diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2f6e04b61f0..f4b0cbd0971 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ 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`.
+* `protocol`: The protocol to use (`http` or `https`). Defaults to value of `cloud.aws.protocol` or `cloud.aws.s3.protocol`.
 * `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`.
@@ -266,8 +266,10 @@ The bucket needs to exist to register a repository for snapshots. If you did not
 
 ### Using other S3 endpoint
 
-If you are using any S3 api compatible service, you can set the endpoint you want to use by setting `cloud.aws.s3.endpoint`
-to your URL provider.
+If you are using any S3 api compatible service, you can set a global endpoint by setting `cloud.aws.s3.endpoint`
+to your URL provider. Note that this setting will be used for all S3 repositories.
+
+Different `endpoint`, `region` and `protocol` settings can be set on a per-repository basis (see [S3 Repository](#s3-repository) section for detail).
 
 
 ## Testing
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/aws/InternalAwsS3Service.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/aws/InternalAwsS3Service.java
index 076c0f308e7..e2f9d17eb70 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/aws/InternalAwsS3Service.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/aws/InternalAwsS3Service.java
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ 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, "https", account, key, null);
+        return getClient(endpoint, null, account, key, null);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -94,7 +94,8 @@ public class InternalAwsS3Service extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<AwsS3Servic
 
         ClientConfiguration clientConfiguration = new ClientConfiguration();
         if (protocol == null) {
-            protocol = "https";
+            protocol = componentSettings.get("protocol", "https").toLowerCase();
+            protocol = componentSettings.get("s3.protocol", protocol).toLowerCase();
         }
 
         if ("http".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 4a4daef1da9..7632576d36b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/s3/S3Repository.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/s3/S3Repository.java
@@ -80,9 +80,7 @@ public class S3Repository extends BlobStoreRepository {
         }
 
         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 protocol = repositorySettings.settings().get("protocol", componentSettings.get("protocol"));
 
         String region = repositorySettings.settings().get("region", componentSettings.get("region"));
         if (region == null) {
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/s3/AbstractS3SnapshotRestoreTest.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/s3/AbstractS3SnapshotRestoreTest.java
index 42777c8ff41..eeca09ed2f8 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/s3/AbstractS3SnapshotRestoreTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/s3/AbstractS3SnapshotRestoreTest.java
@@ -287,10 +287,11 @@ abstract public class AbstractS3SnapshotRestoreTest extends AbstractAwsTest {
         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("bucket", bucketSettings.get("bucket"))
                         .put("endpoint", bucketSettings.get("endpoint"))
                         .put("access_key", bucketSettings.get("access_key"))
                         .put("secret_key", bucketSettings.get("secret_key"))
+                        .put("base_path", basePath)
                 ).get();
         assertThat(putRepositoryResponse.isAcknowledged(), equalTo(true));
         assertRepositoryIsOperational(client, "test-repo");
@@ -445,7 +446,8 @@ abstract public class AbstractS3SnapshotRestoreTest extends AbstractAwsTest {
         Settings[] buckets = {
                 settings.getByPrefix("repositories.s3."),
                 settings.getByPrefix("repositories.s3.private-bucket."),
-                settings.getByPrefix("repositories.s3.remote-bucket.")
+                settings.getByPrefix("repositories.s3.remote-bucket."),
+                settings.getByPrefix("repositories.s3.external-bucket.")
             };
         for (Settings bucket : buckets) {
             String endpoint = bucket.get("endpoint", settings.get("repositories.s3.endpoint"));