diff --git a/bin/nova-api b/bin/nova-api
index c921ec45..f48dbe5a 100755
--- a/bin/nova-api
+++ b/bin/nova-api
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@ from nova import wsgi
 LOG = logging.getLogger('nova.api')
 
 FLAGS = flags.FLAGS
+flags.DEFINE_string('paste_config', "api-paste.ini",
+                    'File name for the paste.deploy config for nova-api')
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
@@ -57,9 +59,10 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
     for flag in FLAGS:
         flag_get = FLAGS.get(flag, None)
         LOG.debug("%(flag)s : %(flag_get)s" % locals())
-    conf = wsgi.paste_config_file('nova-api.conf')
+    conf = wsgi.paste_config_file(FLAGS.paste_config)
     if not conf:
-        LOG.error(_("No paste configuration found for: %s"), 'nova-api.conf')
+        LOG.error(_("No paste configuration found for: %s"),
+                  FLAGS.paste_config)
         sys.exit(1)
     else:
         service = service.serve_wsgi(service.ApiService, conf)
diff --git a/nova/log.py b/nova/log.py
index 87a21ddb..d194ab8f 100644
--- a/nova/log.py
+++ b/nova/log.py
@@ -266,7 +266,10 @@ class NovaRootLogger(NovaLogger):
 
 
 def handle_exception(type, value, tb):
-    logging.root.critical(str(value), exc_info=(type, value, tb))
+    extra = {}
+    if FLAGS.verbose:
+        extra['exc_info'] = (type, value, tb)
+    logging.root.critical(str(value), **extra)
 
 
 def reset():