diff --git a/server/cli/build.gradle b/server/cli/build.gradle
index c41c4d975b082..91fbca19eca99 100644
--- a/server/cli/build.gradle
+++ b/server/cli/build.gradle
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ archivesBaseName = 'elasticsearch-cli'
 
 dependencies {
     compile 'net.sf.jopt-simple:jopt-simple:5.0.2'
+    compile "org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch-core:${version}"
 }
 
 test.enabled = false
diff --git a/server/cli/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cli/MultiCommand.java b/server/cli/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cli/MultiCommand.java
index ba6b447792aa1..054a29e78a6cc 100644
--- a/server/cli/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cli/MultiCommand.java
+++ b/server/cli/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cli/MultiCommand.java
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.cli;
 
+import java.io.Closeable;
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
@@ -26,6 +28,8 @@
 import joptsimple.NonOptionArgumentSpec;
 import joptsimple.OptionSet;
 
+import org.elasticsearch.core.internal.io.IOUtils;
+
 /**
  * A cli tool which is made up of multiple subcommands.
  */
@@ -74,4 +78,10 @@ protected void execute(Terminal terminal, OptionSet options) throws Exception {
         }
         subcommand.mainWithoutErrorHandling(Arrays.copyOfRange(args, 1, args.length), terminal);
     }
+
+    @Override
+    public void close() throws IOException {
+        IOUtils.close(subcommands.values());
+    }
+
 }
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cli/MultiCommandTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cli/MultiCommandTests.java
index f4448bbedfef5..41fe851ed2561 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cli/MultiCommandTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cli/MultiCommandTests.java
@@ -22,22 +22,57 @@
 import joptsimple.OptionSet;
 import org.junit.Before;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
+
 public class MultiCommandTests extends CommandTestCase {
 
     static class DummyMultiCommand extends MultiCommand {
+
+        final AtomicBoolean closed = new AtomicBoolean();
+
         DummyMultiCommand() {
-            super("A dummy multi command", () -> {});
+            super("A dummy multi command", () -> {
+            });
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void close() throws IOException {
+            super.close();
+            if (this.closed.compareAndSet(false, true) == false) {
+                throw new IllegalStateException("DummyMultiCommand already closed");
+            }
         }
     }
 
     static class DummySubCommand extends Command {
+        final boolean throwsExceptionOnClose;
+        final AtomicBoolean closeCalled = new AtomicBoolean();
+
         DummySubCommand() {
-            super("A dummy subcommand", () -> {});
+            this(false);
         }
+
+        DummySubCommand(final boolean throwsExceptionOnClose) {
+            super("A dummy subcommand", () -> {
+            });
+            this.throwsExceptionOnClose = throwsExceptionOnClose;
+        }
+
         @Override
         protected void execute(Terminal terminal, OptionSet options) throws Exception {
             terminal.println("Arguments: " + options.nonOptionArguments().toString());
         }
+
+        @Override
+        public void close() throws IOException {
+            if (this.closeCalled.compareAndSet(false, true) == false) {
+                throw new IllegalStateException("DummySubCommand already closed");
+            }
+            if (throwsExceptionOnClose) {
+                throw new IOException("Error occurred while closing DummySubCommand");
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     DummyMultiCommand multiCommand;
@@ -102,4 +137,40 @@ public void testSubcommandArguments() throws Exception {
         assertFalse(output, output.contains("command1"));
         assertTrue(output, output.contains("Arguments: [foo, bar]"));
     }
+
+    public void testClose() throws Exception {
+        DummySubCommand subCommand1 = new DummySubCommand();
+        DummySubCommand subCommand2 = new DummySubCommand();
+        multiCommand.subcommands.put("command1", subCommand1);
+        multiCommand.subcommands.put("command2", subCommand2);
+        multiCommand.close();
+        assertTrue("MultiCommand was not closed when close method is invoked", multiCommand.closed.get());
+        assertTrue("SubCommand1 was not closed when close method is invoked", subCommand1.closeCalled.get());
+        assertTrue("SubCommand2 was not closed when close method is invoked", subCommand2.closeCalled.get());
+    }
+
+    public void testCloseWhenSubCommandCloseThrowsException() throws Exception {
+        final boolean command1Throws = randomBoolean();
+        final boolean command2Throws = randomBoolean();
+        final DummySubCommand subCommand1 = new DummySubCommand(command1Throws);
+        final DummySubCommand subCommand2 = new DummySubCommand(command2Throws);
+        multiCommand.subcommands.put("command1", subCommand1);
+        multiCommand.subcommands.put("command2", subCommand2);
+        if (command1Throws || command2Throws) {
+            // verify exception is thrown, as well as other non failed sub-commands closed
+            // properly.
+            IOException ioe = expectThrows(IOException.class, multiCommand::close);
+            assertEquals("Error occurred while closing DummySubCommand", ioe.getMessage());
+            if (command1Throws && command2Throws) {
+                assertEquals(1, ioe.getSuppressed().length);
+                assertTrue("Missing suppressed exceptions", ioe.getSuppressed()[0] instanceof IOException);
+                assertEquals("Error occurred while closing DummySubCommand", ioe.getSuppressed()[0].getMessage());
+            }
+        } else {
+            multiCommand.close();
+        }
+        assertTrue("SubCommand1 was not closed when close method is invoked", subCommand1.closeCalled.get());
+        assertTrue("SubCommand2 was not closed when close method is invoked", subCommand2.closeCalled.get());
+    }
+
 }