diff --git a/manifests/api.pp b/manifests/api.pp
index 98e43bb19..38b16b391 100644
--- a/manifests/api.pp
+++ b/manifests/api.pp
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@
 #
 # [*sync_db_api*]
 #   (optional) Run nova-manage api_db sync on api nodes after installing the package.
-#   Defaults to false
+#   Defaults to true
 #
 # [*neutron_metadata_proxy_shared_secret*]
 #   (optional) Shared secret to validate proxies Neutron metadata requests
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ class nova::api(
   $osapi_compute_workers     = $::processorcount,
   $metadata_workers          = $::processorcount,
   $sync_db                   = true,
-  $sync_db_api               = false,
+  $sync_db_api               = true,
   $neutron_metadata_proxy_shared_secret = undef,
   $osapi_v3                  = false,
   $default_floating_pool     = 'nova',
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/add_nova_api_db-62e459588e14a92e.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/add_nova_api_db-62e459588e14a92e.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..990ada265
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/add_nova_api_db-62e459588e14a92e.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+---
+features:
+  - Make the nova_api database creation default to "true" since it is
+    now required in Mitaka
+
+upgrade:
+  - When upgrading, be aware that the default value of sync_db_api has
+    changed from "false" to "true" for this database.
diff --git a/spec/acceptance/nova_wsgi_apache_spec.rb b/spec/acceptance/nova_wsgi_apache_spec.rb
index 6b6002f4b..b024ca706 100644
--- a/spec/acceptance/nova_wsgi_apache_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/acceptance/nova_wsgi_apache_spec.rb
@@ -29,18 +29,22 @@ describe 'basic nova' do
 
       # Nova resources
       class { '::nova':
-        database_connection => 'mysql+pymysql://nova:a_big_secret@127.0.0.1/nova?charset=utf8',
-        rabbit_userid       => 'nova',
-        rabbit_password     => 'an_even_bigger_secret',
-        image_service       => 'nova.image.glance.GlanceImageService',
-        glance_api_servers  => 'localhost:9292',
-        verbose             => true,
-        debug               => true,
-        rabbit_host         => '127.0.0.1',
+        database_connection     => 'mysql+pymysql://nova:a_big_secret@127.0.0.1/nova?charset=utf8',
+	api_database_connection => 'mysql+pymysql://nova_api:a_big_secret@127.0.0.1/nova_api?charset=utf8',
+        rabbit_userid           => 'nova',
+        rabbit_password         => 'an_even_bigger_secret',
+        image_service           => 'nova.image.glance.GlanceImageService',
+        glance_api_servers      => 'localhost:9292',
+        verbose                 => true,
+        debug                   => true,
+        rabbit_host             => '127.0.0.1',
       }
       class { '::nova::db::mysql':
         password => 'a_big_secret',
       }
+      class { '::nova::db::mysql_api':
+        password => 'a_big_secret',
+      }
       class { '::nova::keystone::auth':
         password => 'a_big_secret',
       }
diff --git a/spec/classes/nova_api_spec.rb b/spec/classes/nova_api_spec.rb
index 1b18acba5..9be472477 100644
--- a/spec/classes/nova_api_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/classes/nova_api_spec.rb
@@ -232,11 +232,6 @@ describe 'nova::api' do
          }
         "
       end
-      before do
-        params.merge!({
-          :sync_db_api => true,
-        })
-      end
 
       it { is_expected.to contain_nova_config('database/connection').with_value('mysql://user:pass@db/db1').with_secret(true) }
       it { is_expected.to contain_nova_config('database/slave_connection').with_value('mysql://user:pass@slave/db1').with_secret(true) }