diff --git a/bin/swift-ring-builder b/bin/swift-ring-builder
index 161373bbba..334f512660 100755
--- a/bin/swift-ring-builder
+++ b/bin/swift-ring-builder
@@ -335,10 +335,9 @@ swift-ring-builder <builder_file> add
                           'replication_port': replication_port,
                           'device': device_name, 'weight': weight,
                           'meta': meta}
-            builder.add_dev(dev_params)
-            new_dev = builder.search_devs(dev_params)[0]
+            dev_id = builder.add_dev(dev_params)
             print('Device %s with %s weight got id %s' %
-                  (format_device(new_dev), weight, new_dev['id']))
+                  (format_device(dev_params), weight, dev_id))
         builder.save(argv[1])
         exit(EXIT_SUCCESS)
 
diff --git a/swift/common/ring/builder.py b/swift/common/ring/builder.py
index 961b7d8252..ba36f6ddbe 100644
--- a/swift/common/ring/builder.py
+++ b/swift/common/ring/builder.py
@@ -257,6 +257,8 @@ class RingBuilder(object):
             make multiple changes for a single rebalance.
 
         :param dev: device dict
+
+        :returns: id of device
         """
         if 'id' not in dev:
             dev['id'] = 0
@@ -274,6 +276,7 @@ class RingBuilder(object):
         self._set_parts_wanted()
         self.devs_changed = True
         self.version += 1
+        return dev['id']
 
     def set_dev_weight(self, dev_id, weight):
         """
diff --git a/test/unit/common/ring/test_builder.py b/test/unit/common/ring/test_builder.py
index c2ac395e81..b2ab2d96ed 100644
--- a/test/unit/common/ring/test_builder.py
+++ b/test/unit/common/ring/test_builder.py
@@ -124,17 +124,20 @@ class TestRingBuilder(unittest.TestCase):
         rb = ring.RingBuilder(8, 3, 1)
         dev = {'id': 0, 'region': 0, 'zone': 0, 'weight': 1,
                'ip': '127.0.0.1', 'port': 10000}
-        rb.add_dev(dev)
+        dev_id = rb.add_dev(dev)
         self.assertRaises(exceptions.DuplicateDeviceError, rb.add_dev, dev)
+        self.assertEqual(dev_id, 0)
         rb = ring.RingBuilder(8, 3, 1)
         #test add new dev with no id
-        rb.add_dev({'zone': 0, 'region': 1, 'weight': 1,
-                    'ip': '127.0.0.1', 'port': 6000})
+        dev_id = rb.add_dev({'zone': 0, 'region': 1, 'weight': 1,
+                             'ip': '127.0.0.1', 'port': 6000})
         self.assertEquals(rb.devs[0]['id'], 0)
+        self.assertEqual(dev_id, 0)
         #test add another dev with no id
-        rb.add_dev({'zone': 3, 'region': 2, 'weight': 1,
-                    'ip': '127.0.0.1', 'port': 6000})
+        dev_id = rb.add_dev({'zone': 3, 'region': 2, 'weight': 1,
+                             'ip': '127.0.0.1', 'port': 6000})
         self.assertEquals(rb.devs[1]['id'], 1)
+        self.assertEqual(dev_id, 1)
 
     def test_set_dev_weight(self):
         rb = ring.RingBuilder(8, 3, 1)