diff --git a/infrastructure-playbooks/rolling_update.yml b/infrastructure-playbooks/rolling_update.yml
index f2c8ef65c..1ed417c6e 100644
--- a/infrastructure-playbooks/rolling_update.yml
+++ b/infrastructure-playbooks/rolling_update.yml
@@ -359,6 +359,12 @@
       changed_when: false
       when: containerized_deployment
 
+    - name: set num_osds for container
+      set_fact:
+        num_osds: "{{ osd_names.stdout_lines|default([])|length }}"
+      when:
+        - containerized_deployment
+
     - name: stop ceph osd
       systemd:
         name: ceph-osd@{{ item }}
@@ -369,6 +375,12 @@
       when:
         - not containerized_deployment
 
+    - name: set num_osds for non container
+      set_fact:
+        num_osds: "{{ osd_ids.stdout_lines|default([])|length }}"
+      when:
+        - not containerized_deployment
+
     - import_role:
         name: ceph-defaults
     - import_role:
diff --git a/roles/ceph-config/tasks/main.yml b/roles/ceph-config/tasks/main.yml
index dd9200e62..d1763799c 100644
--- a/roles/ceph-config/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/ceph-config/tasks/main.yml
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@
 - name: config file operations related to OSDs
   when:
     - inventory_hostname in groups.get(osd_group_name, [])
+    # the rolling_update.yml playbook sets num_osds to the number of currently
+    # running osds
+    - not rolling_update
   block:
   - name: count number of osds for lvm scenario
     set_fact: