diff --git a/kong.yml b/kong.yml
index 01bf213d6b7..91ef2e2d682 100644
--- a/kong.yml
+++ b/kong.yml
@@ -87,6 +87,12 @@
   ## Key for encrypting network traffic within Kong. Must be a base64-encoded 16-byte key.
   # encrypt: "foo"
 
+  ######
+  ## The TTL (time to live) of a node in the cluster when it stops sending healthcheck pings, maybe because of a
+  ## failure. If the node is not able to send a new healthcheck before the expiration, then new nodes in the cluster
+  ## will stop attempting to connect to it on startup.
+  # ttl_on_failure: 3600
+
 ######
 ## Specify which database to use. Only "cassandra" is currently available.
 # database: cassandra
diff --git a/kong/cli/services/serf.lua b/kong/cli/services/serf.lua
index 8af73580ae3..5db39e99562 100644
--- a/kong/cli/services/serf.lua
+++ b/kong/cli/services/serf.lua
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ function Serf:_add_node()
   local _, err = self._dao_factory.nodes:insert({
     name = name,
     cluster_listening_address = stringy.strip(addr)
-  }, {ttl = 3600})
+  }, {ttl = self._configuration.cluster.ttl_on_failure})
   if err then
     return false, err
   end
diff --git a/kong/core/cluster.lua b/kong/core/cluster.lua
index dd35d3c8063..a87918af983 100644
--- a/kong/core/cluster.lua
+++ b/kong/core/cluster.lua
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ local function send_keepalive(premature)
       ngx.log(ngx.ERR, tostring(err))
     elseif #nodes == 1 then
       local node = nodes[1]
-      local _, err = singletons.dao.nodes:update(node, node)
+      local _, err = singletons.dao.nodes:update(node, node, {ttl=singletons.configuration.cluster.ttl_on_failure})
       if err then
         ngx.log(ngx.ERR, tostring(err))
       end
diff --git a/kong/dao/cassandra_db.lua b/kong/dao/cassandra_db.lua
index 5fdee4c8d64..50e086b14d7 100644
--- a/kong/dao/cassandra_db.lua
+++ b/kong/dao/cassandra_db.lua
@@ -298,7 +298,7 @@ function CassandraDB:count(table_name, tbl, schema)
   end
 end
 
-function CassandraDB:update(table_name, schema, constraints, filter_keys, values, nils, full, options)
+function CassandraDB:update(table_name, schema, constraints, filter_keys, values, nils, full, model, options)
   -- must check unique constaints manually too
   local err = check_unique_constraints(self, table_name, constraints, values, filter_keys, true)
   if err then
@@ -309,6 +309,30 @@ function CassandraDB:update(table_name, schema, constraints, filter_keys, values
     return nil, err
   end
 
+  -- Cassandra TTL on update is per-column and not per-row, and TTLs cannot be updated on primary keys.
+  -- Not only that, but TTL on other rows can only be incremented, and not decremented. Because of all
+  -- of these limitations, the only way to make this happen is to do an upsert operation.
+  -- This implementation can be changed once Cassandra closes this issue: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/CASSANDRA-9312
+  if options and options.ttl then
+    if schema.primary_key and #schema.primary_key == 1 and filter_keys[schema.primary_key[1]] then
+      local row, err = self:find(table_name, schema, filter_keys)
+      if err then
+        return nil, err
+      elseif row then
+        for k, v in pairs(row) do
+          if not values[k] then
+            model[k] = v -- Populate the model to be used later for the insert
+          end
+        end
+
+        -- Insert without any contraint check, since the check has already been executed
+        return self:insert(table_name, schema, model, {unique={}, foreign={}}, options)
+      end
+    else
+      return nil, "Cannot update TTL on entities that have more than one primary_key"
+    end
+  end
+
   local sets, args, where = {}, {}
   for col, value in pairs(values) do
     local field = schema.fields[col]
diff --git a/kong/dao/dao.lua b/kong/dao/dao.lua
index c6fa37a7d6c..bbd39dbf7e1 100644
--- a/kong/dao/dao.lua
+++ b/kong/dao/dao.lua
@@ -265,7 +265,7 @@ function DAO:update(tbl, filter_keys, options)
     fix(old, values, self.schema)
   end
 
-  local res, err = self.db:update(self.table, self.schema, self.constraints, primary_keys, values, nils, full_update, options)
+  local res, err = self.db:update(self.table, self.schema, self.constraints, primary_keys, values, nils, full_update, model, options)
   if err then
     return nil, err
   elseif res then
diff --git a/kong/dao/postgres_db.lua b/kong/dao/postgres_db.lua
index 95fd912b9b6..59a9cc9eb53 100644
--- a/kong/dao/postgres_db.lua
+++ b/kong/dao/postgres_db.lua
@@ -358,7 +358,7 @@ function PostgresDB:count(table_name, tbl, schema)
   end
 end
 
-function PostgresDB:update(table_name, schema, _, filter_keys, values, nils, full, options)
+function PostgresDB:update(table_name, schema, _, filter_keys, values, nils, full, _, options)
   local args = {}
   local values, err = self:serialize_timestamps(values, schema)
   if err then
diff --git a/kong/tools/config_defaults.lua b/kong/tools/config_defaults.lua
index bf7f4fa9628..39e5c96c1e5 100644
--- a/kong/tools/config_defaults.lua
+++ b/kong/tools/config_defaults.lua
@@ -30,7 +30,8 @@ return {
       ["auto-join"] = {type = "boolean", default = true},
       ["advertise"] = {type = "string", nullable = true},
       ["encrypt"] = {type = "string", nullable = true},
-      ["profile"] = {type = "string", default = "wan", enum = {"wan", "lan", "local"}}
+      ["profile"] = {type = "string", default = "wan", enum = {"wan", "lan", "local"}},
+      ["ttl_on_failure"] = {type = "number", default = 3600}
     }
   },
   ["database"] = {type = "string", default = "cassandra", enum = {"cassandra", "postgres"}},
diff --git a/spec/integration/dao/07-options_spec.lua b/spec/integration/dao/07-options_spec.lua
index 41f6b54e6d7..d0d4cf9c92c 100644
--- a/spec/integration/dao/07-options_spec.lua
+++ b/spec/integration/dao/07-options_spec.lua
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ helpers.for_each_dao(function(db_type, default_options, TYPES)
         assert.falsy(row)
       end)
 
-      it("on update", function()
+      it("on update - increase ttl", function()
         local api, err = factory.apis:insert({
           name = "mockbin", request_host = "mockbin.com",
           upstream_url = "http://mockbin.com"
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ helpers.for_each_dao(function(db_type, default_options, TYPES)
         -- Updating the TTL to a higher value
         factory.apis:update({name = "mockbin2"}, {id = api.id}, {ttl = 10})
 
-        os.execute("sleep 5")
+        os.execute("sleep 9")
 
         row, err = factory.apis:find {
           id = api.id
@@ -65,12 +65,41 @@ helpers.for_each_dao(function(db_type, default_options, TYPES)
         assert.falsy(err)
         assert.truthy(row)
 
-        os.execute("sleep 5")
+        os.execute("sleep 2")
 
+        -- It has now finally expired
         row, err = factory.apis:find {
           id = api.id
         }
+        assert.falsy(err)
+        assert.falsy(row)
+      end)
+
+      it("on update - decrease ttl", function()
+        local api, err = factory.apis:insert({
+          name = "mockbin", request_host = "mockbin.com",
+          upstream_url = "http://mockbin.com"
+        }, {ttl = 10})
+        assert.falsy(err)
+
+        os.execute("sleep 3")
+
+        -- Retrieval
+        local row, err = factory.apis:find {
+          id = api.id
+        }
+        assert.falsy(err)
+        assert.truthy(row)
 
+        -- Updating the TTL to a lower value
+        local _, err = factory.apis:update({name = "mockbin2"}, {id = api.id}, {ttl = 3})
+        assert.falsy(err)
+
+        os.execute("sleep 4")
+
+        row, err = factory.apis:find {
+          id = api.id
+        }
         assert.falsy(err)
         assert.falsy(row)
       end)