diff --git a/scripts/perf/nvmf/README.md b/scripts/perf/nvmf/README.md
index aa9618d84..359a441e8 100644
--- a/scripts/perf/nvmf/README.md
+++ b/scripts/perf/nvmf/README.md
@@ -38,6 +38,11 @@ So for example providing 2 IP's with 16 NVMe drives present will result in each
 Integer. Use null block devices instead of present NVMe drives.
 If set to 1, can be used for latency measurements as described in Test Case 3 of performance report.
 
+### null_block_dif_type
+
+Integer. Enable data protection on created null block device. Defaults to 0 if option
+not present in JSON configuration file. See doc/jsonrpc.md "bdev_null_create" for details.
+
 ### num_cores
 
 List of CPU cores to assign for running SPDK NVMe-OF Target process. Can specify exact core numbers or ranges, eg:
diff --git a/scripts/perf/nvmf/run_nvmf.py b/scripts/perf/nvmf/run_nvmf.py
index 94bdb15c9..b1790f971 100755
--- a/scripts/perf/nvmf/run_nvmf.py
+++ b/scripts/perf/nvmf/run_nvmf.py
@@ -558,7 +558,7 @@ class KernelTarget(Target):
 class SPDKTarget(Target):
 
     def __init__(self, name, username, password, mode, nic_ips, transport="rdma",
-                 null_block_devices=0, sar_settings=None, pcm_settings=None,
+                 null_block_devices=0, null_block_dif_type=0, sar_settings=None, pcm_settings=None,
                  bandwidth_settings=None, dpdk_settings=None, num_shared_buffers=4096,
                  num_cores=1, **kwargs):
 
@@ -567,6 +567,7 @@ class SPDKTarget(Target):
                                          dpdk_settings)
         self.num_cores = num_cores
         self.num_shared_buffers = num_shared_buffers
+        self.null_block_dif_type = null_block_dif_type
 
     def spdk_tgt_configure(self):
         self.log_print("Configuring SPDK NVMeOF target via RPC")
@@ -586,9 +587,16 @@ class SPDKTarget(Target):
         self.log_print("Done configuring SPDK NVMeOF Target")
 
     def spdk_tgt_add_nullblock(self, null_block_count):
+        md_size = 0
+        block_size = 4096
+        if self.null_block_dif_type != 0:
+            md_size = 128
+
         self.log_print("Adding null block bdevices to config via RPC")
         for i in range(null_block_count):
-            rpc.bdev.bdev_null_create(self.client, 102400, 4096, "Nvme{}n1".format(i))
+            self.log_print("Setting bdev protection to :%s" % self.null_block_dif_type)
+            rpc.bdev.bdev_null_create(self.client, 102400, block_size + md_size, "Nvme{}n1".format(i),
+                                      dif_type=self.null_block_dif_type, md_size=md_size)
         self.log_print("SPDK Bdevs configuration:")
         rpc.client.print_dict(rpc.bdev.bdev_get_bdevs(self.client))