diff --git a/http/Provision/Config/Apache/server.tpl.php b/http/Provision/Config/Apache/server.tpl.php
index 621e7ac..5efa19d 100644
--- a/http/Provision/Config/Apache/server.tpl.php
+++ b/http/Provision/Config/Apache/server.tpl.php
@@ -17,18 +17,30 @@ NameVirtualHost *:<?php print $http_port; ?>
   LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so
 </IfModule>
 
+<?php
+if (drush_get_option('provision_apache_conf_suffix', FALSE)) {
+  $include_statement = 'IncludeOptional ';
+  $include_suffix = '/*.conf';
+}
+else {
+  $include_statement = 'Include ';
+  $include_suffix = '';
+}
+
+?>
+
 # other configuration, not touched by aegir
 # this allows you to override aegir configuration, as it is included before
-Include <?php print $http_pred_path ?>
+<?php print $include_statement . $http_pred_path . $include_suffix ?>
 
 # virtual hosts
-Include <?php print $http_vhostd_path ?>
+<?php print $include_statement . $http_vhostd_path . $include_suffix ?>
 
 # platforms
-Include <?php print $http_platformd_path ?>
+<?php print $include_statement . $http_platformd_path . $include_suffix ?>
 
 # other configuration, not touched by aegir
 # this allows to have default (for example during migrations) that are eventually overriden by aegir
-Include <?php print $http_postd_path ?>
+<?php print $include_statement . $http_postd_path . $include_suffix ?>
 
 <?php print $extra_config; ?>
diff --git a/http/Provision/Config/Http/Site.php b/http/Provision/Config/Http/Site.php
index b329234..35c7026 100644
--- a/http/Provision/Config/Http/Site.php
+++ b/http/Provision/Config/Http/Site.php
@@ -11,7 +11,12 @@ class Provision_Config_Http_Site extends Provision_Config_Http {
 
 
   function filename() {
-    return $this->data['http_vhostd_path'] . '/' . $this->uri;
+    if (drush_get_option('provision_apache_conf_suffix', FALSE)) {
+      return $this->data['http_vhostd_path'] . '/' . $this->uri . '.conf';
+    }
+    else {
+      return $this->data['http_vhostd_path'] . '/' . $this->uri;
+    }
   }
 
   function process() {
diff --git a/provision.api.php b/provision.api.php
index 3f491ff..3731e0f 100644
--- a/provision.api.php
+++ b/provision.api.php
@@ -14,8 +14,15 @@
  *   $options['provision_backup_suffix'] = '.tar.bz2';
  *
  * provision_verify_platforms_before_migrate - When migrating many sites turning this off can save time, default TRUE.
+ *
  * provision_backup_suffix - Method to set the compression used for backups... e.g. '.tar.bz2' or '.tar.', defaults to '.tar.gz'.
  *
+ * provision_apache_conf_suffix
+ *   Set to TRUE to generate apache vhost files with a .conf suffix, default FALSE.
+ *   This takes advantage of the IncludeOptional statment introduced in Apache 2.3.6.
+ *   WARNING: After turning this on you need to re-verify all your sites, then then servers,
+ *   and then cleanup the old configfiles (those without the .conf suffix).
+ *
  */
 
 /**