diff --git a/app/models/nic/base.rb b/app/models/nic/base.rb
index 6015a9e3831d..826e663f4a7c 100644
--- a/app/models/nic/base.rb
+++ b/app/models/nic/base.rb
@@ -21,8 +21,9 @@ class Base < ActiveRecord::Base
 
     validates :mac, :uniqueness => {:scope => :virtual},
               :if => Proc.new { |nic| nic.managed? && nic.host && nic.host.managed? && !nic.host.compute? && !nic.virtual? }, :allow_blank => true
+    validate :compute_resource_requires_fields, :if => Proc.new {|nic| nic.mac.blank? && (nic.managed? && nic.host && nic.host.managed? && !nic.host.compute? &&!nic.virtual?)}
     validates :mac, :presence => true,
-              :if => Proc.new { |nic| nic.managed? && nic.host_managed? && !nic.host.compute? && !nic.virtual? }
+              :if => Proc.new { |nic| !nic.skip_mac_validation && nic.managed? && nic.host && nic.host.managed? && !nic.host.compute? &&!nic.virtual? }
     validates :mac, :mac_address => true, :allow_blank => true
 
     # TODO uniq on primary per host
@@ -71,6 +72,8 @@ def belongs_to_counter_cache_before_destroy_for_domain
     # provider specific attributes
     serialize :compute_attributes, Hash
 
+    attr_reader :skip_mac_validation
+
     class Jail < ::Safemode::Jail
       allow :managed?, :subnet, :virtual?, :physical?, :mac, :ip, :identifier, :attached_to,
             :link, :tag, :domain, :vlanid, :bond_options, :attached_devices, :mode,
@@ -148,6 +151,13 @@ def host_managed?
 
     protected
 
+    def compute_resource_requires_fields
+      if host.compute_resource.present?
+        host.errors.add(:compute_profile, _("you must specify either compute attributes or a compute profile"))
+        @skip_mac_validation = true
+      end
+    end
+
     def uniq_fields_with_hosts
       self.virtual? ? [] : [:mac]
     end
diff --git a/test/unit/host_test.rb b/test/unit/host_test.rb
index 2871f1cb2178..e97cd4ad474a 100644
--- a/test/unit/host_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/host_test.rb
@@ -96,6 +96,13 @@ class HostTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
     assert_equal true, host.valid?
   end
 
+  test "should require compute attributes or compute profile in case of a virtual compute resource" do
+    host = FactoryGirl.build(:host, :with_dhcp_orchestration, :mac => nil)
+    refute host.valid?
+    refute host.errors.messages.keys.include?("interfaces.mac")
+    assert host.errors.messages.keys.include?(:compute_profile)
+  end
+
   test "should fix ip address if a leading zero is used" do
     host = Host.create :name => "myhost", :mac => "aabbccddeeff", :ip => "123.01.02.03"
     assert_equal "123.1.2.3", host.ip