diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 663a459a..cdd6f23f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -789,6 +789,11 @@ Below is the complete list of available options that can be used to customize yo
 - **GOOGLE_ANALYTICS_ID**: Google Analytics ID. No defaults.
 - **PIWIK_URL**: Sets the Piwik URL. No defaults.
 - **PIWIK_SITE_ID**: Sets the Piwik site ID. No defaults.
+- **AWS_BACKUPS**: Enables automatic uploads to an Amazon S3 instance. Defaults to `false`.
+- **AWS_BACKUP_REGION**: AWS region. No defaults.
+- **AWS_BACKUP_ACCESS_KEY_ID**: AWS access key id. No defaults.
+- **AWS_BACKUP_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY**: AWS secret access key. No defaults.
+- **AWS_BACKUP_BUCKET**: AWS bucket for backup uploads. No defaults.
 
 # Maintenance
 
@@ -845,6 +850,14 @@ Daily backups are created at `GITLAB_BACKUP_TIME` which defaults to `04:00` ever
 
 By default, when automated backups are enabled, backups are held for a period of 7 days. While when automated backups are disabled, the backups are held for an infinite period of time. This can behavior can be configured via the `GITLAB_BACKUP_EXPIRY` option.
 
+## Automatic Amazon Web Services (AWS) S3 Uploads
+
+The image can be configured to automatically upload the backups to an AWS S3 bucket. To enable automatic AWS backups first add `-e 'AWS_BACKUPS=true'` to the docker run command. In addition `AWS_BACKUP_REGION` and `AWS_BACKUP_BUCKET` must be properly configured to point to the desired AWS location. Finally an IAM user must be configured with appropriate access permission and their AWS keys exposed through `AWS_BACKUP_ACCESS_KEY_ID` and `AWS_BACKUP_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY`.
+
+More details about the appropriate IAM user properties can found on [doc.gitlab.com](http://doc.gitlab.com/ce/raketasks/backup_restore.html#upload-backups-to-remote-cloud-storage)
+
+AWS uploads are performed alongside normal backups, both through the appropriate `app:rake` command and when an automatic backup is performed.
+
 ## Shell Access
 
 For debugging and maintenance purposes you may want access the containers shell. If you are using docker version `1.3.0` or higher you can access a running containers shell using `docker exec` command.
diff --git a/assets/config/gitlabhq/gitlab.yml b/assets/config/gitlabhq/gitlab.yml
index c94df819..0565321e 100644
--- a/assets/config/gitlabhq/gitlab.yml
+++ b/assets/config/gitlabhq/gitlab.yml
@@ -225,15 +225,15 @@ production: &base
   backup:
     path: "{{GITLAB_BACKUP_DIR}}"   # Relative paths are relative to Rails.root (default: tmp/backups/)
     keep_time: {{GITLAB_BACKUP_EXPIRY}}   # default: 0 (forever) (in seconds)
-    # upload:
-    #   # Fog storage connection settings, see http://fog.io/storage/ .
-    #   connection:
-    #     provider: AWS
-    #     region: eu-west-1
-    #     aws_access_key_id: AKIAKIAKI
-    #     aws_secret_access_key: 'secret123'
-    #   # The remote 'directory' to store your backups. For S3, this would be the bucket name.
-    #   remote_directory: 'my.s3.bucket'
+    upload:
+      # Fog storage connection settings, see http://fog.io/storage/ .
+      connection:
+        provider: AWS
+        region: {{AWS_BACKUP_REGION}}
+        aws_access_key_id: {{AWS_BACKUP_ACCESS_KEY_ID}}
+        aws_secret_access_key: '{{AWS_BACKUP_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY}}'
+      # The remote 'directory' to store your backups. For S3, this would be the bucket name.
+      remote_directory: '{{AWS_BACKUP_BUCKET}}'
 
   ## GitLab Shell settings
   gitlab_shell:
diff --git a/assets/init b/assets/init
index 2a96c90b..7c710066 100755
--- a/assets/init
+++ b/assets/init
@@ -46,6 +46,12 @@ GITLAB_BACKUPS=${GITLAB_BACKUPS:-disable}
 GITLAB_BACKUP_TIME=${GITLAB_BACKUP_TIME:-04:00}
 GITLAB_BACKUP_EXPIRY=${GITLAB_BACKUP_EXPIRY:-}
 
+AWS_BACKUPS=${AWS_BACKUPS:-false}
+AWS_BACKUP_REGION=${AWS_BACKUP_REGION}
+AWS_BACKUP_ACCESS_KEY_ID=${AWS_BACKUP_ACCESS_KEY_ID}
+AWS_BACKUP_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=${AWS_BACKUP_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY}
+AWS_BACKUP_BUCKET=${AWS_BACKUP_BUCKET}
+
 NGINX_WORKERS=${NGINX_WORKERS:-1}
 NGINX_ACCEL_BUFFERING=${NGINX_ACCEL_BUFFERING:-no}
 NGINX_PROXY_BUFFERING=${NGINX_PROXY_BUFFERING:-off}
@@ -512,6 +518,24 @@ sudo -u git -H sed 's/{{LDAP_BLOCK_AUTO_CREATED_USERS}}/'"${LDAP_BLOCK_AUTO_CREA
 sudo -u git -H sed 's/{{LDAP_BASE}}/'"${LDAP_BASE}"'/' -i config/gitlab.yml
 sudo -u git -H sed 's/{{LDAP_USER_FILTER}}/'"${LDAP_USER_FILTER}"'/' -i config/gitlab.yml
 
+# apply aws s3 backup configuration
+case "${AWS_BACKUPS}" in
+  true)
+    if [ -z "${AWS_BACKUP_REGION}" -o -z "${AWS_BACKUP_ACCESS_KEY_ID}" -o -z "${AWS_BACKUP_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY}" -o -z "${AWS_BACKUP_BUCKET}" ]; then
+      printf "\nMissing AWS options. Aborting...\n"
+      exit 1
+    fi
+    sudo -u git -H sed 's/{{AWS_BACKUP_REGION}}/'"${AWS_BACKUP_REGION}"'/' -i config/gitlab.yml
+    sudo -u git -H sed 's/{{AWS_BACKUP_ACCESS_KEY_ID}}/'"${AWS_BACKUP_ACCESS_KEY_ID}"'/' -i config/gitlab.yml
+    sudo -u git -H sed 's,{{AWS_BACKUP_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY}},'"${AWS_BACKUP_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY}"',' -i config/gitlab.yml
+    sudo -u git -H sed 's/{{AWS_BACKUP_BUCKET}}/'"${AWS_BACKUP_BUCKET}"'/' -i config/gitlab.yml
+    ;;
+  *)
+    # remove backup configuration lines
+    sudo -u git -H sed /upload:/,/remote_directory:/d -i config/gitlab.yml
+    ;;
+esac
+
 # apply gravatar configuration
 sudo -u git -H sed 's/{{GITLAB_GRAVATAR_ENABLED}}/'"${GITLAB_GRAVATAR_ENABLED}"'/' -i config/gitlab.yml
 if [ -n "${GITLAB_GRAVATAR_HTTP_URL}" ]; then