diff --git a/rally/plugins/openstack/scenarios/nova/utils.py b/rally/plugins/openstack/scenarios/nova/utils.py
index 53ab75144f..a1b1a1ed0d 100644
--- a/rally/plugins/openstack/scenarios/nova/utils.py
+++ b/rally/plugins/openstack/scenarios/nova/utils.py
@@ -752,7 +752,7 @@ class NovaScenario(scenario.OpenStackScenario):
             new_host = random.choice(
                 [key for key, value in six.iteritems(az.hosts)
                     if key != host and
-                    value["nova-compute"]["available"] is True])
+                    value.get("nova-compute", {}).get("available", False)])
             return new_host
         except IndexError:
             raise exceptions.InvalidHostException(
diff --git a/tests/unit/plugins/openstack/scenarios/nova/test_utils.py b/tests/unit/plugins/openstack/scenarios/nova/test_utils.py
index 35ef41bca8..e86308040b 100644
--- a/tests/unit/plugins/openstack/scenarios/nova/test_utils.py
+++ b/tests/unit/plugins/openstack/scenarios/nova/test_utils.py
@@ -633,6 +633,8 @@ class NovaScenarioTestCase(test.ScenarioTestCase):
     def test__find_host_to_migrate(self):
         fake_server = self.server
         fake_host = {"nova-compute": {"available": True}}
+        fake_host_compute_off = {"nova-compute": {"available": False}}
+        fake_host_no_compute = {"nova-conductor": {"available": True}}
         self.admin_clients("nova").servers.get.return_value = fake_server
         self.admin_clients("nova").availability_zones.list.return_value = [
             mock.MagicMock(zoneName="a",
@@ -640,7 +642,8 @@ class NovaScenarioTestCase(test.ScenarioTestCase):
                                   "a3": fake_host}),
             mock.MagicMock(zoneName="b",
                            hosts={"b1": fake_host, "b2": fake_host,
-                                  "b3": fake_host}),
+                                  "b3": fake_host, "b4": fake_host_compute_off,
+                                  "b5": fake_host_no_compute}),
             mock.MagicMock(zoneName="c",
                            hosts={"c1": fake_host,
                                   "c2": fake_host, "c3": fake_host})