diff --git a/labs/lib/functions.guest b/labs/lib/functions.guest
index 1e7c9019..e752e10a 100644
--- a/labs/lib/functions.guest
+++ b/labs/lib/functions.guest
@@ -361,6 +361,25 @@ function config_network {
     done
 }
 
+#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# ssh wrapper functions
+#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+function no_chk_ssh {
+    echo >&2 "ssh $@"
+    # Options set to disable strict host key checking and related messages.
+    ssh \
+        -o "UserKnownHostsFile /dev/null" \
+        -o "StrictHostKeyChecking no" \
+        -o LogLevel=error \
+        "$@"
+}
+
+# ssh from one node VM to another node in the cluster
+function node_ssh {
+    no_chk_ssh -i "$HOME/.ssh/vagrant" "$@"
+}
+
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 fix_path_env
 source_deploy
diff --git a/labs/scripts/setup_cinder_volumes.sh b/labs/scripts/setup_cinder_volumes.sh
index ce21a243..a60c7fa5 100755
--- a/labs/scripts/setup_cinder_volumes.sh
+++ b/labs/scripts/setup_cinder_volumes.sh
@@ -100,20 +100,23 @@ sudo service tgt restart
 # Verify the Block Storage installation
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+echo "Verifying Block Storage installation on controller node."
+
 echo "Waiting for cinder to start."
-until cinder list >/dev/null 2>&1; do
+AUTH='source config/$CONFIG_DIR/admin-openstackrc.sh'
+until node_ssh controller-mgmt "$AUTH; cinder list" >/dev/null 2>&1; do
     sleep 1
 done
 
 echo "cinder create --display-name labsVolume 1"
-cinder create --display-name labsVolume 1
+node_ssh controller-mgmt "$AUTH; cinder create --display-name labsVolume 1"
 
 echo "cinder list"
-cinder list
+# FIXME check Status column (may be creating, available, or error)
+node_ssh controller-mgmt "$AUTH; cinder list"
 
 echo "cinder delete labsVolume"
-cinder delete labsVolume
+node_ssh controller-mgmt "$AUTH; cinder delete labsVolume"
 
 echo "cinder list"
-cinder list
-
+node_ssh controller-mgmt "$AUTH; cinder list"