diff --git a/ompi/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib.c b/ompi/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib.c
index 81b3f324fe..d7606b8843 100644
--- a/ompi/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib.c
+++ b/ompi/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib.c
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 #endif
 #include "orte/util/show_help.h"
 #include "orte/runtime/orte_globals.h"
+#include "orte/mca/errmgr/base/base.h"
 #include "opal/class/opal_bitmap.h"
 #include "opal/util/output.h"
 #include "opal/util/arch.h"
@@ -650,18 +651,32 @@ static uint64_t calculate_max_reg (void)
 
         max_reg = (num_mtt - reserved_mtt) * getpagesize () * mtts_per_seg;
     } else {
-        /* need to update to determine the registration limit for this configuration */
+        /* Need to update to determine the registration limit for this
+           configuration */
         max_reg = mem_total;
     }
 
-    /* NTH: print a warning if we can't register more than 75% of physical memory */
+    /* Print a warning if we can't register more than 75% of physical
+       memory.  Abort if the abort_not_enough_reg_mem MCA param was
+       set. */
     if (max_reg < mem_total * 3 / 4) {
+        char *action;
+
+        if (mca_btl_openib_component.abort_not_enough_reg_mem) {
+            action = "Your MPI job will now abort.";
+        } else {
+            action = "Your MPI job will continue, but may be behave poorly and/or hang.";
+        }
         orte_show_help("help-mpi-btl-openib.txt", "reg mem limit low", true,
                        orte_process_info.nodename, (unsigned long)(max_reg >> 20),
-                       (unsigned long)(mem_total >> 20));
+                       (unsigned long)(mem_total >> 20), action);
+        if (mca_btl_openib_component.abort_not_enough_reg_mem) {
+            orte_errmgr.abort(1, NULL);
+        }
     }
 
-    /* limit us to 87.5% of the registered memory (some fluff for QPs, file systems, etc) */
+    /* Limit us to 87.5% of the registered memory (some fluff for QPs,
+       file systems, etc) */
     return (max_reg * 7) >> 3;
 }
 
diff --git a/ompi/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib.h b/ompi/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib.h
index d2ca387d10..baa5ecf87c 100644
--- a/ompi/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib.h
+++ b/ompi/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib.h
@@ -267,6 +267,10 @@ struct mca_btl_openib_component_t {
     /** Whether we want a warning if the user specifies a non-existent
         device and/or port via btl_openib_if_[in|ex]clude MCA params */
     bool warn_nonexistent_if;
+    /** Whether we want to abort if there's not enough registered
+        memory available */
+    bool abort_not_enough_reg_mem;
+
     /** Dummy argv-style list; a copy of names from the
         if_[in|ex]clude list that we use for error checking (to ensure
         that they all exist) */
diff --git a/ompi/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib_mca.c b/ompi/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib_mca.c
index f84b41c105..8c10aba39e 100644
--- a/ompi/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib_mca.c
+++ b/ompi/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib_mca.c
@@ -166,6 +166,14 @@ int btl_openib_register_mca_params(void)
                   1, &ival, 0));
     mca_btl_openib_component.warn_nonexistent_if = (0 != ival);
 
+    /* If we print a warning about not having enough registered memory
+       available, do we want to abort? */
+    CHECK(reg_int("abort_not_enough_reg_mem", NULL,
+                  "If there is not enough registered memory available on the system for Open MPI to function properly, Open MPI will issue a warning.  If this MCA parameter is set to true, then Open MPI will also abort all MPI jobs "
+                  "(0 = warn, but do not abort; any other value = warn and abort)",
+                  0, &ival, 0));
+    mca_btl_openib_component.abort_not_enough_reg_mem = (0 != ival);
+
     if (OMPI_HAVE_IBV_FORK_INIT) {
         ival2 = -1;
     } else {
diff --git a/ompi/mca/btl/openib/help-mpi-btl-openib.txt b/ompi/mca/btl/openib/help-mpi-btl-openib.txt
index db137ab084..5245b2b859 100644
--- a/ompi/mca/btl/openib/help-mpi-btl-openib.txt
+++ b/ompi/mca/btl/openib/help-mpi-btl-openib.txt
@@ -708,3 +708,5 @@ parameters:
   Local host:              %s
   Registerable memory:     %lu MiB
   Total memory:            %lu MiB
+
+%s