diff --git a/lib/ironic b/lib/ironic
index bc30cdbeba..325bee9060 100644
--- a/lib/ironic
+++ b/lib/ironic
@@ -343,13 +343,24 @@ function configure_ironic_conductor {
     iniset $IRONIC_CONF_FILE pxe tftp_server $IRONIC_TFTPSERVER_IP
     iniset $IRONIC_CONF_FILE pxe tftp_root $IRONIC_TFTPBOOT_DIR
     iniset $IRONIC_CONF_FILE pxe tftp_master_path $IRONIC_TFTPBOOT_DIR/master_images
+
+    local pxe_params=""
     if [[ "$IRONIC_VM_LOG_CONSOLE" == "True" ]] ; then
-        local pxe_params="nofb nomodeset vga=normal console=ttyS0"
+        pxe_params+="nofb nomodeset vga=normal console=ttyS0"
         if is_deployed_with_ipa_ramdisk; then
             pxe_params+=" systemd.journald.forward_to_console=yes"
         fi
+    fi
+    # When booting with less than 1GB, we need to switch from default tmpfs
+    # to ramfs for ramdisks to decompress successfully.
+    if (is_ironic_hardware && [[ "$IRONIC_HW_NODE_RAM" -lt 1024 ]]) ||
+        (! is_ironic_hardware && [[ "$IRONIC_VM_SPECS_RAM" -lt 1024 ]]); then
+        pxe_params+=" rootfstype=ramfs"
+    fi
+    if [[ -n "$pxe_params" ]]; then
         iniset $IRONIC_CONF_FILE pxe pxe_append_params "$pxe_params"
     fi
+
     if is_deployed_by_agent; then
         if [[ "$SWIFT_ENABLE_TEMPURLS" == "True" ]] ; then
             iniset $IRONIC_CONF_FILE glance swift_temp_url_key $SWIFT_TEMPURL_KEY