diff --git a/hbase-mapreduce/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/PerformanceEvaluation.java b/hbase-mapreduce/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/PerformanceEvaluation.java
index 5f43b073480d..1c5553b3d07e 100644
--- a/hbase-mapreduce/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/PerformanceEvaluation.java
+++ b/hbase-mapreduce/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/PerformanceEvaluation.java
@@ -415,6 +415,7 @@ protected static TableDescriptor getTableDescriptor(TestOptions opts) {
         ColumnFamilyDescriptorBuilder.newBuilder(familyName);
       cfBuilder.setDataBlockEncoding(opts.blockEncoding);
       cfBuilder.setCompressionType(opts.compression);
+      cfBuilder.setEncryptionType(opts.encryption);
       cfBuilder.setBloomFilterType(opts.bloomType);
       cfBuilder.setBlocksize(opts.blockSize);
       if (opts.inMemoryCF) {
@@ -707,6 +708,7 @@ static class TestOptions {
     int replicas = TableDescriptorBuilder.DEFAULT_REGION_REPLICATION;
     String splitPolicy = null;
     Compression.Algorithm compression = Compression.Algorithm.NONE;
+    String encryption = null;
     BloomType bloomType = BloomType.ROW;
     int blockSize = HConstants.DEFAULT_BLOCKSIZE;
     DataBlockEncoding blockEncoding = DataBlockEncoding.NONE;
@@ -762,6 +764,7 @@ public TestOptions(TestOptions that) {
       this.replicas = that.replicas;
       this.splitPolicy = that.splitPolicy;
       this.compression = that.compression;
+      this.encryption = that.encryption;
       this.blockEncoding = that.blockEncoding;
       this.filterAll = that.filterAll;
       this.bloomType = that.bloomType;
@@ -951,6 +954,10 @@ public void setCompression(Compression.Algorithm compression) {
       this.compression = compression;
     }
 
+    public void setEncryption(String encryption) {
+      this.encryption = encryption;
+    }
+
     public void setBloomType(BloomType bloomType) {
       this.bloomType = bloomType;
     }
@@ -1063,6 +1070,10 @@ public Compression.Algorithm getCompression() {
       return compression;
     }
 
+    public String getEncryption() {
+      return encryption;
+    }
+
     public DataBlockEncoding getBlockEncoding() {
       return blockEncoding;
     }
@@ -2617,6 +2628,7 @@ protected static void printUsage(final String shortName, final String message) {
         + " use size to specify the end range and --rows"
         + " specifies the number of rows within that range. " + "Default: 1.0.");
     System.err.println(" compress        Compression type to use (GZ, LZO, ...). Default: 'NONE'");
+    System.err.println(" encryption      Encryption type to use (AES, ...). Default: 'NONE'");
     System.err.println(
       " flushCommits    Used to determine if the test should flush the table. " + "Default: false");
     System.err.println(" valueZipf       Set if we should vary value size between 0 and "
@@ -2742,6 +2754,12 @@ static TestOptions parseOpts(Queue<String> args) {
         continue;
       }
 
+      final String encryption = "--encryption=";
+      if (cmd.startsWith(encryption)) {
+        opts.encryption = cmd.substring(encryption.length());
+        continue;
+      }
+
       final String traceRate = "--traceRate=";
       if (cmd.startsWith(traceRate)) {
         opts.traceRate = Double.parseDouble(cmd.substring(traceRate.length()));