diff --git a/manifests/init.pp b/manifests/init.pp
index 8b130f752..af381b3b9 100644
--- a/manifests/init.pp
+++ b/manifests/init.pp
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 #   Defaults to 'nova.image.local.LocalImageService'
 # [glance_api_servers] List of addresses for api servers. Optional.
 #   Defaults to localhost:9292.
+# [memcached_servers] Use memcached instead of in-process cache. Supply a list of memcached server IP's:Memcached Port. Optional. Defaults to false.
 # [rabbit_host] Location of rabbitmq installation. Optional. Defaults to localhost.
 # [rabbit_port] Port for rabbitmq instance. Optional. Defaults to 5672.
 # [rabbit_hosts] Location of rabbitmq installation. Optional. Defaults to undef.
@@ -38,6 +39,7 @@ class nova(
   # these glance params should be optional
   # this should probably just be configured as a glance client
   $glance_api_servers = 'localhost:9292',
+  $memcached_servers = false,
   $rabbit_host = 'localhost',
   $rabbit_hosts = undef,
   $rabbit_password='guest',
@@ -167,6 +169,12 @@ class nova(
 
   nova_config { 'DEFAULT/auth_strategy': value => $auth_strategy }
 
+  if $memcached_servers {
+    nova_config { 'DEFAULT/memcached_servers': value  => join($memcached_servers, ',') }
+  } else {
+    nova_config { 'DEFAULT/memcached_servers': ensure => absent }
+  }
+
   if $rpc_backend == 'nova.openstack.common.rpc.impl_kombu' {
     # I may want to support exporting and collecting these
     nova_config {
diff --git a/spec/classes/nova_init_spec.rb b/spec/classes/nova_init_spec.rb
index bab8f8c4b..6a59eba8b 100644
--- a/spec/classes/nova_init_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/classes/nova_init_spec.rb
@@ -146,6 +146,18 @@ describe 'nova' do
 
     end
 
+    describe 'with memcached parameter supplied' do
+
+      let :params do
+        {
+          'memcached_servers'        => ['memcached01:11211', 'memcached02:11211'],
+        }
+      end
+
+      it { should contain_nova_config('DEFAULT/memcached_servers').with_value('memcached01:11211,memcached02:11211') }
+
+    end
+
 
     describe 'with qpid rpc supplied' do