diff --git a/manifests/resource/upstream.pp b/manifests/resource/upstream.pp
index c74492a..86e672e 100644
--- a/manifests/resource/upstream.pp
+++ b/manifests/resource/upstream.pp
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 #   [*ensure*]                - Enables or disables the specified location (present|absent)
 #   [*upstream_cfg_prepend*]  - It expects a hash with custom directives to put before anything else inside upstream
 #   [*upstream_fail_timeout*] - Set the fail_timeout for the upstream. Default is 10 seconds - As that is what Nginx does normally.
+#   [*upstream_max_fails*]    - Set the max_fails for the upstream. Default is to use nginx default value which is 1.
 #
 # Actions:
 #
@@ -43,6 +44,7 @@ define nginx::resource::upstream (
   $ensure = 'present',
   $upstream_cfg_prepend = undef,
   $upstream_fail_timeout = '10s',
+  $upstream_max_fails = undef,
 ) {
 
   if $members != undef {
diff --git a/templates/conf.d/upstream_member.erb b/templates/conf.d/upstream_member.erb
index 081177b..5f44b54 100644
--- a/templates/conf.d/upstream_member.erb
+++ b/templates/conf.d/upstream_member.erb
@@ -1 +1 @@
-  server     <%= @server %>:<%= @port %>  fail_timeout=<%= @upstream_fail_timeout %>;
+  server     <%= @server %>:<%= @port %>  fail_timeout=<%= @upstream_fail_timeout %><% if @upstream_max_fails -%> max_fails=<%=@upstream_max_fails %><% end %>;
diff --git a/templates/conf.d/upstream_members.erb b/templates/conf.d/upstream_members.erb
index d7a2dda..0f5c306 100644
--- a/templates/conf.d/upstream_members.erb
+++ b/templates/conf.d/upstream_members.erb
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
   <% @members.each do |i| %>
-  server     <%= i %>  fail_timeout=<%= @upstream_fail_timeout %>;<% end %>
+  server     <%= i %>  fail_timeout=<%= @upstream_fail_timeout %><% if @upstream_max_fails -%> max_fails=<%=@upstream_max_fails %><% end %>;<% end %>