diff --git a/vars/cord.yml b/vars/cord.yml
index c8a7c87..c4ffc53 100644
--- a/vars/cord.yml
+++ b/vars/cord.yml
@@ -45,3 +45,5 @@
 #    image_url: "http://www.vicci.org/cord/ceilometer-trusty-server-multi-nic.compressed.qcow2"
 #    checksum: "sha256:afde3f0448483902693be4d52ae76bb683fd74b1c7728019094bf81b37d86105"
 
+# turn this on, or override when running playbook with --extra-vars="on_cloudlab=True"
+on_cloudlab: False