diff --git a/nova/api/openstack/compute/contrib/hosts.py b/nova/api/openstack/compute/contrib/hosts.py
index 202c8ca..6685b24 100644
--- a/nova/api/openstack/compute/contrib/hosts.py
+++ b/nova/api/openstack/compute/contrib/hosts.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ from xml.parsers import expat
 from nova.api.openstack import wsgi
 from nova.api.openstack import xmlutil
 from nova.api.openstack import extensions
-from nova.compute import api as compute_api
+from nova import compute
 from nova import db
 from nova import exception
 from nova import flags
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ def check_host(fn):
 class HostController(object):
     """The Hosts API controller for the OpenStack API."""
     def __init__(self):
-        self.api = compute_api.HostAPI()
+        self.api = compute.HostAPI()
         super(HostController, self).__init__()

     @wsgi.serializers(xml=HostIndexTemplate)
diff --git a/nova/compute/__init__.py b/nova/compute/__init__.py
index 3dab6bf..d8ecc5d 100644
--- a/nova/compute/__init__.py
--- a/nova/compute/__init__.py
+++ b/nova/compute/__init__.py
@@ -22,3 +22,4 @@ import nova.flags
 import nova.utils

 API = nova.utils.import_class(nova.flags.FLAGS.compute_api_class)
+HostAPI = nova.utils.import_class(nova.flags.FLAGS.compute_hostapi_class)
diff --git a/nova/flags.py b/nova/flags.py
index 652d346..e7e54ae 100644
--- a/nova/flags.py
+++ b/nova/flags.py
@@ -455,6 +455,9 @@ global_opts = [
     cfg.StrOpt('compute_api_class',
                 default='nova.compute.api.API',
                 help='The full class name of the compute API class to use'),
+    cfg.StrOpt('compute_hostapi_class',
+                default='nova.compute.api.HostAPI',
+                help='The full class name of the compute HostAPI class to use'),
     cfg.StrOpt('network_api_class',
                 default='nova.network.api.API',
                 help='The full class name of the network API class to use'),