diff --git a/nova/db/base.py b/nova/db/base.py
index 28fdda0ca0a6..e67add814e69 100644
--- a/nova/db/base.py
+++ b/nova/db/base.py
@@ -19,9 +19,16 @@
 from oslo_config import cfg
 from oslo_utils import importutils
 
-db_driver_opt = cfg.StrOpt('db_driver',
-                           default='nova.db',
-                           help='The driver to use for database access')
+# NOTE(sdague): we know of at least 1 instance of out of tree usage
+# for this config in RAX. They used this because of performance issues
+# with some queries. We think the right path forward is fixing the
+# SQLA queries to be more performant for everyone.
+db_driver_opt = cfg.StrOpt(
+    'db_driver',
+    default='nova.db',
+    help='DEPRECATED: The driver to use for database access',
+    deprecated_for_removal=True)
+
 
 CONF = cfg.CONF
 CONF.register_opt(db_driver_opt)
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/deprecate_db_driver-91c76ca8011d663c.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/deprecate_db_driver-91c76ca8011d663c.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..528854c35b7f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/deprecate_db_driver-91c76ca8011d663c.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+---
+deprecations:
+
+  - Deprecate the ``db_driver`` config option. Previously this let you
+    replace our SQLAlchemy database layer with your own. This approach
+    is deprecated. Deployments that felt the need to use the facility
+    are encourage to work with upstream Nova to address db driver
+    concerns in the main SQLAlchemy code paths.