diff --git a/nginx-controller/Dockerfile b/nginx-controller/Dockerfile
index 64803ad5f8..6fb220b2fd 100644
--- a/nginx-controller/Dockerfile
+++ b/nginx-controller/Dockerfile
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ EXPOSE 80 443
 
 COPY nginx-ingress /
 COPY nginx/ingress.tmpl /
+COPY nginx/nginx.conf /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
 
 RUN rm /etc/nginx/conf.d/*
 
diff --git a/nginx-controller/main.go b/nginx-controller/main.go
index 7abdbc1462..5c1f26dff8 100644
--- a/nginx-controller/main.go
+++ b/nginx-controller/main.go
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ func main() {
 
 	resolver := getKubeDNSIP(kubeClient)
 	ngxc, _ := nginx.NewNGINXController(resolver, "/etc/nginx/", local)
-	ngxc.Start()
+	go ngxc.Start()
 	lbc, _ := controller.NewLoadBalancerController(kubeClient, 30*time.Second, *watchNamespace, ngxc)
 	lbc.Run()
 }
diff --git a/nginx-controller/nginx/nginx.conf b/nginx-controller/nginx/nginx.conf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3ff91487e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nginx-controller/nginx/nginx.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+
+daemon off;
+user  nginx;
+worker_processes  1;
+
+error_log  stderr warn;
+pid        /var/run/nginx.pid;
+
+
+events {
+    worker_connections  1024;
+}
+
+
+http {
+    include       /etc/nginx/mime.types;
+    default_type  application/octet-stream;
+
+    log_format  main  '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] $host "$request" '
+                      '$status $body_bytes_sent $request_time "$http_referer" '
+                      '"$http_user_agent" "$http_x_forwarded_for"';
+
+    access_log  /dev/stdout main;
+
+    sendfile        on;
+    #tcp_nopush     on;
+
+    keepalive_timeout  65;
+
+    #gzip  on;
+
+    include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
+}
diff --git a/nginx-controller/nginx/nginx.go b/nginx-controller/nginx/nginx.go
index 03b160554f..6f1525d914 100644
--- a/nginx-controller/nginx/nginx.go
+++ b/nginx-controller/nginx/nginx.go
@@ -170,7 +170,17 @@ func (nginx *NGINXController) Reload() {
 // Start starts NGINX
 func (nginx *NGINXController) Start() {
 	if !nginx.local {
-		shellOut("nginx")
+		command := exec.Command("nginx")
+		command.Stdout = os.Stdout
+		command.Stderr = os.Stderr
+		err := command.Start()
+		if err != nil {
+			glog.Fatalf("Error while starting nginx: %v", err)
+		}
+		err = command.Wait()
+		if err != nil {
+			glog.Fatalf("Error while waiting for nginx: %v", err)
+		}
 	}
 }