diff --git a/puppet/zulip_ops/manifests/base.pp b/puppet/zulip_ops/manifests/base.pp
index aad31506b1..21f2cb57d3 100644
--- a/puppet/zulip_ops/manifests/base.pp
+++ b/puppet/zulip_ops/manifests/base.pp
@@ -65,6 +65,15 @@ class zulip_ops::base {
     mode       => '0600',
   }
 
+  # Clear /etc/update-motd.d, to fix load problems with Nagios
+  # caused by Ubuntu's default MOTD tools for things like "checking
+  # for the next release" being super slow.
+  file { '/etc/update-motd.d':
+    ensure     => directory,
+    recurse    => true,
+    purge      => true,
+  }
+
   file { '/etc/pam.d/common-session':
     ensure     => file,
     require    => Package['openssh-server'],