diff --git a/examples/blob/cli/blobcli.c b/examples/blob/cli/blobcli.c
index edb071847..b8eea3257 100644
--- a/examples/blob/cli/blobcli.c
+++ b/examples/blob/cli/blobcli.c
@@ -52,8 +52,8 @@
 static void cli_start(void *arg1);
 
 static const char *program_name = "blobcli";
-/* default name for .conf file, any name can be used however with -c switch */
-static const char *program_conf = "blobcli.conf";
+/* default name for .json file, any name can be used however with -j switch */
+static const char *program_conf = "blobcli.json";
 
 /*
  * CMD mode runs one command at a time which can be annoying as the init takes
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ usage(struct cli_context_t *cli_context, char *msg)
 
 	if (!cli_context || cli_context->cli_mode == CLI_MODE_CMD) {
 		printf("Version %s\n", SPDK_VERSION_STRING);
-		printf("Usage: %s [-c SPDK config_file] Command\n", program_name);
+		printf("Usage: %s [-j SPDK josn_config_file] Command\n", program_name);
 		printf("\n%s is a command line tool for interacting with blobstore\n",
 		       program_name);
 		printf("on the underlying device specified in the conf file passed\n");
@@ -1042,7 +1042,7 @@ cmd_parser(int argc, char **argv, struct cli_context_t *cli_context)
 	int cmd_chosen = 0;
 	char resp;
 
-	while ((op = getopt(argc, argv, "b:c:d:f:hil:m:n:p:r:s:DST:Xx:")) != -1) {
+	while ((op = getopt(argc, argv, "b:d:f:hij:l:m:n:p:r:s:DST:Xx:")) != -1) {
 		switch (op) {
 		case 'b':
 			if (strcmp(cli_context->bdev_name, "") == 0) {
@@ -1052,13 +1052,6 @@ cmd_parser(int argc, char **argv, struct cli_context_t *cli_context)
 				usage(cli_context, "ERROR: -b option can only be set once.\n");
 			}
 			break;
-		case 'c':
-			if (cli_context->app_started == false) {
-				cli_context->config_file = optarg;
-			} else {
-				usage(cli_context, "ERROR: -c option not valid during shell mode.\n");
-			}
-			break;
 		case 'D':
 			cmd_chosen++;
 			cli_context->action = CLI_DUMP_BS;
@@ -1106,6 +1099,13 @@ cmd_parser(int argc, char **argv, struct cli_context_t *cli_context)
 				cli_context->action = CLI_INIT_BS;
 			}
 			break;
+		case 'j':
+			if (cli_context->app_started == false) {
+				cli_context->config_file = optarg;
+			} else {
+				usage(cli_context, "ERROR: -j option not valid during shell mode.\n");
+			}
+			break;
 		case 'r':
 			if (argv[optind] != NULL) {
 				cmd_chosen++;
@@ -1533,8 +1533,8 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 	/* if the config file doesn't exist, tell them how to make one */
 	if (access(cli_context->config_file, F_OK) == -1) {
 		printf("Error: No config file found.\n");
-		printf("To create a config file named 'blobcli.conf' for your NVMe device:\n");
-		printf("   <path to spdk>/scripts/gen_nvme.sh > blobcli.conf\n");
+		printf("To create a config file named 'blobcli.json' for your NVMe device:\n");
+		printf("   <path to spdk>/scripts/gen_nvme.sh --json > blobcli.json\n");
 		printf("and then re-run the cli tool.\n");
 		exit(-1);
 	}
@@ -1555,7 +1555,7 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 	/* Set default values in opts struct along with name and conf file. */
 	spdk_app_opts_init(&opts);
 	opts.name = "blobcli";
-	opts.config_file = cli_context->config_file;
+	opts.json_config_file = cli_context->config_file;
 
 	cli_context->app_started = true;
 	rc = spdk_app_start(&opts, cli_start, cli_context);
diff --git a/lib/rocksdb/env_spdk.cc b/lib/rocksdb/env_spdk.cc
index ce8bed923..f56de2336 100644
--- a/lib/rocksdb/env_spdk.cc
+++ b/lib/rocksdb/env_spdk.cc
@@ -734,8 +734,9 @@ SpdkEnv::SpdkEnv(Env *base_env, const std::string &dir, const std::string &conf,
 
 	spdk_app_opts_init(opts);
 	opts->name = "rocksdb";
-	opts->config_file = mConfig.c_str();
+	opts->json_config_file = mConfig.c_str();
 	opts->shutdown_cb = rocksdb_shutdown;
+	opts->tpoint_group_mask = "0x80";
 
 	spdk_fs_set_cache_size(cache_size_in_mb);
 	g_bdev_name = mBdev;
diff --git a/test/blobfs/blobfs.sh b/test/blobfs/blobfs.sh
index 83961c4e5..a741eca37 100755
--- a/test/blobfs/blobfs.sh
+++ b/test/blobfs/blobfs.sh
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ source $rootdir/test/common/autotest_common.sh
 rpc_server=/var/tmp/spdk-blobfs.sock
 rpc_py="$rootdir/scripts/rpc.py -s $rpc_server"
 tmp_file=$SPDK_TEST_STORAGE/blobfs_file
-conf_file=/tmp/blobfs.conf
+conf_file=$testdir/config
 bdevname=BlobfsBdev
 mount_dir=/tmp/spdk_tmp_mount
 test_cache_size=512
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ function cleanup() {
 }
 
 function blobfs_start_app() {
-	$rootdir/test/app/bdev_svc/bdev_svc -r $rpc_server -c ${conf_file} &
+	$rootdir/test/app/bdev_svc/bdev_svc -r $rpc_server --json ${conf_file} &
 	blobfs_pid=$!
 
 	echo "Process blobfs pid: $blobfs_pid"
@@ -128,8 +128,26 @@ trap 'cleanup' EXIT
 
 # Create one temp file as test bdev
 dd if=/dev/zero of=${tmp_file} bs=4k count=1M
-echo "[AIO]" > ${conf_file}
-echo "AIO ${tmp_file} ${bdevname} 512" >> ${conf_file}
+
+jq . <<- JSON > ${conf_file}
+	{
+	  "subsystems": [
+	    {
+	      "subsystem": "bdev",
+	      "config": [
+	        {
+	          "method": "bdev_aio_create",
+	          "params": {
+	            "name": "${bdevname}",
+	            "block_size": 512,
+	            "filename": "${tmp_file}"
+	          }
+	        }
+	      ]
+	    }
+	  ]
+	}
+JSON
 
 blobfs_detect_test
 
diff --git a/test/blobfs/fuse/fuse.c b/test/blobfs/fuse/fuse.c
index 2c1f7da68..b9cff84d8 100644
--- a/test/blobfs/fuse/fuse.c
+++ b/test/blobfs/fuse/fuse.c
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 
 	spdk_app_opts_init(&opts);
 	opts.name = "spdk_fuse";
-	opts.config_file = argv[1];
+	opts.json_config_file = argv[1];
 	opts.reactor_mask = "0x3";
 	opts.shutdown_cb = spdk_fuse_shutdown;
 
diff --git a/test/blobfs/mkfs/mkfs.c b/test/blobfs/mkfs/mkfs.c
index 4d70a5e16..6ae23dd3a 100644
--- a/test/blobfs/mkfs/mkfs.c
+++ b/test/blobfs/mkfs/mkfs.c
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 
 	spdk_app_opts_init(&opts);
 	opts.name = "spdk_mkfs";
-	opts.config_file = argv[1];
+	opts.json_config_file = argv[1];
 	opts.reactor_mask = "0x3";
 	opts.shutdown_cb = NULL;
 
diff --git a/test/blobfs/rocksdb/rocksdb.sh b/test/blobfs/rocksdb/rocksdb.sh
index a11703358..02300f056 100755
--- a/test/blobfs/rocksdb/rocksdb.sh
+++ b/test/blobfs/rocksdb/rocksdb.sh
@@ -43,13 +43,14 @@ run_step() {
 }
 
 run_bsdump() {
-	$SPDK_EXAMPLE_DIR/blobcli -c $ROCKSDB_CONF -b Nvme0n1 -D &> bsdump.txt
+	# 0x80 is the bit mask for BlobFS tracepoints
+	$SPDK_EXAMPLE_DIR/blobcli -j $ROCKSDB_CONF -b Nvme0n1 --tpoint-group-mask 0x80 &> bsdump.txt
 }
 
 # In the autotest job, we copy the rocksdb source to just outside the spdk directory.
 DB_BENCH_DIR="$rootdir/../rocksdb"
 DB_BENCH=$DB_BENCH_DIR/db_bench
-ROCKSDB_CONF=$testdir/rocksdb.conf
+ROCKSDB_CONF=$testdir/rocksdb.json
 
 if [ ! -e $DB_BENCH_DIR ]; then
 	echo $DB_BENCH_DIR does not exist
@@ -74,15 +75,15 @@ popd
 
 timing_exit db_bench_build
 
-$rootdir/scripts/gen_nvme.sh > $ROCKSDB_CONF
-# 0x80 is the bit mask for BlobFS tracepoints
-echo "[Global]" >> $ROCKSDB_CONF
-echo "TpointGroupMask 0x80" >> $ROCKSDB_CONF
+echo '{"subsystems": [' > $ROCKSDB_CONF
+$rootdir/scripts/gen_nvme.sh --json >> $ROCKSDB_CONF
+echo ']}' >> $ROCKSDB_CONF
 
 trap 'dump_db_bench_on_err; run_bsdump || :; rm -f $ROCKSDB_CONF; sanitize_results; exit 1' SIGINT SIGTERM EXIT
 
 if [ -z "$SKIP_MKFS" ]; then
-	run_test "blobfs_mkfs" $rootdir/test/blobfs/mkfs/mkfs $ROCKSDB_CONF Nvme0n1
+	# 0x80 is the bit mask for BlobFS tracepoints
+	run_test "blobfs_mkfs" $rootdir/test/blobfs/mkfs/mkfs $ROCKSDB_CONF Nvme0n1 --tpoint-group-mask 0x80
 fi
 
 mkdir -p $output_dir/rocksdb
diff --git a/test/blobstore/blobstore.sh b/test/blobstore/blobstore.sh
index 247150f5c..a50eb2ac6 100755
--- a/test/blobstore/blobstore.sh
+++ b/test/blobstore/blobstore.sh
@@ -11,13 +11,15 @@ rootdir=$(readlink -f $testdir/../..)
 source $rootdir/test/common/autotest_common.sh
 
 # Nvme0 target configuration
-$rootdir/scripts/gen_nvme.sh > $testdir/blobcli.conf
+echo '{"subsystems": [' > $testdir/blobcli.json
+$rootdir/scripts/gen_nvme.sh --json | jq -r "del(.config[] | select(.params.name!=\"Nvme0\"))" >> $testdir/blobcli.json
+echo ']}' >> $testdir/blobcli.json
 
 # generate random data file for import/export diff
 dd if=/dev/urandom of=$testdir/test.pattern bs=1M count=1
 
 (cd $testdir \
-	&& $SPDK_EXAMPLE_DIR/blobcli -c $testdir/blobcli.conf -b Nvme0n1 -T $testdir/test.bs > $testdir/btest.out)
+	&& $SPDK_EXAMPLE_DIR/blobcli -j $testdir/blobcli.json -b Nvme0n1 -T $testdir/test.bs > $testdir/btest.out)
 
 # the test script will import the test pattern generated by dd and then export
 # it to a file so we can compare and confirm basic read and write
@@ -25,6 +27,6 @@ $rootdir/test/app/match/match -v $testdir/btest.out.match
 diff $testdir/test.pattern $testdir/test.pattern.blob
 
 rm -rf $testdir/btest.out
-rm -rf $testdir/blobcli.conf
+rm -rf $testdir/blobcli.json
 rm -rf $testdir/*.blob
 rm -rf $testdir/test.pattern