diff --git a/manifests/init.pp b/manifests/init.pp
index c4a84140..c44c18c9 100644
--- a/manifests/init.pp
+++ b/manifests/init.pp
@@ -4,6 +4,17 @@
 #
 # == parameters
 #
+#  [*http_timeout*]
+#    timeout seconds for HTTP requests
+#     Defaults to 600
+#  [*event_time_to_live*]
+#    number of seconds that events are kept in the database for
+#    (<= 0 means forever)
+#    Defaults to -1
+#  [*metering_time_to_live*]
+#    number of seconds that samples are kept in the database for
+#    (<= 0 means forever)
+#    Defaults to -1
 #  [*metering_secret*]
 #    secret key for signing messages. Mandatory.
 #  [*notification_topics*]
@@ -94,6 +105,9 @@
 # (optional) various QPID options
 #
 class ceilometer(
+  $http_timeout                       = '600',
+  $event_time_to_live                 = '-1',
+  $metering_time_to_live              = '-1',
   $metering_secret                    = false,
   $notification_topics                = ['notifications'],
   $package_ensure                     = 'present',
@@ -278,11 +292,14 @@ class ceilometer(
 
   # Once we got here, we can act as an honey badger on the rpc used.
   ceilometer_config {
+    'DEFAULT/http_timeout'           : value => $http_timeout;
     'DEFAULT/rpc_backend'            : value => $rpc_backend;
     'publisher/metering_secret'      : value => $metering_secret, secret => true;
     'DEFAULT/debug'                  : value => $debug;
     'DEFAULT/verbose'                : value => $verbose;
     'DEFAULT/notification_topics'    : value => join($notification_topics, ',');
+    'database/event_time_to_live'    : value => $event_time_to_live;
+    'database/metering_time_to_live' : value => $metering_time_to_live;
   }
 
   # Log configuration
diff --git a/spec/classes/ceilometer_init_spec.rb b/spec/classes/ceilometer_init_spec.rb
index c582fa13..60fd3f03 100644
--- a/spec/classes/ceilometer_init_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/classes/ceilometer_init_spec.rb
@@ -4,11 +4,14 @@ describe 'ceilometer' do
 
   let :params do
     {
-      :metering_secret    => 'metering-s3cr3t',
-      :package_ensure     => 'present',
-      :debug              => 'False',
-      :log_dir            => '/var/log/ceilometer',
-      :verbose            => 'False',
+      :http_timeout          => '600',
+      :event_time_to_live    => '604800',
+      :metering_time_to_live => '604800',
+      :metering_secret       => 'metering-s3cr3t',
+      :package_ensure        => 'present',
+      :debug                 => 'False',
+      :log_dir               => '/var/log/ceilometer',
+      :verbose               => 'False',
     }
   end
 
@@ -34,6 +37,15 @@ describe 'ceilometer' do
 
   shared_examples_for 'ceilometer' do
 
+    it 'configures time to live for events and meters' do
+      is_expected.to contain_ceilometer_config('database/event_time_to_live').with_value( params[:event_time_to_live] )
+      is_expected.to contain_ceilometer_config('database/metering_time_to_live').with_value( params[:metering_time_to_live] )
+    end
+
+    it 'configures timeout for HTTP requests' do
+      is_expected.to contain_ceilometer_config('DEFAULT/http_timeout').with_value(params[:http_timeout])
+    end
+
     context 'with rabbit_host parameter' do
       before { params.merge!( rabbit_params ) }
       it_configures 'a ceilometer base installation'