diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index f796f4815d6..8856521b360 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ var (
 	keystorePass    = app.Flag("storepass", "Password for certificate and keystore (optional).").PlaceHolder("PASS").String()
 	caBundlePath    = app.Flag("cacert", "Path to certificate authority bundle file (PEM/X509).").Required().String()
 	timedReload     = app.Flag("timed-reload", "Reload keystores every N seconds, refresh listener/client on changes.").PlaceHolder("N").Int()
+	shutdownTimeout = app.Flag("shutdown-timeout", "Graceful shutdown timeout. Terminates after timeout even if connections still open.").Default("5m").Duration()
 	timeoutDuration = app.Flag("timeout", "Timeout for establishing connections, handshakes.").Default("10s").Duration()
 	graphiteAddr    = app.Flag("graphite", "Collect metrics and report them to the given graphite instance (raw TCP).").PlaceHolder("ADDR").TCP()
 	metricsURL      = app.Flag("metrics-url", "Collect metrics and POST them periodically to the given URL (via HTTP/JSON).").PlaceHolder("URL").String()
diff --git a/signals.go b/signals.go
index c0c974f21df..0441f8f5950 100644
--- a/signals.go
+++ b/signals.go
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ func serverSignalHandler(listener net.Listener, statusListener net.Listener, sto
 			switch sig {
 			case syscall.SIGTERM:
 				logger.Printf("received SIGTERM, stopping listener")
-				time.AfterFunc(5*time.Minute, func() {
+				time.AfterFunc(*shutdownTimeout, func() {
 					logger.Printf("graceful shutdown timeout: exiting")
 					exitFunc(1)
 				})
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ func clientSignalHandler(listener net.Listener, reloadClient chan bool, stopper
 			switch sig {
 			case syscall.SIGTERM:
 				logger.Printf("received SIGTERM, stopping listener")
-				time.AfterFunc(5*time.Minute, func() {
+				time.AfterFunc(*shutdownTimeout, func() {
 					logger.Printf("graceful shutdown timeout: exiting")
 					exitFunc(1)
 				})