diff --git a/nova/objects/instance.py b/nova/objects/instance.py
index 9fe4f7cbcc..72d085d8c9 100644
--- a/nova/objects/instance.py
+++ b/nova/objects/instance.py
@@ -376,8 +376,7 @@ class Instance(base.NovaPersistentObject, base.NovaObject):
         numa_topology = updates.pop('numa_topology', None)
         if numa_topology:
             expected_attrs.append('numa_topology')
-            updates['extra']['numa_topology'] = (
-                numa_topology.topology_from_obj().to_json())
+            updates['extra']['numa_topology'] = numa_topology._to_json()
         pci_requests = updates.pop('pci_requests', None)
         if pci_requests:
             expected_attrs.append('pci_requests')
diff --git a/nova/objects/instance_numa_topology.py b/nova/objects/instance_numa_topology.py
index 422169d1af..324b4394f7 100644
--- a/nova/objects/instance_numa_topology.py
+++ b/nova/objects/instance_numa_topology.py
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
 #    License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
 #    under the License.
 
+from oslo.serialization import jsonutils
+
 from nova import db
 from nova import exception
 from nova.objects import base
@@ -47,13 +49,19 @@ class InstanceNUMATopology(base.NovaObject):
 
     @classmethod
     def obj_from_db_obj(cls, instance_uuid, db_obj):
-        topo = hardware.VirtNUMAInstanceTopology.from_json(db_obj)
-        obj_topology = cls.obj_from_topology(topo)
-        obj_topology.instance_uuid = instance_uuid
-        # NOTE (ndipanov) not really needed as we never save, but left for
-        # consistency
-        obj_topology.id = 0
-        obj_topology.obj_reset_changes()
+        if 'nova_object.name' in db_obj:
+            obj_topology = cls.obj_from_primitive(
+                jsonutils.loads(db_obj))
+        else:
+            # NOTE(sahid): This compatibility code needs to stay until we can
+            # guarantee that there are no cases of the old format stored in
+            # the database (or forever, if we can never guarantee that).
+            topo = hardware.VirtNUMAInstanceTopology.from_json(db_obj)
+            obj_topology = cls.obj_from_topology(topo)
+            obj_topology.instance_uuid = instance_uuid
+
+            # No benefit to store a list of changed fields
+            obj_topology.obj_reset_changes()
         return obj_topology
 
     @classmethod
@@ -81,22 +89,13 @@ class InstanceNUMATopology(base.NovaObject):
     # TODO(ndipanov) Remove this method on the major version bump to 2.0
     @base.remotable
     def create(self, context):
-        topology = self.topology_from_obj()
-        if not topology:
-            return
-        values = {'numa_topology': topology.to_json()}
-        db.instance_extra_update_by_uuid(context, self.instance_uuid,
-                                         values)
-        self.obj_reset_changes()
+        self._save(context)
 
     # NOTE(ndipanov): We can't rename create and want to avoid version bump
     # as this needs to be backported to stable so this is not a @remotable
     # That's OK since we only call it from inside Instance.save() which is.
     def _save(self, context):
-        topology = self.topology_from_obj()
-        if not topology:
-            return
-        values = {'numa_topology': topology.to_json()}
+        values = {'numa_topology': self._to_json()}
         db.instance_extra_update_by_uuid(context, self.instance_uuid,
                                          values)
         self.obj_reset_changes()
@@ -121,3 +120,6 @@ class InstanceNUMATopology(base.NovaObject):
             return None
 
         return cls.obj_from_db_obj(instance_uuid, db_extra['numa_topology'])
+
+    def _to_json(self):
+        return jsonutils.dumps(self.obj_to_primitive())
diff --git a/nova/tests/unit/objects/test_instance.py b/nova/tests/unit/objects/test_instance.py
index 0e26681925..e5acd44449 100644
--- a/nova/tests/unit/objects/test_instance.py
+++ b/nova/tests/unit/objects/test_instance.py
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ from nova import notifications
 from nova import objects
 from nova.objects import instance
 from nova.objects import instance_info_cache
-from nova.objects import instance_numa_topology
 from nova.objects import pci_device
 from nova.objects import security_group
 from nova import test
@@ -419,17 +418,19 @@ class _TestInstanceObject(object):
     @mock.patch('nova.objects.Instance._from_db_object')
     def test_save_updates_numa_topology(self, mock_fdo, mock_update,
             mock_extra_update):
+        fake_obj_numa_topology = objects.InstanceNUMATopology(cells=[
+            objects.InstanceNUMACell(id=0, cpuset=set([0]), memory=128),
+            objects.InstanceNUMACell(id=1, cpuset=set([1]), memory=128)])
+        fake_obj_numa_topology.instance_uuid = 'fake-uuid'
+        jsonified = fake_obj_numa_topology._to_json()
+
         mock_update.return_value = None, None
         inst = instance.Instance(
             context=self.context, id=123, uuid='fake-uuid')
-        inst.numa_topology = (
-            instance_numa_topology.InstanceNUMATopology.obj_from_topology(
-                test_instance_numa_topology.fake_numa_topology))
+        inst.numa_topology = fake_obj_numa_topology
         inst.save()
         mock_extra_update.assert_called_once_with(
-                self.context, inst.uuid,
-                {'numa_topology':
-                    test_instance_numa_topology.fake_numa_topology.to_json()})
+            self.context, inst.uuid, {'numa_topology': jsonified})
         mock_extra_update.reset_mock()
         inst.numa_topology = None
         inst.save()
@@ -707,19 +708,18 @@ class _TestInstanceObject(object):
 
     def test_create_with_extras(self):
         inst = instance.Instance(uuid=self.fake_instance['uuid'],
-                numa_topology=objects.InstanceNUMATopology.obj_from_topology(
-                    test_instance_numa_topology.fake_numa_topology),
-                pci_requests=objects.InstancePCIRequests(
-                    requests=[
-                        objects.InstancePCIRequest(count=123,
-                                                   spec=[])]))
-
+            numa_topology=test_instance_numa_topology.fake_obj_numa_topology,
+            pci_requests=objects.InstancePCIRequests(
+                requests=[
+                    objects.InstancePCIRequest(count=123,
+                                               spec=[])]))
         inst.create(self.context)
         self.assertIsNotNone(inst.numa_topology)
         self.assertIsNotNone(inst.pci_requests)
         got_numa_topo = objects.InstanceNUMATopology.get_by_instance_uuid(
             self.context, inst.uuid)
-        self.assertEqual(inst.numa_topology.id, got_numa_topo.id)
+        self.assertEqual(inst.numa_topology.instance_uuid,
+                         got_numa_topo.instance_uuid)
         got_pci_requests = objects.InstancePCIRequests.get_by_instance_uuid(
             self.context, inst.uuid)
         self.assertEqual(123, got_pci_requests.requests[0].count)
diff --git a/nova/tests/unit/objects/test_instance_numa_topology.py b/nova/tests/unit/objects/test_instance_numa_topology.py
index afb9872ad7..26aa71e1ab 100644
--- a/nova/tests/unit/objects/test_instance_numa_topology.py
+++ b/nova/tests/unit/objects/test_instance_numa_topology.py
@@ -19,11 +19,16 @@ from nova import objects
 from nova.tests.unit.objects import test_objects
 from nova.virt import hardware
 
+fake_instance_uuid = str(uuid.uuid4())
 fake_numa_topology = hardware.VirtNUMAInstanceTopology(
-        cells=[hardware.VirtNUMATopologyCellInstance(
-            0, set([1, 2]), 512, 2048),
-               hardware.VirtNUMATopologyCellInstance(
-            1, set([3, 4]), 512, 2048)])
+    cells=[hardware.VirtNUMATopologyCellInstance(
+        0, set([1, 2]), 512, 2048),
+           hardware.VirtNUMATopologyCellInstance(
+        1, set([3, 4]), 512, 2048)])
+
+fake_obj_numa_topology = objects.InstanceNUMATopology.obj_from_topology(
+    fake_numa_topology)
+fake_obj_numa_topology.instance_uuid = fake_instance_uuid
 
 fake_db_topology = {
     'created_at': None,
@@ -31,10 +36,13 @@ fake_db_topology = {
     'deleted_at': None,
     'deleted': 0,
     'id': 1,
-    'instance_uuid': str(uuid.uuid4()),
-    'numa_topology': fake_numa_topology.to_json()
+    'instance_uuid': fake_instance_uuid,
+    'numa_topology': fake_obj_numa_topology._to_json()
     }
 
+fake_old_db_topology = dict(fake_db_topology)  # copy
+fake_old_db_topology['numa_topology'] = fake_numa_topology.to_json()
+
 
 class _TestInstanceNUMATopology(object):
     @mock.patch('nova.db.instance_extra_update_by_uuid')
@@ -45,9 +53,15 @@ class _TestInstanceNUMATopology(object):
         topo_obj.create(self.context)
         self.assertEqual(1, len(mock_update.call_args_list))
 
-    @mock.patch('nova.db.instance_extra_get_by_instance_uuid')
-    def test_get_by_instance_uuid(self, mock_get):
-        mock_get.return_value = fake_db_topology
+    @mock.patch('nova.db.instance_extra_update_by_uuid')
+    def test_save(self, mock_update):
+        topo_obj = objects.InstanceNUMATopology.obj_from_topology(
+               fake_numa_topology)
+        topo_obj.instance_uuid = fake_db_topology['instance_uuid']
+        topo_obj._save(self.context)
+        self.assertEqual(1, len(mock_update.call_args_list))
+
+    def _test_get_by_instance_uuid(self):
         numa_topology = objects.InstanceNUMATopology.get_by_instance_uuid(
             self.context, fake_db_topology['instance_uuid'])
         self.assertEqual(fake_db_topology['instance_uuid'],
@@ -59,6 +73,16 @@ class _TestInstanceNUMATopology(object):
             self.assertEqual(topo_cell.memory, obj_cell.memory)
             self.assertEqual(topo_cell.pagesize, obj_cell.pagesize)
 
+    @mock.patch('nova.db.instance_extra_get_by_instance_uuid')
+    def test_get_by_instance_uuid(self, mock_get):
+        mock_get.return_value = fake_db_topology
+        self._test_get_by_instance_uuid()
+
+    @mock.patch('nova.db.instance_extra_get_by_instance_uuid')
+    def test_get_by_instance_uuid_old(self, mock_get):
+        mock_get.return_value = fake_old_db_topology
+        self._test_get_by_instance_uuid()
+
     @mock.patch('nova.db.instance_extra_get_by_instance_uuid')
     def test_get_by_instance_uuid_missing(self, mock_get):
         mock_get.return_value = None