diff --git a/elements/nova-api/README.md b/elements/nova-api/README.md
new file mode 100644
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+++ b/elements/nova-api/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Installs Nova API service from github.
+
diff --git a/elements/nova-api/install.d/05-nova-api b/elements/nova-api/install.d/05-nova-api
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+++ b/elements/nova-api/install.d/05-nova-api
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+#!/bin/sh
+set -eux
+
+useradd -G admin -m nova -s /bin/false
+
+DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get -y install \
+    python-pip git-core python-setuptools python-dev python-lxml python-netaddr \
+    python-pastescript python-pastedeploy python-paste python-sqlalchemy        \
+    python-greenlet python-routes python-simplejson python-webob rabbitmq-server
+
+OS_ROOT=/opt/stack
+mkdir -p $OS_ROOT
+
+# clone source
+NOVA_ROOT=$OS_ROOT/nova
+git clone https://github.com/openstack/nova.git $NOVA_ROOT
+cd $NOVA_ROOT
+git checkout master
+
+# pip dependencies
+python setup.py egg_info
+pip install -r nova.egg-info/requires.txt
+cd -
+
+SYS_DIRS="/etc/nova /var/log/nova $NOVA_ROOT/keys"
+for d in $SYS_DIRS; do
+  mkdir -p $d
+  chown nova:nova $d
+done
+
+# config
+cp $NOVA_ROOT/etc/nova/nova.conf.sample /etc/nova/nova.conf
+cp $NOVA_ROOT/etc/nova/logging_sample.conf /etc/nova/logging.conf
+cp $NOVA_ROOT/etc/nova/api-paste.ini /etc/nova
+cp $NOVA_ROOT/etc/nova/policy.json /etc/nova
+
+# upstart script
+cp -f $(dirname $0)/../upstart/nova-api.conf /etc/init
+
diff --git a/elements/nova-api/upstart/nova-api.conf b/elements/nova-api/upstart/nova-api.conf
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8a1576c3
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+++ b/elements/nova-api/upstart/nova-api.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+description "OpenStack Nova API Service"
+
+start on runlevel [2345]
+stop on runlevel [016]
+
+setuid nova
+setgid nova
+
+respawn
+
+exec /opt/stack/nova/bin/nova-api
+
+# wait until service is running.
+post-start script
+    svc_port=$(grep ^osapi_compute_listen_port /etc/nova/nova.conf ||:)
+    svc_port=${svc_port##*=}
+    if [ -z "$svc_port" ] ; then
+        svc_port="8774"
+    fi
+
+    for try in $(seq 9 -1 1); do
+        if nc -w 1 localhost $svc_port < /dev/null ; then
+        echo Connected to port $svc_port!
+                exit 0
+        fi
+        echo Could not connect to $svc_port, retrying $try more times...
+    sleep 1
+    done
+end script
+