diff --git a/servers/install-server b/servers/install-server
index 9970300807..86e188d55b 100755
--- a/servers/install-server
+++ b/servers/install-server
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ scp -i "$amazon_key_file" "$humbug_cert_file" root@"$server":/root/humbug/certs/
 
 ssh "$server" -t -i "$amazon_key_file" -lroot <<EOF
 cp -a /root/humbug/servers/puppet/modules/humbug/files/puppet.conf /etc/puppet/
-puppet apply -e 'include humbug::$type'
+puppet apply -e 'class {"humbug": machinetype => "$type"}'
 # These server restarting bits should be moveable into puppet-land, ideally
 apt-get -y upgrade
 if [ -e "/etc/init.d/nginx" ]; then
diff --git a/servers/puppet/modules/humbug/manifests/base.pp b/servers/puppet/modules/humbug/manifests/base.pp
index ce93bca3f3..bc50896a54 100644
--- a/servers/puppet/modules/humbug/manifests/base.pp
+++ b/servers/puppet/modules/humbug/manifests/base.pp
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
 class humbug::base {
-  class {'humbug': }
-
   $packages = [ "screen", "strace", "vim", "emacs23-nox", "git", "python-tz",
                 "sqlite3", "ntp", "python-simplejson", "host",
                 "openssh-server", "python-pip", "puppet-el",
diff --git a/servers/puppet/modules/humbug/manifests/init.pp b/servers/puppet/modules/humbug/manifests/init.pp
index b15dfd1872..e418945e81 100644
--- a/servers/puppet/modules/humbug/manifests/init.pp
+++ b/servers/puppet/modules/humbug/manifests/init.pp
@@ -1,4 +1,12 @@
-class humbug {
+class humbug ($machinetype) {
+  class { "humbug::$machinetype": }
+
+  file { '/etc/humbug-machinetype':
+    ensure  => file,
+    mode    => 644,
+    content => "$machinetype\n",
+  }
+
   Exec { path => "/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin" }
 
   class {'apt': }
diff --git a/servers/update-server b/servers/update-server
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..8eb90faaaf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/servers/update-server
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+machinetype=$(cat /etc/humbug-machinetype | sed -e 's/\n$//')
+if [ -z "$machinetype" ]; then
+    echo "No /etc/humbug-machinetype file found."
+    echo "Please create it and then re-run this script."
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+puppet apply -e "class {'humbug': machinetype => '$machinetype'}"