diff --git a/ansible/roles/common/templates/conf/output/00-local.conf.j2 b/ansible/roles/common/templates/conf/output/00-local.conf.j2
index 550749c7ec..ded90ffc27 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/common/templates/conf/output/00-local.conf.j2
+++ b/ansible/roles/common/templates/conf/output/00-local.conf.j2
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@
        domain_id default
        project_name {{ monasca_control_plane_project }}
        message_field_name Payload
+       buffer_type file
+       buffer_path /var/lib/fluentd/data/monasca.buffer/{{ syslog_swift_facility }}.*
+       max_retry_wait 1800s
     </store>
 {% endif %}
 </match>
@@ -94,6 +97,9 @@
        domain_id default
        project_name {{ monasca_control_plane_project }}
        message_field_name Payload
+       buffer_type file
+       buffer_path /var/lib/fluentd/data/monasca.buffer/{{ syslog_haproxy_facility }}.*
+       max_retry_wait 1800s
     </store>
 {% endif %}
 </match>
diff --git a/ansible/roles/common/templates/conf/output/02-monasca.conf.j2 b/ansible/roles/common/templates/conf/output/02-monasca.conf.j2
index dad304e6c1..88039b4360 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/common/templates/conf/output/02-monasca.conf.j2
+++ b/ansible/roles/common/templates/conf/output/02-monasca.conf.j2
@@ -10,5 +10,8 @@
        domain_id default
        project_name {{ monasca_control_plane_project }}
        message_field_name Payload
+       buffer_type file
+       buffer_path /var/lib/fluentd/data/monasca.buffer/openstack.*
+       max_retry_wait 1800s
     </store>
 </match>
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/enable-buffering-to-file-for-monasca-logs-88ca66cc4d6cda3b.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/enable-buffering-to-file-for-monasca-logs-88ca66cc4d6cda3b.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..48ec8f1129
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/enable-buffering-to-file-for-monasca-logs-88ca66cc4d6cda3b.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+features:
+  - |
+    Fluentd now buffers logs locally to file when the Monasca API is
+    unreachable.