diff --git a/etc/tempest.conf.sample b/etc/tempest.conf.sample
index 32fe484..3579026 100644
--- a/etc/tempest.conf.sample
+++ b/etc/tempest.conf.sample
@@ -356,3 +356,5 @@
 glance = True
 # Whether or not swift is expected to be available
 swift = True
+# Whether or not nova is expected to be available
+nova = True
diff --git a/tempest/api/compute/base.py b/tempest/api/compute/base.py
index abc5899..095be7c 100644
--- a/tempest/api/compute/base.py
+++ b/tempest/api/compute/base.py
@@ -36,6 +36,9 @@
 
     @classmethod
     def setUpClass(cls):
+        if not cls.config.service_available.nova:
+            skip_msg = ("%s skipped as nova is not available" % cls.__name__)
+            raise cls.skipException(skip_msg)
         cls.isolated_creds = []
 
         if cls.config.compute.allow_tenant_isolation:
diff --git a/tempest/config.py b/tempest/config.py
index 83ea25c..5eb52dc 100644
--- a/tempest/config.py
+++ b/tempest/config.py
@@ -551,6 +551,9 @@
     cfg.BoolOpt('swift',
                 default=True,
                 help="Whether or not swift is expected to be available"),
+    cfg.BoolOpt('nova',
+                default=True,
+                help="Whether or not nova is expected to be available"),
 ]