diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/pyrax.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/pyrax.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0abf54f03fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/pyrax.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+{ lib, buildPythonPackage, fetchurl, requests2, novaclient, keyring,
+  rackspace-novaclient, six, isPy3k, pytest, glibcLocales }:
+buildPythonPackage rec {
+  name = "pyrax-1.9.8";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "mirror://pypi/p/pyrax/${name}.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "1x98jzyxnvha81pgx3jpfixljhs7zik89yfp8q06kwpx8ws99nz9";
+  };
+
+  # no good reason given in commit why limited, and seems to work
+  patchPhase = ''
+      substituteInPlace "setup.py"                                     \
+              --replace "python-novaclient==2.27.0" "python-novaclient"
+    '';
+
+  disabled = isPy3k;
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [ requests2 novaclient keyring rackspace-novaclient six ];
+
+  LC_ALL = "en_US.UTF-8";
+  buildInputs = [ pytest glibcLocales ];
+
+  checkPhase = ''
+    py.test tests/unit
+  '';
+
+  meta = {
+    homepage = "https://github.com/rackspace/pyrax";
+    license = lib.licenses.asl20;
+    description = "Python API to interface with Rackspace";
+    maintainers = with lib.maintainers; [ teh ];
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/rackspace-novaclient.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/rackspace-novaclient.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0eaed7e36fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/rackspace-novaclient.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,151 @@
+{ buildPythonPackage, fetchurl, isPy3k, requests2, novaclient, six, lib }:
+let
+os-virtual-interfacesv2-python-novaclient-ext = buildPythonPackage rec {
+  name = "os_virtual_interfacesv2_python_novaclient_ext-0.20";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "mirror://pypi/o/os-virtual-interfacesv2-python-novaclient-ext/${name}.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "17a4r8psxmfikgmzh709absbn5jsh1005whibmwhysj9fi0zyfbd";
+  };
+
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [ six novaclient ];
+
+  meta = {
+    homepage = https://github.com/rackerlabs/os_virtual_interfacesv2_ext;
+    license = lib.licenses.asl20;
+    description = "Adds Virtual Interfaces support to python-novaclient";
+  };
+};
+
+ip-associations-python-novaclient-ext = buildPythonPackage rec {
+  name = "ip_associations_python_novaclient_ext-0.2";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "mirror://pypi/i/ip_associations_python_novaclient_ext/${name}.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "0dxfkfjhzskafmb01y8hzbcpvc4cd6fas1s50dzcmg29w4z6qmz4";
+  };
+
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [ six novaclient ];
+
+  meta = {
+    homepage = https://github.com/rackerlabs/ip_associations_python_novaclient_ext;
+    license = lib.licenses.asl20;
+    description = "Adds Rackspace ip_associations support to python-novaclient";
+  };
+};
+
+
+rackspace-auth-openstack = buildPythonPackage rec {
+  name = "rackspace-auth-openstack-1.3";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "mirror://pypi/r/rackspace-auth-openstack/${name}.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "1kaiyvgwmavw2mh0s32yjk70xsziynjdhi01qn9a8kljn7p6kh64";
+  };
+
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [ six novaclient ];
+
+  meta = {
+    homepage = https://pypi.python.org/pypi/rackspace-auth-openstack;
+    license = lib.licenses.asl20;
+    description = "Rackspace Auth Plugin for OpenStack Clients.";
+  };
+};
+rax-default-network-flags-python-novaclient-ext = buildPythonPackage rec {
+  name = "rax_default_network_flags_python_novaclient_ext-0.4.0";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "mirror://pypi/r/rax_default_network_flags_python_novaclient_ext/${name}.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "00b0csb58k6rr1is68bkkw358mms8mmb898bm8bbr8g7j2fz8aw5";
+  };
+
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [ six novaclient ];
+
+  meta = {
+    homepage = https://pypi.python.org/simple/rax-default-network-flags-python-novaclient-ext;
+    license = lib.licenses.asl20;
+    description = "Novaclient Extension for Instance Default Network Flags";
+  };
+};
+os-networksv2-python-novaclient-ext = buildPythonPackage rec {
+  name = "os_networksv2_python_novaclient_ext-0.26";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "mirror://pypi/o/os_networksv2_python_novaclient_ext/${name}.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "06dzqmyrwlq7hla6dk699z18c8v27qr1gxqknimwxlwqdlhpafk1";
+  };
+
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [ six novaclient ];
+
+  meta = {
+    homepage = https://pypi.python.org/pypi/os_networksv2_python_novaclient_ext;
+    license = lib.licenses.asl20;
+    description = "Adds rackspace networks support to python-novaclient";
+  };
+};
+
+rax-scheduled-images-python-novaclient-ext = buildPythonPackage rec {
+  name = "rax_scheduled_images_python_novaclient_ext-0.3.1";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "mirror://pypi/r/rax_scheduled_images_python_novaclient_ext/${name}.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "1nvwjgrkp1p1d27an393qf49pszm1nvqa2ychhbqmp0bnabwyw7i";
+  };
+
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [ six novaclient ];
+
+  meta = {
+    homepage = https://pypi.python.org/pypi/rax_scheduled_images_python_novaclient_ext;
+    license = lib.licenses.asl20;
+    description = "Extends python-novaclient to use RAX-SI, the Rackspace Nova API Scheduled Images extension";
+  };
+};
+
+os-diskconfig-python-novaclient-ext = buildPythonPackage rec {
+  name = "os_diskconfig_python_novaclient_ext-0.1.3";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "mirror://pypi/o/os_diskconfig_python_novaclient_ext/${name}.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "0xayy5nlkgl9yr0inqkwirlmar8pv1id29r59lj70g5plwrr5lg7";
+  };
+
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [ six novaclient ];
+
+  meta = {
+    homepage = https://pypi.python.org/pypi/os_diskconfig_python_novaclient_ext;
+    license = lib.licenses.asl20;
+    description = "Disk Config extension for python-novaclient";
+  };
+};
+
+in
+buildPythonPackage rec {
+  name = "rackspace-novaclient-2.1";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "mirror://pypi/r/rackspace-novaclient/${name}.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "1rzaa328hzm8hs9q99gvjr64x47fmcq4dv4656rzxq5s4gv49z12";
+  };
+
+  disabled = isPy3k;
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [
+    requests2
+    novaclient
+    six
+    # extensions
+    ip-associations-python-novaclient-ext
+    os-diskconfig-python-novaclient-ext
+    os-networksv2-python-novaclient-ext
+    os-virtual-interfacesv2-python-novaclient-ext
+    rackspace-auth-openstack
+    rax-default-network-flags-python-novaclient-ext
+    rax-scheduled-images-python-novaclient-ext
+  ];
+
+  meta = {
+    homepage = https://pypi.python.org/pypi/rackspace-novaclient/;
+    license = lib.licenses.asl20;
+    description = "Metapackage to install python-novaclient and Rackspace extensions";
+    maintainers = with lib.maintainers; [ teh ];
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
index e5f9e191304..3136e5edbee 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
@@ -21562,27 +21562,12 @@ in {
     doCheck = false;
   };
 
+  rackspace-novaclient = callPackage ../development/python-modules/rackspace-novaclient.nix { };
 
-  pyrax = buildPythonPackage rec {
-    name = "pyrax-1.8.2";
-
-    src = pkgs.fetchurl {
-      url = "mirror://pypi/p/pyrax/${name}.tar.gz";
-      sha256 = "0hvim60bhgfj91m7pp8jfmb49f087xqlgkqa505zw28r7yl0hcfp";
-    };
-
-    propagatedBuildInputs = with self; [ requests2 ];
-    doCheck = false;
-
-    meta = {
-      broken = true;  # missing lots of dependencies with rackspace-novaclient
-      homepage    = "https://github.com/rackspace/pyrax";
-      license     = licenses.mit;
-      description = "Python API to interface with Rackspace";
-    };
+  pyrax = callPackage ../development/python-modules/pyrax.nix {
+    glibcLocales = pkgs.glibcLocales;
   };
 
-
   pyreport = buildPythonPackage (rec {
     name = "pyreport-0.3.4c";
     disabled = isPy3k;