diff --git a/placement/attribute_cache.py b/placement/attribute_cache.py
index 60545d3ed..d654d9651 100644
--- a/placement/attribute_cache.py
+++ b/placement/attribute_cache.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #    WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
 #    License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
 #    under the License.
+import collections
 
 import sqlalchemy as sa
 
@@ -41,6 +42,12 @@ class _AttributeCache(object):
     _table = None
     _not_found = None
 
+    # The cache internally stores either sqlalchemy Row objects or
+    # Attrs namedtuples but Row is compatible with namedtuple interface too.
+    Attrs = collections.namedtuple(
+        "Attrs", ["id", "name", "updated_at", "created_at"]
+    )
+
     def __init__(self, ctx):
         """Initialize the cache of resource class identifiers.
 
@@ -87,14 +94,14 @@ class _AttributeCache(object):
 
         :param attr_str: The string representation of the attribute for which
                          to look up the object.
-        :returns: dict representing the attribute fields, if the attribute was
-                  found in the appropriate database table.
+        :returns: namedtuple representing the attribute fields, if the
+                  attribute was found in the appropriate database table.
         :raises An instance of the subclass' _not_found exception if attr_str
                 cannot be found in the DB.
         """
-        attr_id_str = self._all_cache.get(attr_str)
-        if attr_id_str is not None:
-            return attr_id_str
+        attrs = self._all_cache.get(attr_str)
+        if attrs is not None:
+            return attrs
 
         # Otherwise, check the database table
         self._refresh_from_db(self._ctx)
@@ -126,7 +133,7 @@ class _AttributeCache(object):
 
     def get_all(self):
         """Return an iterator of all the resources in the cache with all their
-        attributes.
+        attributes as a namedtuple.
 
         In Python3 the return value is a generator.
         """
@@ -152,6 +159,8 @@ class _AttributeCache(object):
         res = ctx.session.execute(sel).fetchall()
         self._id_cache = {r[1]: r[0] for r in res}
         self._str_cache = {r[0]: r[1] for r in res}
+        # Note that r is Row object that is compatible with the namedtuple
+        # interface of the cache
         self._all_cache = {r[1]: r for r in res}
 
     def _add_attribute(self, attr_id, name, created_at, updated_at):
@@ -160,12 +169,8 @@ class _AttributeCache(object):
         """
         self._id_cache[name] = attr_id
         self._str_cache[attr_id] = name
-        self._all_cache[name] = {
-            'id': attr_id,
-            'name': name,
-            'created_at': created_at,
-            'updated_at': updated_at,
-        }
+        attrs = self.Attrs(attr_id, name, updated_at, created_at)
+        self._all_cache[name] = attrs
 
 
 class ConsumerTypeCache(_AttributeCache):
diff --git a/placement/objects/trait.py b/placement/objects/trait.py
index e6d1bb388..cfb8e58c5 100644
--- a/placement/objects/trait.py
+++ b/placement/objects/trait.py
@@ -90,8 +90,8 @@ class Trait(object):
 
     @classmethod
     def get_by_name(cls, context, name):
-        db_trait = context.trait_cache.all_from_string(name)._mapping
-        return cls._from_db_object(context, cls(context), db_trait)
+        trait = context.trait_cache.all_from_string(name)
+        return cls._from_db_object(context, cls(context), trait._asdict())
 
     @staticmethod
     @db_api.placement_context_manager.writer
diff --git a/placement/tests/functional/db/test_attribute_cache.py b/placement/tests/functional/db/test_attribute_cache.py
index d13133f6b..2754d4d97 100644
--- a/placement/tests/functional/db/test_attribute_cache.py
+++ b/placement/tests/functional/db/test_attribute_cache.py
@@ -93,11 +93,11 @@ class TestResourceClassCache(base.TestCase):
 
         # Verify all fields available from all_from_string
         iron_nfv_class = cache.all_from_string('IRON_NFV')
-        self.assertEqual(1001, iron_nfv_class['id'])
-        self.assertEqual('IRON_NFV', iron_nfv_class['name'])
+        self.assertEqual(1001, iron_nfv_class.id)
+        self.assertEqual('IRON_NFV', iron_nfv_class.name)
         # updated_at not set on insert
-        self.assertIsNone(iron_nfv_class['updated_at'])
-        self.assertIsInstance(iron_nfv_class['created_at'], datetime.datetime)
+        self.assertIsNone(iron_nfv_class.updated_at)
+        self.assertIsInstance(iron_nfv_class.created_at, datetime.datetime)
 
         # Update IRON_NFV (this is a no-op but will set updated_at)
         with self.placement_db.get_engine().connect() as conn:
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ class TestResourceClassCache(base.TestCase):
 
         iron_nfv_class = cache.all_from_string('IRON_NFV')
         # updated_at set on update
-        self.assertIsInstance(iron_nfv_class['updated_at'], datetime.datetime)
+        self.assertIsInstance(iron_nfv_class.updated_at, datetime.datetime)
 
     def test_rc_cache_miss(self):
         """Test that we raise ResourceClassNotFound if an unknown resource