diff --git a/doc/jsonrpc.md b/doc/jsonrpc.md
index e0d7101b2..f05c8262e 100644
--- a/doc/jsonrpc.md
+++ b/doc/jsonrpc.md
@@ -2892,6 +2892,7 @@ prchk_guard                | Optional | bool        | Enable checking of PI guar
 hdgst                      | Optional | bool        | Enable TCP header digest
 ddgst                      | Optional | bool        | Enable TCP data digest
 fabrics_connect_timeout_us | Optional | bool        | Timeout for fabrics connect (in microseconds)
+multipath                  | Optional | string      | Multipathing behavior: disable, failover. Default is failover.
 
 #### Example
 
diff --git a/module/bdev/nvme/bdev_nvme_rpc.c b/module/bdev/nvme/bdev_nvme_rpc.c
index 50e449fcc..98854a757 100644
--- a/module/bdev/nvme/bdev_nvme_rpc.c
+++ b/module/bdev/nvme/bdev_nvme_rpc.c
@@ -180,6 +180,7 @@ struct rpc_bdev_nvme_attach_controller {
 	bool prchk_reftag;
 	bool prchk_guard;
 	uint64_t fabrics_connect_timeout_us;
+	char *multipath;
 	struct spdk_nvme_ctrlr_opts opts;
 };
 
@@ -196,6 +197,7 @@ free_rpc_bdev_nvme_attach_controller(struct rpc_bdev_nvme_attach_controller *req
 	free(req->hostnqn);
 	free(req->hostaddr);
 	free(req->hostsvcid);
+	free(req->multipath);
 }
 
 static const struct spdk_json_object_decoder rpc_bdev_nvme_attach_controller_decoders[] = {
@@ -216,6 +218,7 @@ static const struct spdk_json_object_decoder rpc_bdev_nvme_attach_controller_dec
 	{"hdgst", offsetof(struct rpc_bdev_nvme_attach_controller, opts.header_digest), spdk_json_decode_bool, true},
 	{"ddgst", offsetof(struct rpc_bdev_nvme_attach_controller, opts.data_digest), spdk_json_decode_bool, true},
 	{"fabrics_connect_timeout_us", offsetof(struct rpc_bdev_nvme_attach_controller, opts.fabrics_connect_timeout_us), spdk_json_decode_uint64, true},
+	{"multipath", offsetof(struct rpc_bdev_nvme_attach_controller, multipath), spdk_json_decode_string, true},
 };
 
 #define NVME_MAX_BDEVS_PER_RPC 128
@@ -387,8 +390,31 @@ rpc_bdev_nvme_attach_controller(struct spdk_jsonrpc_request *request,
 	ctrlr = nvme_ctrlr_get_by_name(ctx->req.name);
 
 	if (ctrlr) {
-		/* This controller already exists. Verify the parameters match sufficiently. */
-		opts = spdk_nvme_ctrlr_get_opts(ctrlr->ctrlr);
+		if (ctx->req.multipath == NULL) {
+			/* For now, this means add a failover path. This maintains backward compatibility
+			 * with past behavior. In the future, this behavior will change to "disable". */
+			SPDK_ERRLOG("The multipath parameter was not specified to bdev_nvme_attach_controller but "
+				    "it was used to add a failover path. This behavior will default to rejecting "
+				    "the request in the future. Specify the 'multipath' parameter to control the behavior");
+			ctx->req.multipath = strdup("failover");
+		}
+
+		/* This controller already exists. Check what the user wants to do. */
+		if (strcasecmp(ctx->req.multipath, "disable") == 0) {
+			/* The user does not want to do any form of multipathing. */
+			spdk_jsonrpc_send_error_response_fmt(request, -EALREADY,
+							     "A controller named %s already exists and multipath is disabled\n",
+							     ctx->req.name);
+			goto cleanup;
+		} else if (strcasecmp(ctx->req.multipath, "failover") == 0) {
+			/* The user wants to add this as a failover path. */
+		} else {
+			/* Invalid multipath option */
+			spdk_jsonrpc_send_error_response_fmt(request, -EINVAL,
+							     "Invalid multipath parameter: %s\n",
+							     ctx->req.multipath);
+			goto cleanup;
+		}
 
 		if (strncmp(trid.subnqn,
 			    spdk_nvme_ctrlr_get_transport_id(ctrlr->ctrlr)->subnqn,
@@ -400,6 +426,8 @@ rpc_bdev_nvme_attach_controller(struct spdk_jsonrpc_request *request,
 			goto cleanup;
 		}
 
+		opts = spdk_nvme_ctrlr_get_opts(ctrlr->ctrlr);
+
 		if (strncmp(ctx->req.opts.hostnqn, opts->hostnqn, SPDK_NVMF_NQN_MAX_LEN) != 0) {
 			/* Different HOSTNQN is not allowed when specifying the same controller name. */
 			spdk_jsonrpc_send_error_response_fmt(request, -EINVAL,
diff --git a/scripts/rpc.py b/scripts/rpc.py
index f6575f2d0..235923b67 100755
--- a/scripts/rpc.py
+++ b/scripts/rpc.py
@@ -526,7 +526,8 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
                                                          prchk_guard=args.prchk_guard,
                                                          hdgst=args.hdgst,
                                                          ddgst=args.ddgst,
-                                                         fabrics_timeout=args.fabrics_timeout))
+                                                         fabrics_timeout=args.fabrics_timeout,
+                                                         multipath=args.multipath))
 
     p = subparsers.add_parser('bdev_nvme_attach_controller', aliases=['construct_nvme_bdev'],
                               help='Add bdevs with nvme backend')
@@ -556,6 +557,7 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     p.add_argument('-d', '--ddgst',
                    help='Enable TCP data digest.', action='store_true')
     p.add_argument('--fabrics-timeout', type=int, help='Fabrics connect timeout in microseconds')
+    p.add_argument('-x', '--multipath', help='Set multipath behavior (disable, failover)')
     p.set_defaults(func=bdev_nvme_attach_controller)
 
     def bdev_nvme_get_controllers(args):
diff --git a/scripts/rpc/bdev.py b/scripts/rpc/bdev.py
index b892473b0..a8684ffaa 100644
--- a/scripts/rpc/bdev.py
+++ b/scripts/rpc/bdev.py
@@ -511,7 +511,7 @@ def bdev_nvme_set_hotplug(client, enable, period_us=None):
 def bdev_nvme_attach_controller(client, name, trtype, traddr, adrfam=None, trsvcid=None,
                                 priority=None, subnqn=None, hostnqn=None, hostaddr=None,
                                 hostsvcid=None, prchk_reftag=None, prchk_guard=None,
-                                hdgst=None, ddgst=None, fabrics_timeout=None):
+                                hdgst=None, ddgst=None, fabrics_timeout=None, multipath=None):
     """Construct block device for each NVMe namespace in the attached controller.
 
     Args:
@@ -530,6 +530,7 @@ def bdev_nvme_attach_controller(client, name, trtype, traddr, adrfam=None, trsvc
         hdgst: Enable TCP header digest (optional)
         ddgst: Enable TCP data digest (optional)
         fabrics_timeout: Fabrics connect timeout in us (optional)
+        multipath: The behavior when multiple paths are created ("disable", "failover"; failover if not specified)
 
     Returns:
         Names of created block devices.
@@ -574,6 +575,9 @@ def bdev_nvme_attach_controller(client, name, trtype, traddr, adrfam=None, trsvc
     if fabrics_timeout:
         params['fabrics_connect_timeout_us'] = fabrics_timeout
 
+    if multipath:
+        params['multipath'] = multipath
+
     return client.call('bdev_nvme_attach_controller', params)
 
 
diff --git a/test/nvmf/host/multicontroller.sh b/test/nvmf/host/multicontroller.sh
index 3a8b077b5..8798428d7 100755
--- a/test/nvmf/host/multicontroller.sh
+++ b/test/nvmf/host/multicontroller.sh
@@ -64,6 +64,11 @@ NOT $rpc_py -s $bdevperf_rpc_sock bdev_nvme_attach_controller -b NVMe0 -t $TEST_
 NOT $rpc_py -s $bdevperf_rpc_sock bdev_nvme_attach_controller -b NVMe0 -t $TEST_TRANSPORT -a $NVMF_FIRST_TARGET_IP \
 	-s $NVMF_PORT -f ipv4 -n nqn.2016-06.io.spdk:cnode2 -i $NVMF_FIRST_TARGET_IP -c $NVMF_HOST_FIRST_PORT
 
+# try to attach with the same controller name and multipathing disabled. Should fail
+NOT $rpc_py -s $bdevperf_rpc_sock bdev_nvme_attach_controller -b NVMe0 -t $TEST_TRANSPORT -a $NVMF_FIRST_TARGET_IP \
+	-s $NVMF_PORT -f ipv4 -n nqn.2016-06.io.spdk:cnode1 -i $NVMF_FIRST_TARGET_IP -c $NVMF_HOST_FIRST_PORT \
+	-x disable
+
 # Add a second path without specifying the host information. Should pass.
 $rpc_py -s $bdevperf_rpc_sock bdev_nvme_attach_controller -b NVMe0 -t $TEST_TRANSPORT -a $NVMF_FIRST_TARGET_IP \
 	-s $NVMF_SECOND_PORT -f ipv4 -n nqn.2016-06.io.spdk:cnode1