diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 99cf314..8bcc160 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -8,3 +8,4 @@ Puppetfile.lock
 my.log
 *swp
 logs
+hiera_data/jenkins.yaml
diff --git a/Vagrantfile b/Vagrantfile
index 9f4cd3b..69b9d6d 100644
--- a/Vagrantfile
+++ b/Vagrantfile
@@ -185,6 +185,15 @@ Vagrant::Config.run do |config|
       puppet_options = ["--certname=#{node_name}"]
       puppet_options.merge!({'--verbose', '--show_diff'}) if v_config['verbose']
 
+      # configure hosts, install hiera
+      # perform pre-steps that always need to occur
+      agent.vm.provision(:puppet, :pp_path => "/etc/puppet") do |puppet|
+        puppet.manifests_path = 'manifests'
+        puppet.manifest_file  = "setup/hosts.pp"
+        puppet.module_path    = 'modules'
+        puppet.options        = puppet_options
+      end
+
       if v_config['update_repos'] == true
 
         agent.vm.provision(:puppet, :pp_path => "/etc/puppet") do |puppet|
@@ -194,15 +203,6 @@ Vagrant::Config.run do |config|
           puppet.options        = puppet_options
         end
 
-      else
-
-        agent.vm.provision(:puppet, :pp_path => "/etc/puppet") do |puppet|
-          puppet.manifests_path = 'manifests'
-          puppet.manifest_file  = "setup/hosts.pp"
-          puppet.module_path    = 'modules'
-          puppet.options        = puppet_options
-        end
-
       end
 
       # export a data directory that can be used by hiera
diff --git a/manifests/setup/hosts.pp b/manifests/setup/hosts.pp
index 7db0aee..c95a390 100644
--- a/manifests/setup/hosts.pp
+++ b/manifests/setup/hosts.pp
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 #
-# specify a connection to the hardcoded puppet master
+# this manifest performs essentially environment configuration
+# that needs to be run before anything is configured
+#
+
+#
+# setup basic dns in /etc/hosts
 #
 host {
   'puppetmaster':        ip => '172.16.0.31', host_aliases => ['puppetmaster.puppetlabs.lan'];
@@ -33,8 +38,7 @@ package { ['make', 'gcc']:
   ensure => present,
 } ->
 
-# install hiera
-# TODO pretty sure hiera-puppet is not installed b/c I installed the module
+# install hiera, to support Puppet pre 3.0
 package { ['hiera', 'hiera-puppet', 'ruby-debug']:
   ensure   => present,
   provider => 'gem',
diff --git a/manifests/setup/precise64.pp b/manifests/setup/precise64.pp
index 69802cd..51ad78b 100644
--- a/manifests/setup/precise64.pp
+++ b/manifests/setup/precise64.pp
@@ -1,12 +1,14 @@
-import 'hosts.pp'
+#import 'hosts.pp'
 
 #
 # This puppet manifest is already applied first to do some environment specific things
 #
 
+$openstack_version  = hiera('openstack_version', 'folsom')
+
 apt::source { 'openstack_folsom':
   location          => "http://ubuntu-cloud.archive.canonical.com/ubuntu",
-  release           => "precise-updates/folsom",
+  release           => "precise-updates/${openstack_version}",
   repos             => "main",
   required_packages => 'ubuntu-cloud-keyring',
 }