diff --git a/manifests/api.pp b/manifests/api.pp
index dc861932..db6a279e 100644
--- a/manifests/api.pp
+++ b/manifests/api.pp
@@ -7,6 +7,11 @@
 # [*keystone_password*]
 #   (required) Password used to authentication.
 #
+# [*package_ensure*]
+#   (optional) Ensure state for package. On RedHat platforms this
+#   setting is ignored and the setting from the glance class is used
+#   because there is only one glance package. Defaults to 'present'.
+#
 # [*verbose*]
 #   (optional) Rather to log the glance api service at verbose level.
 #   Default: false
@@ -184,6 +189,7 @@
 #
 class glance::api(
   $keystone_password,
+  $package_ensure           = 'present',
   $verbose                  = false,
   $debug                    = false,
   $bind_host                = '0.0.0.0',
@@ -236,6 +242,7 @@ class glance::api(
   if ( $glance::params::api_package_name != $glance::params::registry_package_name ) {
     ensure_packages([$glance::params::api_package_name],
       {
+        ensure => $package_ensure,
         tag    => ['openstack'],
       }
     )
diff --git a/manifests/init.pp b/manifests/init.pp
index 5920ee8d..3b104225 100644
--- a/manifests/init.pp
+++ b/manifests/init.pp
@@ -5,7 +5,8 @@
 # === parameters:
 #
 #  [*package_ensure*]
-#    (Optional) ensure state for package.
+#    (Optional) Ensure state for package. On Ubuntu this setting
+#    is ignored since Ubuntu has separate API and registry packages.
 #    Defaults to 'present'
 #
 class glance(
diff --git a/spec/classes/glance_api_spec.rb b/spec/classes/glance_api_spec.rb
index da77321f..74e48626 100644
--- a/spec/classes/glance_api_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/classes/glance_api_spec.rb
@@ -427,9 +427,17 @@ describe 'glance::api' do
     end
     let(:params) { default_params }
 
-    it { is_expected.to contain_package('glance-api').with(
-        :tag => ['openstack'],
-    )}
+    # We only test this on Debian platforms, since on RedHat there isn't a
+    # separate package for glance API.
+    ['present', 'latest'].each do |package_ensure|
+      context "with package_ensure '#{package_ensure}'" do
+        let(:params) { default_params.merge({ :package_ensure => package_ensure }) }
+        it { is_expected.to contain_package('glance-api').with(
+            :ensure => package_ensure,
+            :tag    => ['openstack']
+        )}
+      end
+    end
   end
 
   describe 'on RedHat platforms' do