diff --git a/src/eventlogdb.js b/src/eventlogdb.js
index 49d12134f..0dc8e8bef 100644
--- a/src/eventlogdb.js
+++ b/src/eventlogdb.js
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ exports = module.exports = {
     getAllPaged: getAllPaged,
     getByCreationTime: getByCreationTime,
     add: add,
+    upsert: upsert,
     count: count,
     delByCreationTime: delByCreationTime,
 
@@ -100,7 +101,33 @@ function add(id, action, source, data, callback) {
         if (error && error.code === 'ER_DUP_ENTRY') return callback(new DatabaseError(DatabaseError.ALREADY_EXISTS, error));
         if (error || result.affectedRows !== 1) return callback(new DatabaseError(DatabaseError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
 
-        callback(null);
+        callback(null, id);
+    });
+}
+
+// id is only used if we didn't do an update but insert instead
+function upsert(id, action, source, data, callback) {
+    assert.strictEqual(typeof id, 'string');
+    assert.strictEqual(typeof action, 'string');
+    assert.strictEqual(typeof source, 'object');
+    assert.strictEqual(typeof data, 'object');
+    assert.strictEqual(typeof callback, 'function');
+
+    // can't do a real sql upsert, for frequent eventlog entries we only have to do 2 queries once a day
+    var queries = [{
+        query: 'UPDATE eventlog SET creationTime=NOW(), data="?" WHERE action = ? AND source LIKE ? AND DATE(creationTime)=CURDATE()',
+        args: [ data, action, JSON.stringify(source) ]
+    }, {
+        query: 'SELECT * FROM eventlog WHERE action = ? AND source LIKE ? AND DATE(creationTime)=CURDATE()',
+        args: [ action, JSON.stringify(source) ]
+    }];
+
+    database.transaction(queries, function (error, result) {
+        if (error) return callback(new DatabaseError(DatabaseError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
+        if (result[0].affectedRows >= 1) return callback(null, result[1][0].id);
+
+        // no existing eventlog found, create one
+        add(id, action, source, data, callback);
     });
 }
 
diff --git a/src/test/database-test.js b/src/test/database-test.js
index d2f9fa507..8ea1c63a4 100644
--- a/src/test/database-test.js
+++ b/src/test/database-test.js
@@ -1675,8 +1675,9 @@ describe('database', function () {
     describe('eventlog', function () {
 
         it('add succeeds', function (done) {
-            eventlogdb.add('someid', 'some.event', { ip: '1.2.3.4' }, { appId: 'thatapp' }, function (error) {
+            eventlogdb.add('someid', 'some.event', { ip: '1.2.3.4' }, { appId: 'thatapp' }, function (error, result) {
                 expect(error).to.be(null);
+                expect(result).to.equal('someid');
                 done();
             });
         });
@@ -1749,6 +1750,39 @@ describe('database', function () {
             });
         });
 
+        it('upsert with no existing entry succeeds', function (done) {
+            eventlogdb.upsert('logineventid', 'user.login', { ip: '1.2.3.4' }, { appId: 'thatapp' }, function (error, result) {
+                expect(error).to.be(null);
+                expect(result).to.equal('logineventid');
+
+                done();
+            });
+        });
+
+        it('upsert with existing entry succeeds', function (done) {
+            eventlogdb.get('logineventid', function (error, result) {
+                expect(error).to.equal(null);
+
+                var oldCreationTime = result.creationTime;
+
+                // now wait 2sec
+                setTimeout(function () {
+                    eventlogdb.upsert('logineventid_notused', 'user.login', { ip: '1.2.3.4' }, { appId: 'thatapp' }, function (error, result) {
+                        expect(error).to.be(null);
+                        expect(result).to.equal('logineventid');
+
+                        eventlogdb.get('logineventid', function (error, result) {
+                            expect(error).to.equal(null);
+                            // should have changed
+                            expect(oldCreationTime).to.not.equal(result.creationTime);
+
+                            done();
+                        });
+                    });
+                }, 2000);
+            });
+        });
+
         it('delByCreationTime succeeds', function (done) {
             async.each([ 'persistent.event', 'transient.event', 'anothertransient.event', 'anotherpersistent.event' ], function (e, callback) {
                 eventlogdb.add('someid' + Math.random(), e, { ip: '1.2.3.4' }, { appId: 'thatapp' }, callback);