diff --git a/resources/riak_node/meta.yaml b/resources/riak_node/meta.yaml
index 662fb82..12022ac 100644
--- a/resources/riak_node/meta.yaml
+++ b/resources/riak_node/meta.yaml
@@ -37,3 +37,6 @@ input:
     join_to:
       schema: str
       value:
+    storage_backend:
+      schema: str!
+      value: bitcask
diff --git a/resources/riak_node/templates/riak.conf b/resources/riak_node/templates/riak.conf.jinja
similarity index 99%
rename from resources/riak_node/templates/riak.conf
rename to resources/riak_node/templates/riak.conf.jinja
index 4b614d3..a9f5d97 100644
--- a/resources/riak_node/templates/riak.conf
+++ b/resources/riak_node/templates/riak.conf.jinja
@@ -331,7 +331,7 @@ anti_entropy = active
 ## 
 ## Acceptable values:
 ##   - one of: bitcask, leveldb, memory, multi
-storage_backend = bitcask
+storage_backend = {{storage_backend}}
 
 ## Controls which binary representation of a riak value is stored
 ## on disk.