diff --git a/nova/flags.py b/nova/flags.py
index 07b469bc..121b9ca2 100644
--- a/nova/flags.py
+++ b/nova/flags.py
@@ -196,6 +196,8 @@ DEFINE_integer('rabbit_port', 5672, 'rabbit port')
 DEFINE_string('rabbit_userid', 'guest', 'rabbit userid')
 DEFINE_string('rabbit_password', 'guest', 'rabbit password')
 DEFINE_string('rabbit_virtual_host', '/', 'rabbit virtual host')
+DEFINE_integer('rabbit_retry_interval', 10, 'rabbit connection retry interval')
+DEFINE_integer('rabbit_max_retries', 12, 'rabbit connection attempts')
 DEFINE_string('control_exchange', 'nova', 'the main exchange to connect to')
 DEFINE_string('cc_host', '127.0.0.1', 'ip of api server')
 DEFINE_integer('cc_port', 8773, 'cloud controller port')
diff --git a/nova/rpc.py b/nova/rpc.py
index 9938b083..86a29574 100644
--- a/nova/rpc.py
+++ b/nova/rpc.py
@@ -38,8 +38,8 @@ from nova import fakerabbit
 from nova import flags
 from nova import context
 
-FLAGS = flags.FLAGS
 
+FLAGS = flags.FLAGS
 
 LOG = logging.getLogger('amqplib')
 LOG.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
@@ -83,19 +83,24 @@ class Consumer(messaging.Consumer):
     Contains methods for connecting the fetch method to async loops
     """
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
-        self.failed_connection = False
-
-        while True:
+        for i in xrange(FLAGS.rabbit_max_retries):
+            if i > 0:
+                time.sleep(FLAGS.rabbit_retry_interval)
             try:
                 super(Consumer, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+                self.failed_connection = False
                 break
             except:  # Catching all because carrot sucks
-                logging.exception("AMQP server on %s:%d is unreachable. " \
-                                "Trying again in 30 seconds." % (
-                                FLAGS.rabbit_host,
-                                FLAGS.rabbit_port))
-                time.sleep(30)
-                continue
+                logging.exception("AMQP server on %s:%d is unreachable." \
+                    " Trying again in %d seconds." % (
+                    FLAGS.rabbit_host,
+                    FLAGS.rabbit_port,
+                    FLAGS.rabbit_retry_interval))
+                self.failed_connection = True
+        if self.failed_connection:
+            logging.exception("Unable to connect to AMQP server" \
+                " after %d tries. Shutting down." % FLAGS.rabbit_max_retries)
+            sys.exit(1)
 
     def fetch(self, no_ack=None, auto_ack=None, enable_callbacks=False):
         """Wraps the parent fetch with some logic for failed connections"""
@@ -103,7 +108,7 @@ class Consumer(messaging.Consumer):
         #             refactored into some sort of connection manager object
         try:
             if self.failed_connection:
-                # NOTE(vish): conn is defined in the parent class, we can
+                # NOTE(vish): connection is defined in the parent class, we can
                 #             recreate it as long as we create the backend too
                 # pylint: disable-msg=W0201
                 self.connection = Connection.recreate()