diff --git a/autotest.sh b/autotest.sh
index 037fc8e1c..568a475a7 100755
--- a/autotest.sh
+++ b/autotest.sh
@@ -152,6 +152,7 @@ if [ $SPDK_RUN_FUNCTIONAL_TEST -eq 1 ]; then
 	run_test suite test/rpc_client/rpc_client.sh
 	run_test suite ./test/json_config/json_config.sh
 	run_test suite test/json_config/alias_rpc/alias_rpc.sh
+	run_test suite test/spdkcli/tcp.sh
 
 	if [ $SPDK_TEST_BLOCKDEV -eq 1 ]; then
 		run_test suite test/bdev/blockdev.sh
diff --git a/scripts/spdkcli.py b/scripts/spdkcli.py
index 6e2ccd0db..0a802ac5b 100755
--- a/scripts/spdkcli.py
+++ b/scripts/spdkcli.py
@@ -37,7 +37,11 @@ def main():
     add_quotes_to_shell(spdk_shell)
 
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="SPDK command line interface")
-    parser.add_argument("-s", dest="socket", help="RPC socket path", default="/var/tmp/spdk.sock")
+    parser.add_argument('-s', dest='server_addr',
+                        help='RPC domain socket path or IP address', default='/var/tmp/spdk.sock')
+    parser.add_argument('-p', dest='port',
+                        help='RPC port number (if server_addr is IP address)',
+                        default=None, type=int)
     parser.add_argument("-v", dest="verbose", help="Print request/response JSON for configuration calls",
                         default=False, action="store_true")
     parser.add_argument("commands", metavar="command", type=str, nargs="*", default="",
@@ -45,7 +49,7 @@ def main():
     args = parser.parse_args()
 
     try:
-        client = rpc.client.JSONRPCClient(args.socket)
+        client = rpc.client.JSONRPCClient(args.server_addr, port=args.port)
     except JSONRPCException as e:
         spdk_shell.log.error("%s. SPDK not running?" % e)
         sys.exit(1)
diff --git a/test/spdkcli/spdkcli_job.py b/test/spdkcli/spdkcli_job.py
index b3a4da9aa..ce6530a90 100755
--- a/test/spdkcli/spdkcli_job.py
+++ b/test/spdkcli/spdkcli_job.py
@@ -27,10 +27,17 @@ def execute_command(cmd, element=None, element_exists=False):
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     socket = "/var/tmp/spdk.sock"
+    port = None
     if len(sys.argv) == 3:
         socket = sys.argv[2]
+    elif len(sys.argv) == 4:
+        port = sys.argv[3]
     testdir = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(sys.argv[0]))
-    child = pexpect.spawn(os.path.join(testdir, "../../scripts/spdkcli.py") + " -s %s" % socket)
+
+    if port is None:
+        child = pexpect.spawn(os.path.join(testdir, "../../scripts/spdkcli.py") + " -s %s" % socket)
+    else:
+        child = pexpect.spawn(os.path.join(testdir, "../../scripts/spdkcli.py") + " -s %s -p %s" % (socket, port))
     child.expect(">")
     child.sendline("cd /")
     child.expect("/>")
diff --git a/test/spdkcli/tcp.sh b/test/spdkcli/tcp.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..4665ccaf3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/spdkcli/tcp.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+testdir=$(readlink -f $(dirname $0))
+rootdir=$(readlink -f $testdir/../..)
+source $rootdir/test/common/autotest_common.sh
+source $rootdir/test/spdkcli/common.sh
+
+function waitfortcplisten() {
+	# $1 = process pid
+	if [ -z "$1" ]; then
+		exit 1
+	fi
+
+	local ipaddr=$2
+	local port=$3
+
+	echo "Waiting for process to start up and listen on TCP/IP Socket $ipaddr:$port..."
+	# turn off trace for this loop
+	xtrace_disable
+	local ret=0
+	local i
+	for (( i = 40; i != 0; i-- )); do
+		# if the process is no longer running, then exit the script
+		#  since it means the application crashed
+		if ! kill -s 0 $1; then
+			echo "ERROR: process (pid: $1) is no longer running"
+			ret=1
+			break
+		fi
+
+		if $rootdir/scripts/rpc.py -t 1 -s "$ipaddr" -p $port rpc_get_methods &>/dev/null; then
+			break
+		fi
+
+		sleep 0.5
+	done
+
+	xtrace_restore
+	if (( i == 0 )); then
+		echo "ERROR: timeout while waiting for process (pid: $1) to start listening on '$ipaddr:$port'"
+		ret=1
+	fi
+	return $ret
+}
+
+IP_ADDRESS="127.0.0.1"
+PORT="9998"
+
+timing_enter spdkcli_tcp
+trap 'on_error_exit;' ERR
+
+timing_enter run_spdk_tgt_tcp
+$rootdir/app/spdk_tgt/spdk_tgt -m 0x3 -p 0 -s 2048 -r $IP_ADDRESS:$PORT &
+spdk_tgt_pid=$!
+
+# This will issue a rpc request to the spdk target thus validating tcp
+waitfortcplisten $spdk_tgt_pid $IP_ADDRESS $PORT
+
+timing_exit run_spdk_tgt_tcp
+
+killprocess $spdk_tgt_pid
+
+timing_exit spdkcli_tcp
+
+report_test_completion spdkcli_tcp