diff --git a/config.cfg b/config.cfg
index ab53309..d9925ee 100644
--- a/config.cfg
+++ b/config.cfg
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ do_package_upgrade=yes
 
 # restart services affected by previous upgrades
 do_service_restart=yes
+# what to do with identified services by default. See services section.
+default_service_policy=ignore
 
 # do depclean on Gentoo
 do_depclean=yes
@@ -48,8 +50,15 @@ dev-db/postgresql=1
 gitlab=1
 
 
-# The services section contains <process-name>=<service-name>
+# The processes section contains <process-name>=<service-name>
 # The process name is whatever psutil returns and I haven't checked if it's
 # trustworthy, so it's probably not... Use with care.
-[services]
+# To ignore processes, just add them with empty values
+[processes]
 gitlab-workhorse=gitlab
+qemu-system-x86_64=
+
+# The services section contains restart policy for specific services.
+# valid policies are 'ignore', 'warn' and 'restart'.
+[services]
+libvirtd=ignore
diff --git a/sau/services.py b/sau/services.py
index 96d6ad9..b6aa3f0 100644
--- a/sau/services.py
+++ b/sau/services.py
@@ -100,6 +100,8 @@ def restart_services():
         retest_procs.add(proc)
 
     services = set()
+    processes = set()
+    services = {}
     for proc in service_procs:
         try:
             service_exe = proc.exe()
@@ -108,7 +110,15 @@ def restart_services():
             log.debug('{} died before it could be restarted'.format(proc))
             continue
 
-        service_name = conf.get('services', proc_name, fallback=None)
+        if proc_name in services:
+            # we have already checked a process with this name
+            continue
+
+        service_name = conf.get('processes', proc_name, fallback=False)
+        if service_name == None:
+            log.debug('Ignoring process {}'.format(proc))
+            continue
+
         if not service_name:
             # if the exe file has been deleted since started, service_exe will be empty
             # and we'll have to guess
@@ -125,23 +135,51 @@ def restart_services():
                 log.warning('Could not find service for process {}'.format(proc))
                 continue
 
-        if service_name:
-            services.add(service_name)
+        services[proc_name] = service_name
+
+    for service in [x for x in services.values() if x]:
+        policy = _get_service_restart_policy(service)
+        if policy == 'ignore':
+            log.info('Service "{}" ignored by configuration'.format(service))
+            continue
+        elif policy == 'warn':
+            log.warning('Service "{}" has open deleted files and should be restarted'.format(service))
+            continue
 
-    for service in services:
         log.info('Restarting service {}'.format(service))
         platform.restart_service(service)
 
     recommend_restart = False
     for proc in retest_procs:
         try:
-            exe = proc.exe()
             name = proc.name()
         except (psutil.NoSuchProcess, psutil.ZombieProcess, psutil.AccessDenied):
             log.debug('{} was successfully killed'.format(proc))
             continue
 
         if _get_deleted_open_files(proc):
+            if name in services and not services[name]:
+                log.warning('{} does not belong to a service and could not be restarted'.format(proc))
+                recommend_restart = True
+                continue
+            elif name in services:
+                policy = _get_service_restart_policy(services[name])
+                if policy == 'ignore':
+                    continue
             log.warning('{} still has deleted files open'.format(proc))
             recommend_restart = True
     return recommend_restart
+
+def _get_service_restart_policy(service):
+    conf = sau.config
+    policy = conf.get('services', service, fallback=None)
+    if policy and policy.lower() in ('restart', 'warn', 'ignore'):
+        return policy.lower()
+    elif policy:
+        log.warning('service policy {} for {} is invalid'.format(policy, service))
+
+    default_policy = conf.get('services', 'default_service_policy', fallback='warn')
+    if default_policy.lower() in ('restart', 'warn', 'ignore'):
+        return default_policy.lower()
+    log.warning('default service policy {} is invalid'.format(default_policy))
+    return 'warn'