diff --git a/ceilometer/publisher/gnocchi.py b/ceilometer/publisher/gnocchi.py
index b7914129b5..496c34d57e 100644
--- a/ceilometer/publisher/gnocchi.py
+++ b/ceilometer/publisher/gnocchi.py
@@ -246,7 +246,7 @@ class GnocchiPublisher(publisher.ConfigPublisherBase):
         self._already_logged_event_types = set()
         self._already_logged_metric_names = set()
 
-        self.ensures_archives_policies()
+        self._already_configured_archive_policies = False
 
     @staticmethod
     def _load_definitions(conf, archive_policy_override,
@@ -273,11 +273,13 @@ class GnocchiPublisher(publisher.ConfigPublisherBase):
         return resource_defs, data.get("archive_policies", [])
 
     def ensures_archives_policies(self):
-        for ap in self.archive_policies_definition:
-            try:
-                self._gnocchi.archive_policy.get(ap["name"])
-            except gnocchi_exc.ArchivePolicyNotFound:
-                self._gnocchi.archive_policy.create(ap)
+        if not self._already_configured_archive_policies:
+            for ap in self.archive_policies_definition:
+                try:
+                    self._gnocchi.archive_policy.get(ap["name"])
+                except gnocchi_exc.ArchivePolicyNotFound:
+                    self._gnocchi.archive_policy.create(ap)
+            self._already_configured_archive_policies = True
 
     @property
     def gnocchi_project_id(self):
@@ -325,6 +327,8 @@ class GnocchiPublisher(publisher.ConfigPublisherBase):
                 return rd, operation
 
     def publish_samples(self, data):
+        self.ensures_archives_policies()
+
         # NOTE(sileht): skip sample generated by gnocchi itself
         data = [s for s in data if not self._is_gnocchi_activity(s)]
         data.sort(key=operator.attrgetter('resource_id'))
diff --git a/ceilometer/tests/unit/publisher/test_gnocchi.py b/ceilometer/tests/unit/publisher/test_gnocchi.py
index c6e4f1f38f..76645c9b24 100644
--- a/ceilometer/tests/unit/publisher/test_gnocchi.py
+++ b/ceilometer/tests/unit/publisher/test_gnocchi.py
@@ -474,8 +474,6 @@ class PublisherWorkflowTest(base.BaseTestCase,
         self.useFixture(utils_fixture.TimeFixture(now))
 
         expected_calls = [
-            mock.call.archive_policy.get("ceilometer-low"),
-            mock.call.archive_policy.get("ceilometer-low-rate"),
             mock.call.resource.search('instance_network_interface',
                                       search_params),
             mock.call.resource.search('instance_disk', search_params),
@@ -505,7 +503,7 @@ class PublisherWorkflowTest(base.BaseTestCase,
                                        IMAGE_DELETE_START,
                                        VOLUME_DELETE_START,
                                        FLOATINGIP_DELETE_END])
-        self.assertEqual(10, len(fakeclient.mock_calls))
+        self.assertEqual(8, len(fakeclient.mock_calls))
         for call in expected_calls:
             self.assertIn(call, fakeclient.mock_calls)