diff --git a/actions.yaml b/actions.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..48e1374
--- /dev/null
+++ b/actions.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+openstack-upgrade:
+  description: |
+    Perform openstack upgrades. Config option action-managed-upgrade must be
+    set to True.
diff --git a/actions/openstack-upgrade b/actions/openstack-upgrade
new file mode 120000
index 0000000..6179301
--- /dev/null
+++ b/actions/openstack-upgrade
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+openstack_upgrade.py
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/actions/openstack_upgrade.py b/actions/openstack_upgrade.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..9f5e967
--- /dev/null
+++ b/actions/openstack_upgrade.py
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+#!/usr/bin/python
+import sys
+import uuid
+
+sys.path.append('hooks/')
+
+from charmhelpers.contrib.openstack.utils import (
+    do_action_openstack_upgrade,
+)
+
+from ceilometer_hooks import config_changed
+
+from ceilometer_utils import (
+    do_openstack_upgrade,
+    register_configs
+)
+
+
+CONFIGS = register_configs()
+
+
+def openstack_upgrade():
+    """Perform action-managed OpenStack upgrade.
+
+    Upgrades packages to the configured openstack-origin version and sets
+    the corresponding action status as a result.
+
+    If the charm was installed from source we cannot upgrade it.
+    For backwards compatibility a config flag (action-managed-upgrade) must
+    be set for this code to run, otherwise a full service level upgrade will
+    fire on config-changed."""
+
+    if (do_action_openstack_upgrade(do_openstack_upgrade,
+                                    CONFIGS, package='ceilometer-common')):
+        config_changed()
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    openstack_upgrade()
diff --git a/config.yaml b/config.yaml
index b63fb33..e3b5e5d 100644
--- a/config.yaml
+++ b/config.yaml
@@ -40,3 +40,13 @@ options:
     description: |
         A comma-separated list of nagios servicegroups.
         If left empty, the nagios_context will be used as the servicegroup
+  action-managed-upgrade:
+    type: boolean
+    default: False
+    description: |
+      If True enables openstack upgrades for this charm via juju actions.
+      You will still need to set openstack-origin to the new repository but
+      instead of an upgrade running automatically across all units, it will
+      wait for you to execute the openstack-upgrade action for this charm on
+      each unit. If False it will revert to existing behavior of upgrading
+      all units on config change.
diff --git a/hooks/ceilometer_hooks.py b/hooks/ceilometer_hooks.py
index 1f8ee31..62b30f5 100755
--- a/hooks/ceilometer_hooks.py
+++ b/hooks/ceilometer_hooks.py
@@ -61,8 +61,9 @@ def ceilometer_changed():
 @hooks.hook('config-changed')
 @restart_on_change(restart_map(), stopstart=True)
 def config_changed():
-    if openstack_upgrade_available('ceilometer-common'):
-        do_openstack_upgrade(CONFIGS)
+    if not config('action-managed-upgrade'):
+        if openstack_upgrade_available('ceilometer-common'):
+            do_openstack_upgrade(CONFIGS)
     if is_relation_made('nrpe-external-master'):
         update_nrpe_config()
     CONFIGS.write_all()