diff --git a/tripleoclient/tests/test_utils.py b/tripleoclient/tests/test_utils.py
index 0fbb0bf4a..af2e49a68 100644
--- a/tripleoclient/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/tripleoclient/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -76,6 +76,9 @@ class TestRunAnsiblePlaybook(TestCase):
         self.env['ANSIBLE_CONFIG'] = '/tmp/fooBar.cfg'
         self.env['ANSIBLE_HOST_KEY_CHECKING'] = 'False'
         self.env['ANSIBLE_LOG_PATH'] = '/tmp/ansible.log'
+        self.env['ANSIBLE_INJECT_FACT_VARS'] = 'False'
+        self.env['ANSIBLE_VARS_PLUGIN_STAGE'] = 'inventory'
+        self.env['ANSIBLE_GATHER_SUBSET'] = '!all,min'
         self.env['TRIPLEO_PLAN_NAME'] = 'overcloud'
         self.env['ANSIBLE_FORKS'] = '16'
 
diff --git a/tripleoclient/utils.py b/tripleoclient/utils.py
index 5c6be3efc..8e246b675 100644
--- a/tripleoclient/utils.py
+++ b/tripleoclient/utils.py
@@ -302,6 +302,11 @@ def run_ansible_playbook(logger,
     else:
         env['ANSIBLE_LOG_PATH'] = os.path.join(log_path_dir, 'ansible.log')
 
+    # Set var handling for better performance
+    env['ANSIBLE_INJECT_FACT_VARS'] = 'False'
+    env['ANSIBLE_VARS_PLUGIN_STAGE'] = 'inventory'
+    env['ANSIBLE_GATHER_SUBSET'] = '!all,min'
+
     env['ANSIBLE_HOST_KEY_CHECKING'] = 'False'
 
     if gathering_policy in ['smart', 'explicit', 'implicit']: