diff --git a/tempest/api/compute/v3/servers/test_attach_volume.py b/tempest/api/compute/v3/servers/test_attach_volume.py
index 4da527c..a030584 100644
--- a/tempest/api/compute/v3/servers/test_attach_volume.py
+++ b/tempest/api/compute/v3/servers/test_attach_volume.py
@@ -19,13 +19,15 @@
 
 from tempest.api.compute import base
 from tempest.common.utils.linux.remote_client import RemoteClient
-import tempest.config
+from tempest import config
 from tempest.test import attr
 
+CONF = config.CONF
+
 
 class AttachVolumeV3TestJSON(base.BaseV3ComputeTest):
     _interface = 'json'
-    run_ssh = tempest.config.TempestConfig().compute.run_ssh
+    run_ssh = CONF.compute.run_ssh
 
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
         super(AttachVolumeV3TestJSON, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
diff --git a/tempest/common/generate_sample_tempest.py b/tempest/common/generate_sample_tempest.py
index 22be4aa..71e04f0 100644
--- a/tempest/common/generate_sample_tempest.py
+++ b/tempest/common/generate_sample_tempest.py
@@ -33,5 +33,5 @@
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-    CONF = tempest.config.TempestConfig()
+    CONF = tempest.config.TempestConfigPrivate()
     generator.generate(sys.argv[1:])
diff --git a/tempest/config.py b/tempest/config.py
index 140c521..a51c380 100644
--- a/tempest/config.py
+++ b/tempest/config.py
@@ -644,7 +644,8 @@
 ]
 
 
-class TempestConfig(object):
+# this should never be called outside of this class
+class TempestConfigPrivate(object):
     """Provides OpenStack configuration information."""
 
     DEFAULT_CONFIG_DIR = os.path.join(
@@ -655,7 +656,7 @@
 
     def __init__(self):
         """Initialize a configuration from a conf directory and conf file."""
-        super(TempestConfig, self).__init__()
+        super(TempestConfigPrivate, self).__init__()
         config_files = []
         failsafe_path = "/etc/tempest/" + self.DEFAULT_CONFIG_FILE
 
@@ -740,7 +741,7 @@
 
     def __getattr__(self, attr):
         if not self._config:
-            self._config = TempestConfig()
+            self._config = TempestConfigPrivate()
 
         return getattr(self._config, attr)