diff --git a/doc/source/configuring.rst b/doc/source/configuring.rst
index 3f63af741f..7a1478bbe5 100644
--- a/doc/source/configuring.rst
+++ b/doc/source/configuring.rst
@@ -123,6 +123,17 @@ Number of backlog requests to configure the socket with.
 
 Optional. Default: ``4096``
 
+* ``workers=PROCESSES``
+
+Number of Glance API worker processes to start. Each worker
+process will listen on the same port. Increasing this
+value may increase performance (especially if using SSL
+with compression enabled). Typically it is recommended
+to have one worker process per CPU. The value `0` will
+prevent any new processes from being created.
+
+Optional. Default: ``0``
+
 Configurating SSL Support
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/etc/glance-api.conf b/etc/glance-api.conf
index cf9f2ba6af..a339fe96d3 100644
--- a/etc/glance-api.conf
+++ b/etc/glance-api.conf
@@ -23,6 +23,13 @@ log_file = /var/log/glance/api.log
 # Backlog requests when creating socket
 backlog = 4096
 
+# Number of Glance API worker processes to start.
+# On machines with more than one CPU increasing this value
+# may improve performance (especially if using SSL with
+# compression turned on). It is typically recommended to set
+# this value to the number of CPUs present on your machine.
+workers = 0
+
 # ================= Syslog Options ============================
 
 # Send logs to syslog (/dev/log) instead of to file specified
diff --git a/glance/common/cfg.py b/glance/common/cfg.py
index eeaedda045..537f5cce64 100644
--- a/glance/common/cfg.py
+++ b/glance/common/cfg.py
@@ -1076,7 +1076,8 @@ class ConfigOpts(object):
 
 class CommonConfigOpts(ConfigOpts):
 
-    DEFAULT_LOG_FORMAT = "%(asctime)s %(levelname)8s [%(name)s] %(message)s"
+    DEFAULT_LOG_FORMAT = ('%(asctime)s %(process)d %(levelname)8s '
+                          '[%(name)s] %(message)s')
     DEFAULT_LOG_DATE_FORMAT = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
 
     common_cli_opts = [
diff --git a/glance/common/wsgi.py b/glance/common/wsgi.py
index 4658df6f10..6d98b34e31 100644
--- a/glance/common/wsgi.py
+++ b/glance/common/wsgi.py
@@ -25,10 +25,13 @@ import datetime
 import errno
 import json
 import logging
+import os
+import signal
 import sys
 import time
 
 import eventlet
+import eventlet.greenio
 from eventlet.green import socket, ssl
 import eventlet.wsgi
 from paste import deploy
@@ -51,7 +54,9 @@ socket_opts = [
     cfg.IntOpt('backlog', default=4096),
     cfg.StrOpt('cert_file'),
     cfg.StrOpt('key_file'),
-    ]
+]
+
+workers_opt = cfg.IntOpt('workers', default=0)
 
 
 class WritableLogger(object):
@@ -133,7 +138,9 @@ class Server(object):
     """Server class to manage multiple WSGI sockets and applications."""
 
     def __init__(self, threads=1000):
-        self.pool = eventlet.GreenPool(threads)
+        self.threads = threads
+        self.children = []
+        self.running = True
 
     def start(self, application, conf, default_port):
         """
@@ -143,21 +150,99 @@ class Server(object):
         :param conf: a cfg.ConfigOpts object
         :param default_port: Port to bind to if none is specified in conf
         """
-        socket = get_socket(conf, default_port)
-        self.pool.spawn_n(self._run, application, socket)
+        def kill_children(*args):
+            """Kills the entire process group."""
+            self.logger.error(_('SIGTERM received'))
+            signal.signal(signal.SIGTERM, signal.SIG_IGN)
+            self.running = False
+            os.killpg(0, signal.SIGTERM)
+
+        def hup(*args):
+            """
+            Shuts down the server, but allows running requests to complete
+            """
+            self.logger.error(_('SIGHUP received'))
+            signal.signal(signal.SIGHUP, signal.SIG_IGN)
+            self.running = False
+
+        self.application = application
+        self.sock = get_socket(conf, default_port)
+        conf.register_opt(workers_opt)
+
+        self.logger = logging.getLogger('eventlet.wsgi.server')
+
+        if conf.workers == 0:
+            # Useful for profiling, test, debug etc.
+            self.pool = eventlet.GreenPool(size=self.threads)
+            self.pool.spawn_n(self._single_run, application, self.sock)
+            return
+
+        self.logger.info(_("Starting %d workers") % conf.workers)
+        signal.signal(signal.SIGTERM, kill_children)
+        signal.signal(signal.SIGHUP, hup)
+        while len(self.children) < conf.workers:
+            self.run_child()
+
+    def wait_on_children(self):
+        while self.running:
+            try:
+                pid, status = os.wait()
+                if os.WIFEXITED(status) or os.WIFSIGNALED(status):
+                    self.logger.error(_('Removing dead child %s') % pid)
+                    self.children.remove(pid)
+                    self.run_child()
+            except OSError, err:
+                if err.errno not in (errno.EINTR, errno.ECHILD):
+                    raise
+            except KeyboardInterrupt:
+                sys.exit(1)
+                self.logger.info(_('Caught keyboard interrupt. Exiting.'))
+                break
+        eventlet.greenio.shutdown_safe(self.sock)
+        self.sock.close()
+        self.logger.debug(_('Exited'))
 
     def wait(self):
         """Wait until all servers have completed running."""
         try:
-            self.pool.waitall()
+            if self.children:
+                self.wait_on_children()
+            else:
+                self.pool.waitall()
         except KeyboardInterrupt:
             pass
 
-    def _run(self, application, socket):
+    def run_child(self):
+        pid = os.fork()
+        if pid == 0:
+            signal.signal(signal.SIGHUP, signal.SIG_DFL)
+            signal.signal(signal.SIGTERM, signal.SIG_DFL)
+            self.run_server()
+            self.logger.info(_('Child %d exiting normally') % os.getpid())
+            return
+        else:
+            self.logger.info(_('Started child %s') % pid)
+            self.children.append(pid)
+
+    def run_server(self):
+        """Run a WSGI server."""
+        eventlet.wsgi.HttpProtocol.default_request_version = "HTTP/1.0"
+        eventlet.hubs.use_hub('poll')
+        eventlet.patcher.monkey_patch(all=False, socket=True)
+        self.pool = eventlet.GreenPool(size=self.threads)
+        try:
+            eventlet.wsgi.server(self.sock, self.application,
+                    log=WritableLogger(self.logger), custom_pool=self.pool)
+        except socket.error, err:
+            if err[0] != errno.EINVAL:
+                raise
+        self.pool.waitall()
+
+    def _single_run(self, application, sock):
         """Start a WSGI server in a new green thread."""
-        logger = logging.getLogger('eventlet.wsgi.server')
-        eventlet.wsgi.server(socket, application, custom_pool=self.pool,
-                             log=WritableLogger(logger))
+        self.logger.info(_("Starting single process server"))
+        eventlet.wsgi.server(sock, application, custom_pool=self.pool,
+                             log=WritableLogger(self.logger))
 
 
 class Middleware(object):
diff --git a/glance/tests/functional/__init__.py b/glance/tests/functional/__init__.py
index 2d3fc39159..9415da9bde 100644
--- a/glance/tests/functional/__init__.py
+++ b/glance/tests/functional/__init__.py
@@ -191,6 +191,7 @@ class ApiServer(Server):
         self.rbd_store_chunk_size = 4
         self.delayed_delete = delayed_delete
         self.owner_is_tenant = True
+        self.workers = 0
         self.image_cache_dir = os.path.join(self.test_dir,
                                             'cache')
         self.image_cache_driver = 'sqlite'
@@ -223,6 +224,7 @@ rbd_store_pool = %(rbd_store_pool)s
 rbd_store_ceph_conf = %(rbd_store_ceph_conf)s
 delayed_delete = %(delayed_delete)s
 owner_is_tenant = %(owner_is_tenant)s
+workers = %(workers)s
 scrub_time = 5
 scrubber_datadir = %(scrubber_datadir)s
 image_cache_dir = %(image_cache_dir)s
diff --git a/glance/tests/functional/test_bin_glance.py b/glance/tests/functional/test_bin_glance.py
index 52c30be5fe..6776ca2d66 100644
--- a/glance/tests/functional/test_bin_glance.py
+++ b/glance/tests/functional/test_bin_glance.py
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@
 import datetime
 import os
 import tempfile
-import unittest
 
 from glance.common import utils
 from glance.tests import functional
diff --git a/glance/tests/functional/test_multiprocessing.py b/glance/tests/functional/test_multiprocessing.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cadf0b8ca6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/glance/tests/functional/test_multiprocessing.py
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+# vim: tabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 softtabstop=4
+
+# Copyright 2012 OpenStack, LLC
+# All Rights Reserved.
+#
+#    Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+#    not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain
+#    a copy of the License at
+#
+#         http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+#    Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+#    distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+#    WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+#    License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+#    under the License.
+
+import httplib2
+
+from glance.tests import functional
+
+
+class TestMultiprocessing(functional.FunctionalTest):
+    """Functional tests for the bin/glance CLI tool"""
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.workers = 2
+        super(TestMultiprocessing, self).setUp()
+
+    def test_multiprocessing(self):
+        """Spin up the api servers with multiprocessing on"""
+        self.cleanup()
+        self.start_servers(**self.__dict__.copy())
+
+        path = "http://%s:%d/v1/images" % ("0.0.0.0", self.api_port)
+        http = httplib2.Http()
+        response, content = http.request(path, 'GET')
+        self.assertEqual(response.status, 200)
+        self.assertEqual(content, '{"images": []}')
+        self.stop_servers()