diff --git a/node/server.js b/node/server.js
index e25127f49..9bd975471 100644
--- a/node/server.js
+++ b/node/server.js
@@ -61,8 +61,7 @@ console.log("Report bugs at https://github.com/Pita/etherpad-lite/issues")
 
 var serverName = "Etherpad-Lite " + version + " (http://j.mp/ep-lite)";
 
-//cache 6 hours
-exports.maxAge = 1000*60*60*6;
+exports.maxAge = settings.maxAge;
 
 //set loglevel
 log4js.setGlobalLogLevel(settings.loglevel);
diff --git a/node/utils/Settings.js b/node/utils/Settings.js
index e95702112..dcab13cc0 100644
--- a/node/utils/Settings.js
+++ b/node/utils/Settings.js
@@ -55,6 +55,11 @@ exports.requireSession = false;
  */
 exports.editOnly = false;
 
+/**
+ * Max age that responses will have (affects caching layer).
+ */
+exports.maxAge = 1000*60*60*6; // 6 hours
+
 /**
  * A flag that shows if minification is enabled or not
  */
diff --git a/settings.json.template b/settings.json.template
index 7cd0e8195..57bc5711b 100644
--- a/settings.json.template
+++ b/settings.json.template
@@ -38,6 +38,10 @@
   /* if true, all css & js will be minified before sending to the client. This will improve the loading performance massivly, 
      but makes it impossible to debug the javascript/css */
   "minify" : true,
+
+  /* How long may clients use served javascript code? Without versioning this
+    is may cause problems during deployment. */
+  "maxAge" : 1000*60*60*6, // 6 hours
   
   /* This is the path to the Abiword executable. Setting it to null, disables abiword.
      Abiword is needed to enable the import/export of pads*/