diff --git a/bin/ceilometer-agent-compute b/bin/ceilometer-agent-compute
index 785172b7..d03a34cb 100755
--- a/bin/ceilometer-agent-compute
+++ b/bin/ceilometer-agent-compute
@@ -27,17 +27,9 @@ from ceilometer.service import prepare_service
 from ceilometer.openstack.common import cfg
 from ceilometer.openstack.common import service
 
-from nova import flags
-from nova.compute import manager as compute_manager
-
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
 
-    # Register the compute options from nova with our config object so
-    # our pollsters can figure out which compute driver the hypervisor
-    # is using.
-    cfg.CONF.register_opts(compute_manager.compute_opts)
-
     prepare_service(sys.argv)
     mgr = manager.AgentManager()
     topic = 'ceilometer.agent.compute'
diff --git a/ceilometer/compute/libvirt.py b/ceilometer/compute/libvirt.py
index c389c994..948fe80f 100644
--- a/ceilometer/compute/libvirt.py
+++ b/ceilometer/compute/libvirt.py
@@ -22,7 +22,15 @@ import datetime
 from lxml import etree
 
 from nova import flags
-
+try:
+    from nova import config as nova_config
+except ImportError:
+    # NOTE(dhellmann): We want to try to maintain compatibility
+    # with folsom for the time being, so set the name nova_config
+    # to a sentinal we can use to trigger different behavior
+    # when we try to set up the configuration object.
+    from nova import flags
+    nova_config = False
 from ceilometer import counter
 from ceilometer.compute import plugin
 from ceilometer.compute import instance as compute_instance
@@ -30,14 +38,23 @@ from ceilometer.openstack.common import importutils
 from ceilometer.openstack.common import log
 from ceilometer.openstack.common import timeutils
 
-FLAGS = flags.FLAGS
-
 
 def _instance_name(instance):
     """Shortcut to get instance name"""
     return getattr(instance, 'OS-EXT-SRV-ATTR:instance_name', None)
 
 
+def get_compute_driver():
+    # FIXME(jd) This function is made to be destroyed by an abstraction
+    # layer in Nova providing an hypervisor agnostic API.
+    # XXX(jd) Folsom compat
+    if not nova_config:
+        flags.parse_args([])
+        return flags.FLAGS.compute_driver
+    nova_config.parse_args([])
+    return nova_config.CONF.compute_driver
+
+
 def get_libvirt_connection():
     """Return an open connection for talking to libvirt."""
     # The direct-import implementation only works with Folsom because
@@ -45,11 +62,11 @@ def get_libvirt_connection():
     try:
         try:
             return importutils.import_object_ns('nova.virt',
-                                                FLAGS.compute_driver,
+                                                get_compute_driver(),
                                                 None)
         except TypeError:
             return importutils.import_object_ns('nova.virt',
-                                                FLAGS.compute_driver)
+                                                get_compute_driver())
     except ImportError:
         # Fall back to the way it was done in Essex.
         import nova.virt.connection
@@ -73,7 +90,7 @@ class LibVirtPollster(plugin.ComputePollster):
 
     def is_enabled(self):
         # Use a fairly liberal substring check.
-        return 'libvirt' in FLAGS.compute_driver.lower()
+        return 'libvirt' in get_compute_driver().lower()
 
 
 class InstancePollster(LibVirtPollster):
diff --git a/ceilometer/service.py b/ceilometer/service.py
index 0fb2b01f..fd8f4bff 100644
--- a/ceilometer/service.py
+++ b/ceilometer/service.py
@@ -18,16 +18,7 @@
 # under the License.
 
 import os
-
-from nova import flags
-try:
-    from nova import config as nova_config
-except ImportError:
-    # NOTE(dhellmann): We want to try to maintain compatibility
-    # with folsom for the time being, so set the name nova_config
-    # to a sentinal we can use to trigger different behavior
-    # when we try to set up the configuration object.
-    nova_config = False
+import socket
 
 from ceilometer.openstack.common import cfg
 from ceilometer.openstack.common import context
@@ -38,7 +29,14 @@ from ceilometer.openstack.common.rpc import service as rpc_service
 cfg.CONF.register_opts([
     cfg.IntOpt('periodic_interval',
                default=600,
-               help='seconds between running periodic tasks')
+               help='seconds between running periodic tasks'),
+    cfg.StrOpt('host',
+               default=socket.getfqdn(),
+               help='Name of this node.  This can be an opaque identifier.  '
+               'It is not necessarily a hostname, FQDN, or IP address. '
+               'However, the node name must be valid within '
+               'an AMQP key, and if using ZeroMQ, a valid '
+               'hostname, FQDN, or IP address'),
 ])
 
 CLI_OPTIONS = [
@@ -60,8 +58,6 @@ CLI_OPTIONS = [
                help='Auth URL to use for openstack service access'),
 ]
 cfg.CONF.register_cli_opts(CLI_OPTIONS)
-cfg.CONF.register_cli_opts(flags.core_opts)
-cfg.CONF.register_cli_opts(flags.global_opts)
 
 
 class PeriodicService(rpc_service.Service):
@@ -80,22 +76,6 @@ def _sanitize_cmd_line(argv):
     return [a for a in argv if a in cli_opt_names]
 
 
-def _init_nova_config(argv):
-    # NOTE(dhellmann): We want to try to maintain compatibility
-    # with folsom for the time being, so this function is
-    # just here to isolate the rest of the module from having
-    # to know how to configure different versions of nova.
-    if nova_config:
-        nova_config.parse_args(argv)
-    else:
-        flags.parse_args(argv)
-
-
 def prepare_service(argv=[]):
     cfg.CONF(argv[1:], project='ceilometer')
-    # FIXME(dhellmann): We must set up the nova.flags module in order
-    # to have the RPC and DB access work correctly because we are
-    # still using the Service object out of nova directly. We need to
-    # move that into openstack.common.
-    _init_nova_config(_sanitize_cmd_line(argv))
     log.setup('ceilometer')
diff --git a/ceilometer/tests/skip.py b/ceilometer/tests/skip.py
index 643a7906..da58b6c5 100644
--- a/ceilometer/tests/skip.py
+++ b/ceilometer/tests/skip.py
@@ -73,14 +73,3 @@ class skip_unless(object):
                 raise nose.SkipTest(self.message)
             func(*args, **kw)
         return _skipper
-
-
-def skip_if_fake(func):
-    """Decorator that skips a test if running in fake mode."""
-    def _skipper(*args, **kw):
-        """Wrapped skipper function."""
-        if FLAGS.fake_tests:
-            raise unittest.SkipTest('Test cannot be run in fake mode')
-        else:
-            return func(*args, **kw)
-    return _skipper
diff --git a/tools/notificationclient.py b/tools/notificationclient.py
index b922e507..7a2d1d81 100755
--- a/tools/notificationclient.py
+++ b/tools/notificationclient.py
@@ -26,13 +26,11 @@ import logging
 import cPickle as pickle
 import sys
 
-from nova import flags
 from nova import utils
 
 from ceilometer.openstack.common import cfg
 from ceilometer.openstack.common import rpc
 
-FLAGS = flags.FLAGS
 LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
@@ -91,8 +89,8 @@ def send_messages(connection, topic, input):
 
 
 def main():
-    rpc.register_opts(FLAGS)
-    FLAGS.register_opts([
+    rpc.register_opts(cfg.CONF)
+    cfg.CONF.register_opts([
             cfg.StrOpt('datafile',
                        default=None,
                        help='Data file to read or write',
@@ -105,7 +103,7 @@ def main():
                         ),
             ])
 
-    remaining_args = FLAGS(sys.argv)
+    remaining_args = cfg.CONF(sys.argv)
     utils.monkey_patch()
 
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(