diff --git a/docs/Plugins.md b/docs/Plugins.md
index ec928305..02d4f9fe 100644
--- a/docs/Plugins.md
+++ b/docs/Plugins.md
@@ -666,9 +666,13 @@ Requirements:
 
 ```
   usermod -a -G ceph monasca-agent
-  chmod 0604 /etc/ceph/ceph.client.admin.keyring
+  chmod 0640 /etc/ceph/ceph.client.admin.keyring
 ```
 
+Alternatively, you can configure monasca-agent to use sudo using the `use_sudo`
+option. The example configuration below assumes you added the `monasca-agent`
+user to the `ceph` group which does not require using sudo.
+
 Sample config:
 
 ```
@@ -676,6 +680,7 @@ init_config:
 
 instances:
   - cluster_name: ceph
+    use_sudo: False
     collect_usage_metrics: True
     collect_stats_metrics: True
     collect_mon_metrics: True
diff --git a/monasca_agent/collector/checks_d/ceph.py b/monasca_agent/collector/checks_d/ceph.py
index 8ffbcf32..86ccc1b4 100644
--- a/monasca_agent/collector/checks_d/ceph.py
+++ b/monasca_agent/collector/checks_d/ceph.py
@@ -129,6 +129,9 @@ class Ceph(checks.AgentCheck):
     def _ceph_cmd(self, args, format='plain'):
         cmd = 'ceph --cluster {0} -f {1} {2}'.format(self.CLUSTER, format,
                                                      args)
+        if self.instance.get('use_sudo', False):
+            cmd = "sudo " + cmd
+
         try:
             output = subprocess.check_output(cmd, shell=True,
                                              stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
diff --git a/tests/checks_d/test_ceph.py b/tests/checks_d/test_ceph.py
index f8bc1acb..cd794fdd 100644
--- a/tests/checks_d/test_ceph.py
+++ b/tests/checks_d/test_ceph.py
@@ -62,6 +62,15 @@ class MockCephCheck(ceph.Ceph):
             agent_config={}
         )
 
+    def _ceph_cmd(self, *args):
+        if hasattr(self, 'instance'):
+            return super(MockCephCheck, self)._ceph_cmd(*args)
+        else:
+            self.instance = { 'use_sudo': False }
+            ret = super(MockCephCheck, self)._ceph_cmd(*args)
+            del self.instance
+            return ret
+
 
 class CephCheckTest(unittest.TestCase):
     maxDiff = None
@@ -100,6 +109,21 @@ class CephCheckTest(unittest.TestCase):
             self.assertEqual("Unable to execute ceph command 'ceph --cluster"
                              "ceph -f json foo': Invalid command", e.output)
 
+    def test_ceph_cmd_sudo(self):
+        self.ceph_check.check({
+            'use_sudo': True,
+        })
+
+        expect_cmd = 'sudo ceph --cluster ceph -f json df detail'
+
+        with mock.patch('subprocess.check_output') as ceph_cmd_call:
+            try:
+                self.ceph_check._ceph_cmd('df detail', 'json')
+            except Exception as e:
+                pass
+            ceph_cmd_call.assert_called_with(expect_cmd, shell=True,
+                                             stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
+
     def test_parse_ceph_status(self):
         self.assertEqual(0, self.ceph_check._parse_ceph_status('HEALTH_OK'))
         self.assertEqual(1, self.ceph_check._parse_ceph_status('HEALTH_WARN'))