diff --git a/include/dbstructure.php b/include/dbstructure.php
index c1ed4bb98..732d3577e 100644
--- a/include/dbstructure.php
+++ b/include/dbstructure.php
@@ -144,7 +144,8 @@ function update_structure($verbose, $action, $tables=null, $definition=null) {
 	global $a, $db;
 
 	if ($action) {
-		set_config('system', 'maintenance', 1);
+		Config::set('system', 'maintenance', 1);
+		Config::set('system', 'maintenance_reason', 'Database update');
 	}
 
 	if (isset($a->config["system"]["db_charset"])) {
@@ -361,8 +362,10 @@ function update_structure($verbose, $action, $tables=null, $definition=null) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	if ($action)
-		set_config('system', 'maintenance', 0);
+	if ($action) {
+		Config::set('system', 'maintenance', 0);
+		Config::set('system', 'maintenance_reason', '');
+	}
 
 	return $errors;
 }
diff --git a/mod/maintenance.php b/mod/maintenance.php
index dcdc44194..98155b93a 100644
--- a/mod/maintenance.php
+++ b/mod/maintenance.php
@@ -1,11 +1,14 @@
 <?php
 
+use \Friendica\Core\Config;
+
 function maintenance_content(App $a) {
 	header('HTTP/1.1 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable');
 	header('Status: 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable');
 	header('Retry-After: 600');
 
 	return replace_macros(get_markup_template('maintenance.tpl'), array(
-		'$sysdown' => t('System down for maintenance')
+		'$sysdown' => t('System down for maintenance'),
+		'$reason' => Config::get('system', 'maintenance_reason')
 	));
 }
diff --git a/util/maintenance.php b/util/maintenance.php
index 28f3a503a..a49bf01ac 100644
--- a/util/maintenance.php
+++ b/util/maintenance.php
@@ -17,17 +17,37 @@ unset($db_host, $db_user, $db_pass, $db_data);
 Config::load();
 
 $maint_mode = 1;
-if($argc > 1)
+if($argc > 1) {
 	$maint_mode = intval($argv[1]);
-set_config('system', 'maintenance', $maint_mode);
+}
 
-if($maint_mode)
+Config::set('system', 'maintenance', $maint_mode);
+
+if($maint_mode AND ($argc > 2)) {
+	$reason_arr = $argv;
+	array_shift($reason_arr);
+	array_shift($reason_arr);
+
+	$reason = implode(' ', $reason_arr);
+	Config::set('system', 'maintenance_reason', $reason);
+} else {
+	Config::set('system', 'maintenance_reason', '');
+}
+
+if($maint_mode) {
 	$mode_str = "maintenance mode";
-else
+} else {
 	$mode_str = "normal mode";
+}
+
+echo "\n\tSystem set in $mode_str\n";
+
+if ($reason != '') {
+	echo "\tMaintenance reason: $reason\n\n";
+} else {
+	echo "\n";
+}
 
-echo "\n\tSystem set in $mode_str\n\n";
 echo "Usage:\n\n";
-echo "\tphp {$argv[0]} [1]\tSet the system in maintenance mode\n";
+echo "\tphp {$argv[0]} [1] [Maintenance reason]\tSet the system in maintenance mode\n";
 echo "\tphp {$argv[0]} 0  \tSet the system in normal mode\n\n";
-
diff --git a/view/templates/maintenance.tpl b/view/templates/maintenance.tpl
index f43da542f..e26af299f 100644
--- a/view/templates/maintenance.tpl
+++ b/view/templates/maintenance.tpl
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 
-<div id="maintenance-message">{{$sysdown}}</div>
+<h1 id="maintenance-message">{{$sysdown}}</h1>
+<div id="maintenance-reason">{{$reason}}</div>