diff --git a/defaults/main.yml b/defaults/main.yml
index 2f83d689..4fea1e42 100644
--- a/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/defaults/main.yml
@@ -352,6 +352,7 @@ nova_apt_packages:
   - genisoimage
   - git
   - libpq-dev
+  - iptables
 
 # Spice console apt packages
 nova_spice_apt_packages:
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/add-xenial-support-3dc3711e5b1bdc34.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/add-xenial-support-3dc3711e5b1bdc34.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..dac463c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/add-xenial-support-3dc3711e5b1bdc34.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+---
+feature:
+  - Support has been added to deploy the nova services on Ubuntu 16.04
+    LTS.
diff --git a/tasks/main.yml b/tasks/main.yml
index 1bf99090..6925b85e 100644
--- a/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/tasks/main.yml
@@ -13,6 +13,28 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
+# Detect whether the init system is upstart of systemd.
+- name: Check init system
+  command: cat /proc/1/comm
+  register: _pid1_name
+  tags:
+    - always
+
+- name: Set the name of pid1
+  set_fact:
+    pid1_name: "{{ _pid1_name.stdout }}"
+  tags:
+    - always
+
+- name: Gather variables for each operating system
+  include_vars: "{{ item }}"
+  with_first_found:
+    - "{{ ansible_distribution | lower }}-{{ ansible_distribution_version | lower }}.yml"
+    - "{{ ansible_distribution | lower }}.yml"
+    - "{{ ansible_os_family | lower }}.yml"
+  tags:
+    - always
+
 - include: nova_virt_detect.yml
   when: nova_virt_type is not defined
   tags:
@@ -23,7 +45,7 @@
 - include: nova_install.yml
 - include: nova_console_install.yml
 - include: nova_post_install.yml
-- include: nova_upstart_init.yml
+- include: nova_init.yml
 
 - include: nova_db_setup.yml
   when: >
diff --git a/tasks/nova_upstart_init.yml b/tasks/nova_init.yml
similarity index 90%
rename from tasks/nova_upstart_init.yml
rename to tasks/nova_init.yml
index dc9ba0d6..ff8f3144 100644
--- a/tasks/nova_upstart_init.yml
+++ b/tasks/nova_init.yml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-- include: nova_upstart_common_init.yml
+- include: nova_init_common.yml
   vars:
     program_name: "{{ nova_metadata_program_name }}"
     service_name: "{{ nova_service_name }}"
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
     service_home: "{{ nova_system_home_folder }}"
   when: inventory_hostname in groups['nova_api_metadata']
 
-- include: nova_upstart_common_init.yml
+- include: nova_init_common.yml
   vars:
     program_name: "{{ nova_cert_program_name }}"
     service_name: "{{ nova_service_name }}"
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
     service_home: "{{ nova_system_home_folder }}"
   when: inventory_hostname in groups['nova_cert']
 
-- include: nova_upstart_common_init.yml
+- include: nova_init_common.yml
   vars:
     program_name: "{{ nova_conductor_program_name }}"
     service_name: "{{ nova_service_name }}"
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
     service_home: "{{ nova_system_home_folder }}"
   when: inventory_hostname in groups['nova_conductor']
 
-- include: nova_upstart_common_init.yml
+- include: nova_init_common.yml
   vars:
     program_name: "{{ nova_program_name }}"
     service_name: "{{ nova_service_name }}"
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
     service_home: "{{ nova_system_home_folder }}"
   when: inventory_hostname in groups['nova_api_os_compute']
 
-- include: nova_upstart_common_init.yml
+- include: nova_init_common.yml
   vars:
     program_name: "{{ nova_scheduler_program_name }}"
     service_name: "{{ nova_service_name }}"
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@
     service_home: "{{ nova_system_home_folder }}"
   when: inventory_hostname in groups['nova_scheduler']
 
-- include: nova_upstart_common_init.yml
+- include: nova_init_common.yml
   vars:
     program_name: "{{ nova_compute_program_name }}"
     service_name: "{{ nova_service_name }}"
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@
   when: inventory_hostname in groups['nova_compute']
 
 # Upstart init script for spice console.
-- include: nova_upstart_common_init.yml
+- include: nova_init_common.yml
   vars:
     program_name: "{{ nova_spice_program_name }}"
     service_name: "{{ nova_service_name }}"
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@
     - nova_console_type == "spice"
 
 # Upstart init script for novnc console.
-- include: nova_upstart_common_init.yml
+- include: nova_init_common.yml
   vars:
     program_name: "{{ nova_novncproxy_program_name }}"
     service_name: "{{ nova_service_name }}"
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@
     - inventory_hostname in groups ['nova_console']
     - nova_console_type == "novnc"
 
-- include: nova_upstart_common_init.yml
+- include: nova_init_common.yml
   vars:
     program_name: "{{ nova_consoleauth_program_name }}"
     service_name: "{{ nova_service_name }}"
@@ -99,4 +99,3 @@
     system_group: "{{ nova_system_group_name }}"
     service_home: "{{ nova_system_home_folder }}"
   when: inventory_hostname in groups['nova_console']
-
diff --git a/tasks/nova_init_common.yml b/tasks/nova_init_common.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..82d3c6f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tasks/nova_init_common.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+---
+# Copyright 2016, Rackspace US, Inc.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+- include: nova_init_upstart.yml
+  when: pid1_name == "init"
+  tags:
+    - upstart-init
+    - nova-init
+
+- include: nova_init_systemd.yml
+  when: pid1_name == "systemd"
+  tags:
+    - systemd-init
+    - nova-init
+
+- name: Load service
+  service:
+   name: "{{ program_name }}"
+   enabled: "yes"
+  notify:
+    - Restart nova services
+  tags:
+    - nova-init
diff --git a/tasks/nova_init_systemd.yml b/tasks/nova_init_systemd.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5983acf6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tasks/nova_init_systemd.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+---
+# Copyright 2016, Rackspace US, Inc.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+- name: Create nova TEMP dirs
+  file:
+    path: "{{ item.path }}/{{ program_name }}"
+    state: directory
+    owner: "{{ system_user }}"
+    group: "{{ system_group }}"
+    mode: "2755"
+  with_items:
+    - { path: "/var/run" }
+    - { path: "/var/lock" }
+
+- name: Create tempfile.d entry
+  template:
+    src: "nova-systemd-tempfiles.j2"
+    dest: "/etc/tmpfiles.d/nova.conf"
+    mode: "0644"
+    owner: "root"
+    group: "root"
+
+- name: Place the systemd init script
+  template:
+    src: "nova-systemd-init.j2"
+    dest: "/etc/systemd/system/{{ program_name }}.service"
+    mode: "0644"
+    owner: "root"
+    group: "root"
+  register: systemd_init
+
+- name: Reload the systemd daemon
+  command: "systemctl daemon-reload"
+  when: systemd_init | changed
+  notify:
+    - Restart nova services
diff --git a/tasks/nova_upstart_common_init.yml b/tasks/nova_init_upstart.yml
similarity index 86%
rename from tasks/nova_upstart_common_init.yml
rename to tasks/nova_init_upstart.yml
index dcd1d969..8486eb9b 100644
--- a/tasks/nova_upstart_common_init.yml
+++ b/tasks/nova_init_upstart.yml
@@ -34,13 +34,3 @@
   tags:
     - upstart-init
     - nova-init
-
-- name: Load service
-  service:
-   name: "{{ program_name }}"
-   enabled: "yes"
-  notify:
-    - Restart nova services
-  tags:
-    - upstart-init
-    - nova-init
diff --git a/templates/nova-systemd-init.j2 b/templates/nova-systemd-init.j2
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b93c484c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/nova-systemd-init.j2
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+# {{ ansible_managed }}
+
+[Unit]
+Description=nova openstack service
+After=syslog.target
+After=network.target
+
+[Service]
+Type=simple
+User={{ system_user }}
+Group={{ system_group }}
+
+{% if program_override is defined %}
+ExecStart={{ program_override }} {{ program_config_options|default('') }} --log-file=/var/log/nova/{{ program_name }}.log
+{% else %}
+ExecStart={{ nova_bin }}/{{ program_name }} {{ program_config_options|default('') }} --log-file=/var/log/nova/{{ program_name }}.log
+{% endif %}
+
+# Give a reasonable amount of time for the server to start up/shut down
+TimeoutSec=300
+Restart=on-failure
+RestartSec=150
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=multi-user.target
diff --git a/templates/nova-systemd-tempfiles.j2 b/templates/nova-systemd-tempfiles.j2
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b723d85d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/nova-systemd-tempfiles.j2
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# {{ ansible_managed }}
+
+D /var/lock/{{ program_name }} 2755 {{ system_user }} {{ system_group }}
+D /var/run/{{ program_name }} 2755 {{ system_user }} {{ system_group }}
diff --git a/tests/test-prepare-containers.yml b/tests/test-prepare-containers.yml
index c0d539ea..f85472e4 100644
--- a/tests/test-prepare-containers.yml
+++ b/tests/test-prepare-containers.yml
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
   gather_facts: false
   roles:
     - role: "lxc_container_create"
-      lxc_container_release: trusty
       lxc_container_backing_store: dir
       global_environment_variables:
         PATH: "/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin"
diff --git a/tests/test-prepare-host.yml b/tests/test-prepare-host.yml
index c660347d..8734c24f 100644
--- a/tests/test-prepare-host.yml
+++ b/tests/test-prepare-host.yml
@@ -74,8 +74,3 @@
       lxc_net_bridge: lxcbr0
       lxc_kernel_options:
         - { key: 'fs.inotify.max_user_instances', value: 1024 }
-      lxc_container_caches:
-        - url: "https://rpc-repo.rackspace.com/container_images/rpc-trusty-container.tgz"
-          name: "trusty.tgz"
-          sha256sum: "56c6a6e132ea7d10be2f3e8104f47136ccf408b30e362133f0dc4a0a9adb4d0c"
-          chroot_path: trusty/rootfs-amd64
diff --git a/vars/ubuntu-14.04.yml b/vars/ubuntu-14.04.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ed97d539
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vars/ubuntu-14.04.yml
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+---
diff --git a/vars/ubuntu-16.04.yml b/vars/ubuntu-16.04.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fb1874fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vars/ubuntu-16.04.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+---
+nova_uca_enable: False