diff --git a/manifests/api.pp b/manifests/api.pp
index 0d981013..40a2f199 100644
--- a/manifests/api.pp
+++ b/manifests/api.pp
@@ -60,6 +60,10 @@
 #   to make gnocchi-api be a web app using apache mod_wsgi.
 #   Defaults to '$::gnocchi::params::api_service_name'
 #
+# [*sync_db*]
+#   (optional) Run gnocchi-upgrade db sync on api nodes after installing the package.
+#   Defaults to false
+
 class gnocchi::api (
   $manage_service        = true,
   $enabled               = true,
@@ -74,6 +78,7 @@ class gnocchi::api (
   $workers               = $::processorcount,
   $max_limit             = 1000,
   $service_name          = $::gnocchi::params::api_service_name,
+  $sync_db               = false,
 ) inherits gnocchi::params {
 
   include ::gnocchi::policy
@@ -101,6 +106,10 @@ class gnocchi::api (
     }
   }
 
+  if $sync_db {
+    include ::gnocchi::db::sync
+  }
+
   if $service_name == $::gnocchi::params::api_service_name {
     service { 'gnocchi-api':
       ensure     => $service_ensure,
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/add-sync_db-to-gnocchi-db-class-d3fed198a27b15e0.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/add-sync_db-to-gnocchi-db-class-d3fed198a27b15e0.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c58f0e00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/add-sync_db-to-gnocchi-db-class-d3fed198a27b15e0.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+fixes:
+    - Add a sync_db option to ::gnocchi::api class. This makes it easier
+      to control the db sync. The sync_db param is a boolean and set to
+      false by default for backward compatibility so db sync is not run
+      out of the box.
diff --git a/spec/classes/gnocchi_api_spec.rb b/spec/classes/gnocchi_api_spec.rb
index c512fde5..f1cb23ca 100644
--- a/spec/classes/gnocchi_api_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/classes/gnocchi_api_spec.rb
@@ -69,6 +69,14 @@ describe 'gnocchi::api' do
       end
     end
 
+    context 'with sync_db set to true' do
+      before do
+        params.merge!({
+          :sync_db => true})
+      end
+      it { is_expected.to contain_class('gnocchi::db::sync') }
+    end
+
     context 'with disabled service managing' do
       before do
         params.merge!({