diff --git a/teuthology/task/ceph.py b/teuthology/task/ceph.py
index efd04954489..7b836febde7 100644
--- a/teuthology/task/ceph.py
+++ b/teuthology/task/ceph.py
@@ -665,6 +665,14 @@ def cluster(ctx, config):
     log.info('Running mkfs on mon nodes...')
     for remote, roles_for_host in mons.remotes.iteritems():
         for id_ in teuthology.roles_of_type(roles_for_host, 'mon'):
+            remote.run(
+                args=[
+                  'sudo',
+                  'mkdir',
+                  '-p',
+                  '/var/lib/ceph/mon/ceph-{id}'.format(id=id_),
+                  ],
+                )
             remote.run(
                 args=[
                     '{tdir}/enable-coredump'.format(tdir=testdir),