self.api.post_server({"server": server})
+        created_server_id = created_server['id']
+
+        found_server = self.api.get_server(created_server_id)
+        self.assertEqual(created_server_id, found_server['id'])
+
+        found_server = self._wait_for_state_change(found_server, 'BUILD')
+
+        self.assertEqual('ERROR', found_server['status'])
+        self._delete_server(created_server_id)
+
+        return len(fails)
+
+    def test_create_server_with_error_with_retries(self):
+        self.flags(max_attempts=2, group='scheduler')
+        fails = self._test_create_server_with_error_with_retries()
+        self.assertEqual(2, fails)
+
+    def test_create_server_with_error_with_no_retries(self):
+        self.flags(max_attempts=1, group='scheduler')
+        fails = self._test_create_server_with_error_with_retries()
+        self.assertEqual(1, fails)
+
     def test_create_and_delete_server(self):
         # Creates and deletes a server.
 
diff --git a/nova/tests/unit/scheduler/test_filter_scheduler.py b/nova/tests/unit/scheduler/test_filter_scheduler.py
index 7c3451b363fb..4cbf75caa2fe 100644
--- a/nova/tests/unit/scheduler/test_filter_scheduler.py
+++ b/nova/tests/unit/scheduler/test_filter_scheduler.py
@@ -845,8 +845,10 @@ class FilterSchedulerTestCase(test_scheduler.SchedulerTestCase):
                 instance_uuids, alloc_reqs, None, return_alternates=True)
         self.assertEqual(num_instances, len(dests))
         # Filtering and weighing hosts should be called num_instances + 1 times
-        # unless num_instances == 1.
-        self.assertEqual(num_instances + 1 if num_instances > 1 else 1,
+        # unless we're not getting alternates, and then just num_instances
+        self.assertEqual(num_instances + 1
+                         if num_alternates > 0 and num_instances > 1
+                         else num_instances,
                          mock_sorted.call_count,
                          'Unexpected number of calls to filter hosts for %s '
                          'instances.' % num_instances)