diff --git a/manifests/init.pp b/manifests/init.pp
index 608ae0b9b1cf00d0e826e5f66ca351a6eee79218..7e3d66e9dca92b1891154cdc586de2d05e20b4ec 100644
--- a/manifests/init.pp
+++ b/manifests/init.pp
@@ -4,8 +4,10 @@
 #
 # @example
 #   include easybuild
-class easybuild {
-  $arch = ''
+class easybuild (
+  $arch = easybuild::params::arch,
+) {
+
   file { '/etc/easybuild.d':
     ensure => 'directory',
   }
diff --git a/manifests/params.pp b/manifests/params.pp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..8bc0fbff9235c3f036781e33c1d91e9e9f91b775
--- /dev/null
+++ b/manifests/params.pp
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# A description of what this class does
+#
+# @summary A short summary of the purpose of this class
+#
+# @example
+#   include easybuild::params
+class easybuild::params {
+  $arch = 'nehalem'
+}
diff --git a/spec/classes/params_spec.rb b/spec/classes/params_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..f3f72c548df8de3e48dd14295d14df9789120cc3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/classes/params_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+require 'spec_helper'
+
+describe 'easybuild::params' do
+  on_supported_os.each do |os, os_facts|
+    context "on #{os}" do
+      let(:facts) { os_facts }
+
+      it { is_expected.to compile }
+    end
+  end
+end