diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ec64cab2a23..2f6e04b61f0 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -163,6 +163,8 @@ The following settings are supported:
 
 * `bucket`: The name of the bucket to be used for snapshots. (Mandatory)
 * `region`: The region where bucket is located. Defaults to US Standard
+* `endpoint`: The endpoint to the S3 API. Defaults to AWS's default S3 endpoint. Note that setting a region overrides the endpoint setting.
+* `protocol`: The protocol to use (`http` or `https`). Defaults to `https`.
 * `base_path`: Specifies the path within bucket to repository data. Defaults to root directory.
 * `access_key`: The access key to use for authentication. Defaults to value of `cloud.aws.access_key`.
 * `secret_key`: The secret key to use for authentication. Defaults to value of `cloud.aws.secret_key`.
@@ -289,10 +291,16 @@ repositories:
         remote-bucket:
             bucket: <bucket in other region>
             region: <region>
+	external-bucket:
+	    bucket: <bucket>
+	    access_key: <access key>
+	    secret_key: <secret key>
+	    endpoint: <endpoint>
+	    protocol: <protocol>
 
 ```
 
-Replace all occurrences of `access_key`, `secret_key`, `bucket` and `region` with your settings. Please, note that the test will delete all snapshot/restore related files in the specified buckets.
+Replace all occurrences of `access_key`, `secret_key`, `endpoint`, `protocol`, `bucket` and `region` with your settings. Please, note that the test will delete all snapshot/restore related files in the specified buckets.
 
 To run test:
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/aws/AwsS3Service.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/aws/AwsS3Service.java
index fb01a0b9705..e5db2ed7357 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/aws/AwsS3Service.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/aws/AwsS3Service.java
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.component.LifecycleComponent;
 public interface AwsS3Service extends LifecycleComponent<AwsS3Service> {
     AmazonS3 client();
 
-    AmazonS3 client(String region, String account, String key);
+    AmazonS3 client(String endpoint, String protocol, String region, String account, String key);
 
-    AmazonS3 client(String region, String account, String key, Integer maxRetries);
+    AmazonS3 client(String endpoint, String protocol, String region, String account, String key, Integer maxRetries);
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/aws/InternalAwsS3Service.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/aws/InternalAwsS3Service.java
index a5828e40e0a..076c0f308e7 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/aws/InternalAwsS3Service.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/aws/InternalAwsS3Service.java
@@ -60,33 +60,32 @@ public class InternalAwsS3Service extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<AwsS3Servic
         String account = componentSettings.get("access_key", settings.get("cloud.account"));
         String key = componentSettings.get("secret_key", settings.get("cloud.key"));
 
-        return getClient(endpoint, account, key, null);
+        return getClient(endpoint, "https", account, key, null);
     }
 
     @Override
-    public AmazonS3 client(String region, String account, String key) {
-        return client(region, account, key, null);
+    public AmazonS3 client(String endpoint, String protocol, String region, String account, String key) {
+        return client(endpoint, protocol, region, account, key, null);
     }
 
     @Override
-    public synchronized AmazonS3 client(String region, String account, String key, Integer maxRetries) {
-        String endpoint;
-        if (region == null) {
-            endpoint = getDefaultEndpoint();
-        } else {
+    public synchronized AmazonS3 client(String endpoint, String protocol, String region, String account, String key, Integer maxRetries) {
+        if (region != null && endpoint == null) {
             endpoint = getEndpoint(region);
             logger.debug("using s3 region [{}], with endpoint [{}]", region, endpoint);
+        } else if (endpoint == null) {
+            endpoint = getDefaultEndpoint();
         }
         if (account == null || key == null) {
             account = componentSettings.get("access_key", settings.get("cloud.account"));
             key = componentSettings.get("secret_key", settings.get("cloud.key"));
         }
 
-        return getClient(endpoint, account, key, maxRetries);
+        return getClient(endpoint, protocol, account, key, maxRetries);
     }
 
 
-    private synchronized AmazonS3 getClient(String endpoint, String account, String key, Integer maxRetries) {
+    private synchronized AmazonS3 getClient(String endpoint, String protocol, String account, String key, Integer maxRetries) {
         Tuple<String, String> clientDescriptor = new Tuple<String, String>(endpoint, account);
         AmazonS3Client client = clients.get(clientDescriptor);
         if (client != null) {
@@ -94,8 +93,10 @@ public class InternalAwsS3Service extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<AwsS3Servic
         }
 
         ClientConfiguration clientConfiguration = new ClientConfiguration();
-        String protocol = componentSettings.get("protocol", "https").toLowerCase();
-        protocol = componentSettings.get("s3.protocol", protocol).toLowerCase();
+        if (protocol == null) {
+            protocol = "https";
+        }
+
         if ("http".equals(protocol)) {
             clientConfiguration.setProtocol(Protocol.HTTP);
         } else if ("https".equals(protocol)) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/s3/S3Repository.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/s3/S3Repository.java
index f4bcd5bcec5..4a4daef1da9 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/s3/S3Repository.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/s3/S3Repository.java
@@ -79,6 +79,11 @@ public class S3Repository extends BlobStoreRepository {
             throw new RepositoryException(name.name(), "No bucket defined for s3 gateway");
         }
 
+        String endpoint = repositorySettings.settings().get("endpoint", componentSettings.get("endpoint"));
+        String protocol = componentSettings.get("protocol", "https").toLowerCase();
+        protocol = componentSettings.get("s3.protocol", protocol).toLowerCase();
+        protocol = repositorySettings.settings().get("protocol", protocol);
+
         String region = repositorySettings.settings().get("region", componentSettings.get("region"));
         if (region == null) {
             // Bucket setting is not set - use global region setting
@@ -124,10 +129,10 @@ public class S3Repository extends BlobStoreRepository {
         this.chunkSize = repositorySettings.settings().getAsBytesSize("chunk_size", componentSettings.getAsBytesSize("chunk_size", new ByteSizeValue(100, ByteSizeUnit.MB)));
         this.compress = repositorySettings.settings().getAsBoolean("compress", componentSettings.getAsBoolean("compress", false));
 
-        logger.debug("using bucket [{}], region [{}], chunk_size [{}], server_side_encryption [{}], buffer_size [{}], max_retries [{}]",
-                bucket, region, chunkSize, serverSideEncryption, bufferSize, maxRetries);
+        logger.debug("using bucket [{}], region [{}], endpoint [{}], protocol [{}], chunk_size [{}], server_side_encryption [{}], buffer_size [{}], max_retries [{}]",
+                bucket, region, endpoint, protocol, chunkSize, serverSideEncryption, bufferSize, maxRetries);
 
-        blobStore = new S3BlobStore(settings, s3Service.client(region, repositorySettings.settings().get("access_key"), repositorySettings.settings().get("secret_key"), maxRetries), bucket, region, serverSideEncryption, bufferSize, maxRetries);
+        blobStore = new S3BlobStore(settings, s3Service.client(endpoint, protocol, region, repositorySettings.settings().get("access_key"), repositorySettings.settings().get("secret_key"), maxRetries), bucket, region, serverSideEncryption, bufferSize, maxRetries);
         String basePath = repositorySettings.settings().get("base_path", null);
         if (Strings.hasLength(basePath)) {
             BlobPath path = new BlobPath();
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/aws/TestAwsS3Service.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/aws/TestAwsS3Service.java
index 8c4707b806c..b8c9b2ee69d 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/aws/TestAwsS3Service.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/aws/TestAwsS3Service.java
@@ -45,13 +45,13 @@ public class TestAwsS3Service extends InternalAwsS3Service {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public synchronized AmazonS3 client(String region, String account, String key) {
-        return cachedWrapper(super.client(region, account, key));
+    public synchronized AmazonS3 client(String endpoint, String protocol, String region, String account, String key) {
+        return cachedWrapper(super.client(endpoint, protocol, region, account, key));
     }
 
     @Override
-    public synchronized AmazonS3 client(String region, String account, String key, Integer maxRetries) {
-        return cachedWrapper(super.client(region, account, key, maxRetries));
+    public synchronized AmazonS3 client(String endpoint, String protocol, String region, String account, String key, Integer maxRetries) {
+        return cachedWrapper(super.client(endpoint, protocol, region, account, key, maxRetries));
     }
 
     private AmazonS3 cachedWrapper(AmazonS3 client) {
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/s3/AbstractS3SnapshotRestoreTest.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/s3/AbstractS3SnapshotRestoreTest.java
index b2e59c8b123..42777c8ff41 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/s3/AbstractS3SnapshotRestoreTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/s3/AbstractS3SnapshotRestoreTest.java
@@ -192,6 +192,8 @@ abstract public class AbstractS3SnapshotRestoreTest extends AbstractAwsTest {
 	Settings settings = internalCluster().getInstance(Settings.class);
 	Settings bucket = settings.getByPrefix("repositories.s3.");
 	AmazonS3 s3Client = internalCluster().getInstance(AwsS3Service.class).client(
+		bucket.get("endpoint", settings.get("repositories.s3.endpoint")),
+		bucket.get("protocol", settings.get("repositories.s3.protocol")),
 		bucket.get("region", settings.get("repositories.s3.region")),
 		bucket.get("access_key", settings.get("cloud.aws.access_key")),
 		bucket.get("secret_key", settings.get("cloud.aws.secret_key")));
@@ -278,6 +280,22 @@ abstract public class AbstractS3SnapshotRestoreTest extends AbstractAwsTest {
         assertRepositoryIsOperational(client, "test-repo");
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testRepositoryWithCustomEndpointProtocol() {
+        Client client = client();
+        Settings bucketSettings = internalCluster().getInstance(Settings.class).getByPrefix("repositories.s3.external-bucket.");
+        logger.info("--> creating s3 repostoriy with endpoint [{}], bucket[{}] and path [{}]", bucketSettings.get("endpoint"), bucketSettings.get("bucket"), basePath);
+        PutRepositoryResponse putRepositoryResponse = client.admin().cluster().preparePutRepository("test-repo")
+                .setType("s3").setSettings(ImmutableSettings.settingsBuilder()
+                        .put("protocol", bucketSettings.get("protocol"))
+                        .put("endpoint", bucketSettings.get("endpoint"))
+                        .put("access_key", bucketSettings.get("access_key"))
+                        .put("secret_key", bucketSettings.get("secret_key"))
+                ).get();
+        assertThat(putRepositoryResponse.isAcknowledged(), equalTo(true));
+        assertRepositoryIsOperational(client, "test-repo");
+    }
+
     /**
      * This test verifies that the test configuration is set up in a manner that
      * does not make the test {@link #testRepositoryInRemoteRegion()} pointless.
@@ -430,6 +448,8 @@ abstract public class AbstractS3SnapshotRestoreTest extends AbstractAwsTest {
                 settings.getByPrefix("repositories.s3.remote-bucket.")
             };
         for (Settings bucket : buckets) {
+            String endpoint = bucket.get("endpoint", settings.get("repositories.s3.endpoint"));
+            String protocol = bucket.get("protocol", settings.get("repositories.s3.protocol"));
             String region = bucket.get("region", settings.get("repositories.s3.region"));
             String accessKey = bucket.get("access_key", settings.get("cloud.aws.access_key"));
             String secretKey = bucket.get("secret_key", settings.get("cloud.aws.secret_key"));
@@ -438,7 +458,7 @@ abstract public class AbstractS3SnapshotRestoreTest extends AbstractAwsTest {
             // We check that settings has been set in elasticsearch.yml integration test file
             // as described in README
             assertThat("Your settings in elasticsearch.yml are incorrects. Check README file.", bucketName, notNullValue());
-            AmazonS3 client = internalCluster().getInstance(AwsS3Service.class).client(region, accessKey, secretKey);
+            AmazonS3 client = internalCluster().getInstance(AwsS3Service.class).client(endpoint, protocol, region, accessKey, secretKey);
             try {
                 ObjectListing prevListing = null;
                 //From http://docs.amazonwebservices.com/AmazonS3/latest/dev/DeletingMultipleObjectsUsingJava.html