diff --git a/common/vrnetlab.py b/common/vrnetlab.py
index 3c0d7cd4..9865a9ec 100644
--- a/common/vrnetlab.py
+++ b/common/vrnetlab.py
@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.highest_provisioned_nic_num = 0
         
         self.insuffucient_nics = False
+        self.min_nics = 0
         # if an image needs minimum amount of dataplane nics to bootup, specify
         if min_dp_nics:
             self.min_nics = min_dp_nics