diff --git a/nova/db/sqlalchemy/api_migrations/migrate_repo/versions/050_flavors_add_description.py b/nova/db/sqlalchemy/api_migrations/migrate_repo/versions/050_flavors_add_description.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0529140200
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nova/db/sqlalchemy/api_migrations/migrate_repo/versions/050_flavors_add_description.py
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#    Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+#    not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain
+#    a copy of the License at
+#
+#         http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+#    Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+#    distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+#    WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+#    License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+#    under the License.
+
+from sqlalchemy import Column
+from sqlalchemy import MetaData
+from sqlalchemy import Table
+from sqlalchemy import Text
+
+
+def upgrade(migrate_engine):
+    meta = MetaData()
+    meta.bind = migrate_engine
+
+    flavors = Table('flavors', meta, autoload=True)
+
+    if not hasattr(flavors.c, 'description'):
+        flavors.create_column(Column('description', Text()))
diff --git a/nova/db/sqlalchemy/api_models.py b/nova/db/sqlalchemy/api_models.py
index 2d42036928..3982606996 100644
--- a/nova/db/sqlalchemy/api_models.py
+++ b/nova/db/sqlalchemy/api_models.py
@@ -190,6 +190,7 @@ class Flavors(API_BASE):
     vcpu_weight = Column(Integer)
     disabled = Column(Boolean, default=False)
     is_public = Column(Boolean, default=True)
+    description = Column(Text)
 
 
 class FlavorExtraSpecs(API_BASE):
diff --git a/nova/objects/flavor.py b/nova/objects/flavor.py
index f9bb32e252..8c4d8e2f7e 100644
--- a/nova/objects/flavor.py
+++ b/nova/objects/flavor.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 from oslo_db import exception as db_exc
 from oslo_db.sqlalchemy import utils as sqlalchemyutils
 from oslo_log import log as logging
+from oslo_utils import versionutils
 from sqlalchemy import or_
 from sqlalchemy.orm import joinedload
 from sqlalchemy.sql.expression import asc
@@ -37,6 +38,9 @@ OPTIONAL_FIELDS = ['extra_specs', 'projects']
 # Remove these fields in version 2.0 of the object.
 DEPRECATED_FIELDS = ['deleted', 'deleted_at']
 
+# Non-joined fields which can be updated.
+MUTABLE_FIELDS = set(['description'])
+
 CONF = nova.conf.CONF
 
 
@@ -197,7 +201,9 @@ class Flavor(base.NovaPersistentObject, base.NovaObject,
     # Version 1.0: Initial version
     # Version 1.1: Added save_projects(), save_extra_specs(), removed
     #              remotable from save()
-    VERSION = '1.1'
+    # Version 1.2: Added description field. Note: this field should not be
+    #              persisted with the embedded instance.flavor.
+    VERSION = '1.2'
 
     fields = {
         'id': fields.IntegerField(),
@@ -214,6 +220,7 @@ class Flavor(base.NovaPersistentObject, base.NovaObject,
         'is_public': fields.BooleanField(),
         'extra_specs': fields.DictOfStringsField(),
         'projects': fields.ListOfStringsField(),
+        'description': fields.StringField(nullable=True)
         }
 
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
@@ -221,6 +228,12 @@ class Flavor(base.NovaPersistentObject, base.NovaObject,
         self._orig_extra_specs = {}
         self._orig_projects = []
 
+    def obj_make_compatible(self, primitive, target_version):
+        super(Flavor, self).obj_make_compatible(primitive, target_version)
+        target_version = versionutils.convert_version_to_tuple(target_version)
+        if target_version < (1, 2) and 'description' in primitive:
+            del primitive['description']
+
     @staticmethod
     def _from_db_object(context, flavor, db_flavor, expected_attrs=None):
         if expected_attrs is None:
@@ -473,13 +486,30 @@ class Flavor(base.NovaPersistentObject, base.NovaObject,
             self._flavor_extra_specs_del(self._context, self.id, key)
         self.obj_reset_changes(['extra_specs'])
 
+    # NOTE(mriedem): This method is not remotable since we only expect the API
+    # to be able to make updates to a flavor.
+    @db_api.api_context_manager.writer
+    def _save(self, context, values):
+        db_flavor = context.session.query(api_models.Flavors).\
+            filter_by(id=self.id).first()
+        if not db_flavor:
+            raise exception.FlavorNotFound(flavor_id=self.id)
+        db_flavor.update(values)
+        db_flavor.save(context.session)
+        # Refresh ourselves from the DB object so we get the new updated_at.
+        self._from_db_object(context, self, db_flavor)
+        self.obj_reset_changes()
+
     def save(self):
         updates = self.obj_get_changes()
         projects = updates.pop('projects', None)
         extra_specs = updates.pop('extra_specs', None)
         if updates:
-            raise exception.ObjectActionError(
-                action='save', reason='read-only fields were changed')
+            # Only allowed to update from the whitelist of mutable fields.
+            if set(updates.keys()) - MUTABLE_FIELDS:
+                raise exception.ObjectActionError(
+                    action='save', reason='read-only fields were changed')
+            self._save(self._context, updates)
 
         if extra_specs is not None:
             deleted_keys = (set(self._orig_extra_specs.keys()) -
@@ -505,7 +535,8 @@ class Flavor(base.NovaPersistentObject, base.NovaObject,
         if added_projects or deleted_projects:
             self.save_projects(added_projects, deleted_projects)
 
-        if added_keys or deleted_keys or added_projects or deleted_projects:
+        if (added_keys or deleted_keys or added_projects or deleted_projects or
+                updates):
             self._send_notification(fields.NotificationAction.UPDATE)
 
     @staticmethod
diff --git a/nova/objects/instance.py b/nova/objects/instance.py
index 3c166addd2..aca128c14a 100644
--- a/nova/objects/instance.py
+++ b/nova/objects/instance.py
@@ -539,6 +539,7 @@ class Instance(base.NovaPersistentObject, base.NovaObject,
                 'old': old,
                 'new': new,
             }
+            self._nullify_flavor_description(flavor_info)
             updates['extra']['flavor'] = jsonutils.dumps(flavor_info)
         keypairs = updates.pop('keypairs', None)
         if keypairs is not None:
@@ -625,6 +626,22 @@ class Instance(base.NovaPersistentObject, base.NovaObject,
         # NOTE(gibi): tags are not saved through the instance
         pass
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def _nullify_flavor_description(flavor_info):
+        """Helper method to nullify descriptions from a set of primitive
+        flavors.
+
+        Note that we don't remove the flavor description since that would
+        make the versioned notification FlavorPayload have to handle the field
+        not being set on the embedded instance.flavor.
+
+        :param dict: dict of primitive flavor objects where the values are the
+            flavors which get persisted in the instance_extra.flavor table.
+        """
+        for flavor in flavor_info.values():
+            if flavor and 'description' in flavor['nova_object.data']:
+                flavor['nova_object.data']['description'] = None
+
     def _save_flavor(self, context):
         if not any([x in self.obj_what_changed() for x in
                     ('flavor', 'old_flavor', 'new_flavor')]):
@@ -636,6 +653,7 @@ class Instance(base.NovaPersistentObject, base.NovaObject,
             'new': (self.new_flavor and
                     self.new_flavor.obj_to_primitive() or None),
         }
+        self._nullify_flavor_description(flavor_info)
         self._extra_values_to_save['flavor'] = jsonutils.dumps(flavor_info)
         self.obj_reset_changes(['flavor', 'old_flavor', 'new_flavor'])
 
diff --git a/nova/tests/functional/db/api/test_migrations.py b/nova/tests/functional/db/api/test_migrations.py
index 171edbe530..4bb1f52b23 100644
--- a/nova/tests/functional/db/api/test_migrations.py
+++ b/nova/tests/functional/db/api/test_migrations.py
@@ -643,6 +643,9 @@ class NovaAPIMigrationsWalk(test_migrations.WalkVersionsMixin):
             'consumers_project_id_user_id_uuid_idx',
         )
 
+    def _check_050(self, engine, data):
+        self.assertColumnExists(engine, 'flavors', 'description')
+
 
 class TestNovaAPIMigrationsWalkSQLite(NovaAPIMigrationsWalk,
                                       test_base.DbTestCase,
diff --git a/nova/tests/functional/db/test_flavor.py b/nova/tests/functional/db/test_flavor.py
index 7709bb9142..71c1a2233e 100644
--- a/nova/tests/functional/db/test_flavor.py
+++ b/nova/tests/functional/db/test_flavor.py
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ fake_api_flavor = {
     'is_public': True,
     'extra_specs': {'foo': 'bar'},
     'projects': ['project1', 'project2'],
+    'description': None
     }
 
 
diff --git a/nova/tests/functional/db/test_flavor_model.py b/nova/tests/functional/db/test_flavor_model.py
index 5cf484c054..447c2268e6 100644
--- a/nova/tests/functional/db/test_flavor_model.py
+++ b/nova/tests/functional/db/test_flavor_model.py
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@ class FlavorTablesCompareTestCase(test.NoDBTestCase):
         flavors = api_models.Flavors()
         instance_types = models.InstanceTypes()
         columns_flavors = self._get_columns_list(flavors)
+        # The description column is only in the API database so we have to
+        # exclude it from this check.
+        columns_flavors.remove('description')
         columns_instance_types = self._get_columns_list(instance_types)
         self.assertTrue(self._check_column_list(columns_flavors,
                                                 columns_instance_types))
diff --git a/nova/tests/functional/db/test_instance.py b/nova/tests/functional/db/test_instance.py
index 75fcce8577..9e800c755d 100644
--- a/nova/tests/functional/db/test_instance.py
+++ b/nova/tests/functional/db/test_instance.py
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@
 #    License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
 #    under the License.
 
+from oslo_utils import uuidutils
+
 from nova.compute import vm_states
 from nova import context
 from nova import objects
@@ -40,3 +42,34 @@ class InstanceObjectTestCase(test.TestCase):
             self.context, self.context.project_id, self.context.user_id,
             vm_states.ACTIVE)
         self.assertEqual(1, count)
+
+    def test_embedded_instance_flavor_description_is_not_persisted(self):
+        """The instance.flavor.description field will not be exposed out
+        of the REST API when showing server details, so we want to make
+        sure the embedded instance.flavor.description is not persisted with
+        the instance_extra.flavor information.
+        """
+        # Create a flavor with a description.
+        flavorid = uuidutils.generate_uuid()
+        flavor = objects.Flavor(context.get_admin_context(),
+                                name=flavorid, flavorid=flavorid,
+                                memory_mb=2048, vcpus=2,
+                                description='do not persist me in an instance')
+        flavor.create()
+
+        # Now create the instance with that flavor.
+        instance = self._create_instance(flavor=flavor)
+
+        # Make sure the embedded flavor.description is nulled out.
+        self.assertIsNone(instance.flavor.description)
+
+        # Now set the flavor on the instance again to make sure save() does
+        # not persist the flavor.description value.
+        instance.flavor = flavor
+        self.assertIn('flavor', list(instance.obj_what_changed()))
+        instance.save()
+
+        # Get the instance from the database since our old version is dirty.
+        instance = objects.Instance.get_by_uuid(
+            self.context, instance.uuid, expected_attrs=['flavor'])
+        self.assertIsNone(instance.flavor.description)
diff --git a/nova/tests/unit/api/openstack/compute/test_flavor_access.py b/nova/tests/unit/api/openstack/compute/test_flavor_access.py
index ef2f8048c3..20a73ef996 100644
--- a/nova/tests/unit/api/openstack/compute/test_flavor_access.py
+++ b/nova/tests/unit/api/openstack/compute/test_flavor_access.py
@@ -44,7 +44,8 @@ def generate_flavor(flavorid, ispublic):
         'disabled': False,
         'extra_specs': {},
         'vcpu_weight': None,
-        'is_public': bool(ispublic)
+        'is_public': bool(ispublic),
+        'description': None
     }
 
 
diff --git a/nova/tests/unit/compute/test_compute_api.py b/nova/tests/unit/compute/test_compute_api.py
index 8a773e7680..e8a66186e3 100644
--- a/nova/tests/unit/compute/test_compute_api.py
+++ b/nova/tests/unit/compute/test_compute_api.py
@@ -105,6 +105,7 @@ class _ComputeAPIUnitTestMixIn(object):
                   'created_at': datetime.datetime(2012, 1, 19, 18,
                                                   49, 30, 877329),
                   'updated_at': None,
+                  'description': None
                  }
         if updates:
             flavor.update(updates)
diff --git a/nova/tests/unit/db/fakes.py b/nova/tests/unit/db/fakes.py
index c0ce7e36cc..b033fecada 100644
--- a/nova/tests/unit/db/fakes.py
+++ b/nova/tests/unit/db/fakes.py
@@ -362,6 +362,7 @@ def stub_out_db_instance_api(test, injected=True):
                          'disabled': False,
                          'is_public': True,
                          'extra_specs': {},
+                         'description': None
                         }
         if updates:
             instance_type.update(updates)
diff --git a/nova/tests/unit/db/test_sqlalchemy_migration.py b/nova/tests/unit/db/test_sqlalchemy_migration.py
index 8f4f7cdedf..c12d838583 100644
--- a/nova/tests/unit/db/test_sqlalchemy_migration.py
+++ b/nova/tests/unit/db/test_sqlalchemy_migration.py
@@ -382,11 +382,14 @@ class TestNewtonCellsCheck(test.NoDBTestCase):
         self.engine = db_api.get_api_engine()
 
     def _flavor_me(self):
-        flavor = objects.Flavor(context=self.context,
-                                name='foo', memory_mb=123,
-                                vcpus=1, root_gb=1,
-                                flavorid='m1.foo')
-        flavor.create()
+        # We can't use the Flavor object or model to create the flavor because
+        # the model and object have the description field now but at this point
+        # we have not run the migration schema to add the description column.
+        flavors = db_utils.get_table(self.engine, 'flavors')
+        values = dict(name='foo', memory_mb=123,
+                      vcpus=1, root_gb=1,
+                      flavorid='m1.foo', swap=0)
+        flavors.insert().execute(values)
 
     def test_upgrade_with_no_cell_mappings(self):
         self._flavor_me()
diff --git a/nova/tests/unit/fake_flavor.py b/nova/tests/unit/fake_flavor.py
index dd1b0b15a8..178835944b 100644
--- a/nova/tests/unit/fake_flavor.py
+++ b/nova/tests/unit/fake_flavor.py
@@ -29,7 +29,8 @@ def fake_db_flavor(**updates):
         'disabled': False,
         'is_public': True,
         'extra_specs': {},
-        'projects': []
+        'projects': [],
+        'description': None
         }
 
     for name, field in objects.Flavor.fields.items():
diff --git a/nova/tests/unit/objects/test_flavor.py b/nova/tests/unit/objects/test_flavor.py
index e6291cf29c..1162f3be0f 100644
--- a/nova/tests/unit/objects/test_flavor.py
+++ b/nova/tests/unit/objects/test_flavor.py
@@ -16,7 +16,9 @@ import datetime
 
 import mock
 from oslo_db import exception as db_exc
+from oslo_utils import uuidutils
 
+from nova import context as nova_context
 from nova.db.sqlalchemy import api as db_api
 from nova.db.sqlalchemy import api_models
 from nova import exception
@@ -41,6 +43,7 @@ fake_flavor = {
     'disabled': False,
     'is_public': True,
     'extra_specs': {'foo': 'bar'},
+    'description': None
     }
 
 
@@ -321,6 +324,47 @@ class TestFlavor(test_objects._LocalTest, _TestFlavor):
         flavor = objects.Flavor.get_by_id(self.context, db_flavor['id'])
         self.assertEqual({'marty': 'mcfly'}, flavor.extra_specs)
 
+    # NOTE(mriedem): There is no remotable method for updating the description
+    # in a flavor so we test this local-only.
+    @mock.patch('nova.objects.Flavor._send_notification')
+    def test_description(self, mock_notify):
+        # Create a flavor with a description.
+        ctxt = nova_context.get_admin_context()
+        flavorid = uuidutils.generate_uuid()
+        dict_flavor = dict(fake_flavor, name=flavorid, flavorid=flavorid)
+        del dict_flavor['id']
+        flavor = flavor_obj.Flavor(ctxt, **dict_flavor)
+        flavor.description = 'rainbows and unicorns'
+        flavor.create()
+        mock_notify.assert_called_once_with('create')
+        # Lookup the flavor to make sure the description is set.
+        flavor = flavor_obj.Flavor.get_by_flavor_id(ctxt, flavorid)
+        self.assertEqual('rainbows and unicorns', flavor.description)
+
+        # Now reset the flavor.description since it's nullable=True.
+        mock_notify.reset_mock()
+        self.assertEqual(0, len(flavor.obj_what_changed()),
+                         flavor.obj_what_changed())
+        flavor.description = None
+        self.assertEqual(['description'], list(flavor.obj_what_changed()),
+                         flavor.obj_what_changed())
+        old_updated_at = flavor.updated_at
+        flavor.save()
+        # Make sure we reloaded the flavor from the database.
+        self.assertNotEqual(old_updated_at, flavor.updated_at)
+        mock_notify.assert_called_once_with('update')
+        self.assertEqual(0, len(flavor.obj_what_changed()),
+                         flavor.obj_what_changed())
+        # Lookup the flavor to make sure the description is gone.
+        flavor = flavor_obj.Flavor.get_by_flavor_id(ctxt, flavorid)
+        self.assertIsNone(flavor.description)
+
+        # Test compatibility.
+        flavor.description = 'flavor descriptions are not backward compatible'
+        flavor_primitive = flavor.obj_to_primitive()
+        flavor.obj_make_compatible(flavor_primitive, '1.1')
+        self.assertNotIn('description', flavor_primitive)
+
 
 class TestFlavorRemote(test_objects._RemoteTest, _TestFlavor):
     pass
diff --git a/nova/tests/unit/objects/test_objects.py b/nova/tests/unit/objects/test_objects.py
index 360c0c6326..a9d8a22e53 100644
--- a/nova/tests/unit/objects/test_objects.py
+++ b/nova/tests/unit/objects/test_objects.py
@@ -1087,7 +1087,7 @@ object_data = {
     'EC2VolumeMapping': '1.0-5b713751d6f97bad620f3378a521020d',
     'FixedIP': '1.14-53e1c10b539f1a82fe83b1af4720efae',
     'FixedIPList': '1.15-07b6261cef836cb09d2d8673f68ece15',
-    'Flavor': '1.1-b6bb7a730a79d720344accefafacf7ee',
+    'Flavor': '1.2-4ce99b41327bb230262e5a8f45ff0ce3',
     'FlavorList': '1.1-52b5928600e7ca973aa4fc1e46f3934c',
     'FloatingIP': '1.10-52a67d52d85eb8b3f324a5b7935a335b',
     'FloatingIPList': '1.12-e4debd21fddb12cf40d36f737225fa9d',