diff --git a/manifests/compute/libvirt.pp b/manifests/compute/libvirt.pp
index b8538b82f..9c559e888 100644
--- a/manifests/compute/libvirt.pp
+++ b/manifests/compute/libvirt.pp
@@ -23,11 +23,20 @@
 #   Defaults to 'host-model' if libvirt_type is set to either
 #   kvm or qemu, otherwise defaults to 'None'.
 #
+# [*libvirt_disk_cachemodes*]
+#   (optional) A list of cachemodes for different disk types, e.g.
+#   ["file=directsync", "block=none"]
+#   If an empty list is specified, the disk_cachemodes directive
+#   will be removed from nova.conf completely.
+#   Defaults to an empty list
+#
+
 class nova::compute::libvirt (
-  $libvirt_type      = 'kvm',
-  $vncserver_listen  = '127.0.0.1',
-  $migration_support = false,
-  $libvirt_cpu_mode  = false,
+  $libvirt_type            = 'kvm',
+  $vncserver_listen        = '127.0.0.1',
+  $migration_support       = false,
+  $libvirt_cpu_mode        = false,
+  $libvirt_disk_cachemodes = [],
 ) {
 
   include nova::params
@@ -93,4 +102,14 @@
     'DEFAULT/vncserver_listen': value => $vncserver_listen;
     'DEFAULT/libvirt_cpu_mode': value => $libvirt_cpu_mode_real;
   }
+
+  if size($libvirt_disk_cachemodes) > 0 {
+    nova_config {
+      'DEFAULT/disk_cachemodes': value => join($libvirt_disk_cachemodes, ',');
+    }
+  } else {
+    nova_config {
+      'DEFAULT/disk_cachemodes': ensure => absent;
+    }
+  }
 }
diff --git a/spec/classes/nova_compute_libvirt_spec.rb b/spec/classes/nova_compute_libvirt_spec.rb
index ab820baf4..cc2494b03 100644
--- a/spec/classes/nova_compute_libvirt_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/classes/nova_compute_libvirt_spec.rb
@@ -38,19 +38,22 @@
       it { should contain_nova_config('DEFAULT/connection_type').with_value('libvirt')}
       it { should contain_nova_config('DEFAULT/vncserver_listen').with_value('127.0.0.1')}
       it { should contain_nova_config('DEFAULT/libvirt_cpu_mode').with_value('host-model')}
+      it { should contain_nova_config('DEFAULT/disk_cachemodes').with_ensure('absent')}
     end
 
     describe 'with params' do
       let :params do
         { :libvirt_type     => 'qemu',
           :vncserver_listen => '0.0.0.0',
-          :libvirt_cpu_mode => 'host-passthrough'
+          :libvirt_cpu_mode => 'host-passthrough',
+          :libvirt_disk_cachemodes => ['file=directsync','block=none']
         }
       end
 
       it { should contain_nova_config('DEFAULT/libvirt_type').with_value('qemu')}
       it { should contain_nova_config('DEFAULT/vncserver_listen').with_value('0.0.0.0')}
       it { should contain_nova_config('DEFAULT/libvirt_cpu_mode').with_value('host-passthrough')}
+      it { should contain_nova_config('DEFAULT/disk_cachemodes').with_value('file=directsync,block=none')}
     end
 
     describe 'with migration_support enabled' do