diff --git a/library/cloud/ec2 b/library/cloud/ec2
index 7ec2c0c6472..c8b8b503f9d 100644
--- a/library/cloud/ec2
+++ b/library/cloud/ec2
@@ -191,6 +191,13 @@ options:
     required: false
     default: 'present'
     aliases: []
+  volumes:
+    version_added: "1.5"
+    description:
+      - a list of volume dicts, each containing device name and optionally ephemeral id or snapshot id. Size and type (and number of iops for io device type) must be specified for a new volume or a root volume, and may be passed for a snapshot volume. For any volume, a volume size less than 1 will be interpreted as a request not to create the volume.
+    required: false
+    default: null
+    aliases: []
 
 requirements: [ "boto" ]
 author: Seth Vidal, Tim Gerla, Lester Wade
@@ -223,6 +230,23 @@ EXAMPLES = '''
     instance_tags: '{"db":"postgres"}'
     monitoring=yes
 
+# Single instance with additional IOPS volume from snapshot
+local_action:
+    module: ec2
+    keypair: mykey
+    group: webserver
+    instance_type: m1.large
+    image: ami-6e649707
+    wait: yes
+    wait_timeout: 500
+    volumes:
+    - device_name: /dev/sdb
+      snapshot: snap-abcdef12
+      device_type: io1
+      iops: 1000
+      volume_size: 100
+    monitoring=yes
+
 # Multiple groups example
 local_action:
     module: ec2
@@ -236,6 +260,22 @@ local_action:
     instance_tags: '{"db":"postgres"}'
     monitoring=yes
 
+# Multiple instances with additional volume from snapshot
+local_action:
+    module: ec2
+    keypair: mykey
+    group: webserver
+    instance_type: m1.large
+    image: ami-6e649707
+    wait: yes
+    wait_timeout: 500
+    count: 5
+    volumes:
+    - device_name: /dev/sdb
+      snapshot: snap-abcdef12
+      volume_size: 10
+    monitoring=yes
+
 # VPC example
 - local_action:
     module: ec2
@@ -296,6 +336,7 @@ import time
 
 try:
     import boto.ec2
+    from boto.ec2.blockdevicemapping import BlockDeviceType, BlockDeviceMapping
     from boto.exception import EC2ResponseError
 except ImportError:
     print "failed=True msg='boto required for this module'"
@@ -364,6 +405,30 @@ def boto_supports_profile_name_arg(ec2):
     run_instances_method = getattr(ec2, 'run_instances')
     return 'instance_profile_name' in run_instances_method.func_code.co_varnames
 
+def create_block_device(module, ec2, volume):
+    # Not aware of a way to determine this programatically
+    # http://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2013/10/09/ebs-provisioned-iops-maximum-iops-gb-ratio-increased-to-30-1/
+    MAX_IOPS_TO_SIZE_RATIO = 30
+    if 'snapshot' not in volume and 'ephemeral' not in volume:
+        if 'volume_size' not in volume: 
+            module.fail_json(msg = 'Size must be specified when creating a new volume or modifying the root volume')
+    if 'snapshot' in volume:
+        if 'device_type' in volume and volume.get('device_type') == 'io1' and 'iops' not in volume:
+            module.fail_json(msg = 'io1 volumes must have an iops value set')
+        if 'iops' in volume:
+            snapshot = ec2.get_all_snapshots(snapshot_ids=[volume['snapshot']])[0]
+            size = volume.get('volume_size', snapshot.volume_size)
+            if int(volume['iops']) > MAX_IOPS_TO_SIZE_RATIO * size:
+                module.fail_json(msg = 'IOPS must be at most %d times greater than size' % MAX_IOPS_TO_SIZE_RATIO)
+    if 'ephemeral' in volume:
+        if 'snapshot' in volume: 
+            module.fail_json(msg = 'Cannot set both ephemeral and snapshot')
+    return BlockDeviceType(snapshot_id=volume.get('snapshot'),
+                           ephemeral_name=volume.get('ephemeral'),
+                           size=volume.get('volume_size'),
+                           volume_type=volume.get('device_type'),
+                           delete_on_termination=volume.get('delete_on_termination', False),
+                           iops=volume.get('iops'))
 
 def create_instances(module, ec2):
     """
@@ -397,6 +462,7 @@ def create_instances(module, ec2):
     assign_public_ip = module.boolean(module.params.get('assign_public_ip'))
     private_ip = module.params.get('private_ip')
     instance_profile_name = module.params.get('instance_profile_name')
+    volumes = module.params.get('volumes')
 
     # group_id and group_name are exclusive of each other
     if group_id and group_name:
@@ -489,6 +555,18 @@ def create_instances(module, ec2):
                 else:
                     params['security_groups'] = group_name
 
+            if volumes:
+                bdm = BlockDeviceMapping()
+                for volume in volumes: 
+                    if 'device_name' not in volume:
+                        module.fail_json(msg = 'Device name must be set for volume')
+                    # Minimum volume size is 1GB. We'll use volume size explicitly set to 0
+                    # to be a signal not to create this volume 
+                    if 'volume_size' not in volume or int(volume['volume_size']) > 0:
+                        bdm[volume['device_name']] = create_block_device(module, ec2, volume)
+
+                params['block_device_map'] = bdm
+
             res = ec2.run_instances(**params)
         except boto.exception.BotoServerError, e:
             module.fail_json(msg = "%s: %s" % (e.error_code, e.error_message))
@@ -641,6 +719,7 @@ def main():
             instance_profile_name = dict(),
             instance_ids = dict(type='list'),
             state = dict(default='present'),
+            volumes = dict(type='list'),
         )
     )