diff --git a/nova/tests/unit/virt/libvirt/test_driver.py b/nova/tests/unit/virt/libvirt/test_driver.py
index e505d22561..ccb2d98823 100644
--- a/nova/tests/unit/virt/libvirt/test_driver.py
+++ b/nova/tests/unit/virt/libvirt/test_driver.py
@@ -7466,32 +7466,6 @@ class LibvirtConnTestCase(test.NoDBTestCase,
         get_online_cpus.return_value = set([4, 5])
         self.assertRaises(exception.Invalid, drvr._get_vcpu_total)
 
-    @mock.patch('nova.virt.libvirt.host.Host.get_online_cpus')
-    def test_get_host_vcpus_libvirt_error(self, get_online_cpus):
-        drvr = libvirt_driver.LibvirtDriver(fake.FakeVirtAPI(), False)
-        not_supported_exc = fakelibvirt.make_libvirtError(
-            fakelibvirt.libvirtError,
-            'this function is not supported by the connection driver:'
-            ' virNodeNumOfDevices',
-            error_code=fakelibvirt.VIR_ERR_NO_SUPPORT)
-        self.flags(vcpu_pin_set="4-6")
-        get_online_cpus.side_effect = not_supported_exc
-        self.assertRaises(exception.Invalid, drvr._get_vcpu_total)
-
-    @mock.patch('nova.virt.libvirt.host.Host.get_online_cpus')
-    def test_get_host_vcpus_libvirt_error_success(self, get_online_cpus):
-        drvr = libvirt_driver.LibvirtDriver(fake.FakeVirtAPI(), False)
-        not_supported_exc = fakelibvirt.make_libvirtError(
-            fakelibvirt.libvirtError,
-            'this function is not supported by the connection driver:'
-            ' virNodeNumOfDevices',
-            error_code=fakelibvirt.VIR_ERR_NO_SUPPORT)
-        self.flags(vcpu_pin_set="1")
-        get_online_cpus.side_effect = not_supported_exc
-        expected_vcpus = 1
-        vcpus = drvr._get_vcpu_total()
-        self.assertEqual(expected_vcpus, vcpus)
-
     @mock.patch('nova.virt.libvirt.host.Host.get_cpu_count')
     def test_get_host_vcpus_after_hotplug(self, get_cpu_count):
         drvr = libvirt_driver.LibvirtDriver(fake.FakeVirtAPI(), False)
diff --git a/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py b/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py
index 8e35a2ecd1..82f77111f7 100644
--- a/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py
+++ b/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py
@@ -5858,29 +5858,15 @@ class LibvirtDriver(driver.ComputeDriver):
             return total_pcpus
 
         available_ids = hardware.get_vcpu_pin_set()
-        # We get the list of online CPUs on the host and see if the requested
-        # set falls under these. If not, we retain the old behavior.
-        online_pcpus = None
-        try:
-            online_pcpus = self._host.get_online_cpus()
-        except libvirt.libvirtError as ex:
-            error_code = ex.get_error_code()
-            err_msg = encodeutils.exception_to_unicode(ex)
-            LOG.warning(
-                "Couldn't retrieve the online CPUs due to a Libvirt "
-                "error: %(error)s with error code: %(error_code)s",
-                {'error': err_msg, 'error_code': error_code})
-        if online_pcpus:
-            if not (available_ids <= online_pcpus):
-                msg = (_("Invalid vcpu_pin_set config, one or more of the "
-                         "specified cpuset is not online. Online cpuset(s): "
-                         "%(online)s, requested cpuset(s): %(req)s"),
-                       {'online': sorted(online_pcpus),
-                        'req': sorted(available_ids)})
-                raise exception.Invalid(msg)
-        elif sorted(available_ids)[-1] >= total_pcpus:
-            raise exception.Invalid(_("Invalid vcpu_pin_set config, "
-                                      "out of hypervisor cpu range."))
+        online_pcpus = self._host.get_online_cpus()
+        if not (available_ids <= online_pcpus):
+            msg = _("Invalid 'vcpu_pin_set' config: one or more of the "
+                    "requested CPUs is not online. Online cpuset(s): "
+                    "%(online)s, requested cpuset(s): %(req)s")
+            raise exception.Invalid(msg % {
+                'online': sorted(online_pcpus),
+                'req': sorted(available_ids)})
+
         return len(available_ids)
 
     @staticmethod