diff --git a/bin/glance b/bin/glance
index 915a26b2bb..4c7f97251e 100755
--- a/bin/glance
+++ b/bin/glance
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ import re
 import sys
 import time
 
+from urlparse import urlparse
+
 # If ../glance/__init__.py exists, add ../ to Python search path, so that
 # it will override what happens to be installed in /usr/(local/)lib/python...
 possible_topdir = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(os.path.abspath(sys.argv[0]),
@@ -49,6 +51,8 @@ from glance.common import utils
 SUCCESS = 0
 FAILURE = 1
 
+DEFAULT_PORT = 9292
+
 
 #TODO(sirp): make more of the actions use this decorator
 def catch_error(action):
@@ -739,7 +743,7 @@ def get_client(options):
                  auth_url=os.getenv('OS_AUTH_URL'),
                  strategy=os.getenv('OS_AUTH_STRATEGY', 'noauth'))
 
-    use_ssl = (options.host.find('https') != -1 or (
+    use_ssl = (options.use_ssl or (
         creds['auth_url'] is not None and
         creds['auth_url'].find('https') != -1))
 
@@ -763,9 +767,15 @@ def create_options(parser):
                       help="Address of Glance API host. "
                            "Default: %default")
     parser.add_option('-p', '--port', dest="port", metavar="PORT",
-                      type=int, default=9292,
+                      type=int, default=DEFAULT_PORT,
                       help="Port the Glance API host listens on. "
                            "Default: %default")
+    parser.add_option('-U', '--url', metavar="URL", default=None,
+                      help="URL of Glance service. This option can be used "
+                           "to specify the hostname, port and protocol "
+                           "(http/https) of the glance server, for example "
+                           "-U https://localhost:" + str(DEFAULT_PORT) +
+                           "/v1 Default: None")
     parser.add_option('-A', '--auth_token', dest="auth_token",
                       metavar="TOKEN", default=None,
                       help="Authentication token to use to identify the "
@@ -802,6 +812,12 @@ def parse_options(parser, cli_args):
         cli_args.append('-h')  # Show options in usage output...
 
     (options, args) = parser.parse_args(cli_args)
+    if options.url is not None:
+        u = urlparse(options.url)
+        options.port = u.port
+        options.host = u.hostname
+
+    options.use_ssl = (options.url is not None and u.scheme == 'https')
 
     # HACK(sirp): Make the parser available to the print_help method
     # print_help is a command, so it only accepts (options, args); we could