diff --git a/apis/openstack-nova/src/main/java/org/jclouds/openstack/nova/v2_0/options/CreateServerOptions.java b/apis/openstack-nova/src/main/java/org/jclouds/openstack/nova/v2_0/options/CreateServerOptions.java
index b5091dcccf..f9f53626ba 100644
--- a/apis/openstack-nova/src/main/java/org/jclouds/openstack/nova/v2_0/options/CreateServerOptions.java
+++ b/apis/openstack-nova/src/main/java/org/jclouds/openstack/nova/v2_0/options/CreateServerOptions.java
@@ -135,6 +135,13 @@ public class CreateServerOptions implements MapBinder {
             configDrive, blockDeviceMappings);
    }
 
+   protected String formatPossiblyGzipped(final byte [] data) {
+      if (data.length > 10 && data[0] == 31 && data[1] == -117) {
+         return String.format("<gzipped data (%d bytes)>", data.length);
+      }
+      return new String(data);
+   }
+
    protected ToStringHelper string() {
       ToStringHelper toString = Objects.toStringHelper(this);
       toString.add("keyName", keyName);
@@ -148,7 +155,7 @@ public class CreateServerOptions implements MapBinder {
          toString.add("adminPassPresent", true);
       if (diskConfig != null)
          toString.add("diskConfig", diskConfig);
-      toString.add("userData", userData == null ? null : new String(userData));
+      toString.add("userData", userData == null ? null : formatPossiblyGzipped(userData));
       if (!networks.isEmpty())
          toString.add("networks", networks);
       toString.add("availabilityZone", availabilityZone == null ? null : availabilityZone);
diff --git a/apis/openstack-nova/src/test/java/org/jclouds/openstack/nova/v2_0/options/CreateServerOptionsTest.java b/apis/openstack-nova/src/test/java/org/jclouds/openstack/nova/v2_0/options/CreateServerOptionsTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1e91a3ef51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apis/openstack-nova/src/test/java/org/jclouds/openstack/nova/v2_0/options/CreateServerOptionsTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.jclouds.openstack.nova.v2_0.options;
+
+import static javax.xml.bind.DatatypeConverter.parseHexBinary;
+import static org.testng.Assert.assertTrue;
+
+import org.testng.annotations.Test;
+
+/**
+ * Tests behavior of {@code CreateServerOptions#toString()} regarding userData
+ */
+@Test(groups = "unit")
+public class CreateServerOptionsTest {
+
+   private static final byte[] PLAINTEXT = "This is plain Text".getBytes();
+   private static final byte[] GZIPTOOSHORT = parseHexBinary("1f8b0000");
+   private static final byte[] GZIPOK = parseHexBinary("1f8b0800b6a9a45800034be4020007a1eadd02000000");
+   private static final byte[] OTHERBIN = parseHexBinary("f0f1f2f3f4f5f6f7f8f9fafbfcfdfeff");
+
+   public void testPlainText() {
+      CreateServerOptions o = new CreateServerOptions().userData(PLAINTEXT);
+      assertTrue(o.toString().contains("userData=" + new String(PLAINTEXT)));
+   }
+
+   public void testGzipOk() {
+      CreateServerOptions o = new CreateServerOptions().userData(GZIPOK);
+      assertTrue(o.toString().contains(String.format("<gzipped data (%d bytes)>", GZIPOK.length)));
+   }
+
+   public void testGzipTooShort() {
+      CreateServerOptions o = new CreateServerOptions().userData(GZIPTOOSHORT);
+      assertTrue(o.toString().contains("userData=" + new String(GZIPTOOSHORT)));
+   }
+
+   public void testOtherBin() {
+      CreateServerOptions o = new CreateServerOptions().userData(OTHERBIN);
+      assertTrue(o.toString().contains("userData=" + new String(OTHERBIN)));
+   }
+
+}