diff --git a/src/server/dfly_bench.cc b/src/server/dfly_bench.cc
index 6102e8295..f91ec7a0f 100644
--- a/src/server/dfly_bench.cc
+++ b/src/server/dfly_bench.cc
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ ABSL_FLAG(bool, ascii, true, "If true, use ascii characters for values");
 ABSL_FLAG(bool, connect_only, false,
           "If true, will only connect to the server, without sending "
           "loadtest commands");
+ABSL_FLAG(string, password, "", "password to authenticate the client");
 
 using namespace std;
 using namespace util;
@@ -423,6 +424,7 @@ class Driver {
   void ReceiveFb();
   void ParseRESP();
   void ParseMC();
+  void RunCommandAndCheckResultIs(std::string_view cmd, std::string_view expected_res);
 
   struct Req {
     uint64_t start;
@@ -588,6 +590,16 @@ void KeyGenerator::EnableClusterMode() {
     ++i;
   }
 }
+void Driver::RunCommandAndCheckResultIs(std::string_view cmd, std::string_view expected_res) {
+  auto ec = socket_->Write(io::Buffer(cmd));
+  CHECK(!ec);
+
+  uint8_t buf[128];
+  auto res_sz = socket_->Recv(io::MutableBytes(buf));
+  CHECK(res_sz) << res_sz.error().message();
+  string_view resp = io::View(io::Bytes(buf, *res_sz));
+  CHECK_EQ(resp, expected_res) << resp;
+}
 
 void Driver::Connect(unsigned index, const tcp::endpoint& ep) {
   VLOG(2) << "Connecting " << index << " to " << ep;
@@ -598,18 +610,15 @@ void Driver::Connect(unsigned index, const tcp::endpoint& ep) {
     CHECK_EQ(0, setsockopt(socket_->native_handle(), IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_NODELAY, &yes, sizeof(yes)));
   }
 
-  if (absl::GetFlag(FLAGS_greet)) {
+  auto password = absl::GetFlag(FLAGS_password);
+  if (!password.empty()) {
+    auto command = absl::StrCat("AUTH ", password, "\r\n");
+    RunCommandAndCheckResultIs(command, "+OK\r\n");
+  } else if (absl::GetFlag(FLAGS_greet)) {
     // TCP Connect does not ensure that the connection was indeed accepted by the server.
     // if server backlog is too short the connection will get stuck in the accept queue.
     // Therefore, we send a ping command to ensure that every connection got connected.
-    ec = socket_->Write(io::Buffer("ping\r\n"));
-    CHECK(!ec);
-
-    uint8_t buf[128];
-    auto res_sz = socket_->Recv(io::MutableBytes(buf));
-    CHECK(res_sz) << res_sz.error().message();
-    string_view resp = io::View(io::Bytes(buf, *res_sz));
-    CHECK(absl::EndsWith(resp, "\r\n")) << resp;
+    RunCommandAndCheckResultIs("PING\r\n", "+PONG\r\n");
   }
   ep_ = ep;
   receive_fb_ = MakeFiber(fb2::Launch::dispatch, [this] { ReceiveFb(); });