diff --git a/share/man/man4/nvmf.4 b/share/man/man4/nvmf.4
--- a/share/man/man4/nvmf.4
+++ b/share/man/man4/nvmf.4
@@ -65,6 +65,23 @@
 Associations require a supported transport such as
 .Xr nvmf_tcp 4
 for associations using TCP/IP.
+.Sh SYSCTL VARIABLES
+The following variables are available as both
+.Xr sysctl 8
+variables and
+.Xr loader 8
+tunables:
+.Bl -tag -width indent
+.It Va kern.nvmf.fail_on_disconnection
+Determines the behavior when an association's connection is interrupted.
+By default, input/output operations are suspended while a host is disconnected.
+This includes operations pending at the time the association's connection was
+interrupted as well as new requests submitted while the host is disconnected.
+Once a new association is established, suspended I/O requests are retried.
+When set to 1, input/output operations fail with
+.Er EIO
+while a host is disconnected.
+.El
 .Sh SEE ALSO
 .Xr nda 4 ,
 .Xr nvme 4 ,
diff --git a/sys/dev/nvmf/host/nvmf.c b/sys/dev/nvmf/host/nvmf.c
--- a/sys/dev/nvmf/host/nvmf.c
+++ b/sys/dev/nvmf/host/nvmf.c
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 #include <sys/module.h>
 #include <sys/mutex.h>
 #include <sys/sx.h>
+#include <sys/sysctl.h>
 #include <sys/taskqueue.h>
 #include <dev/nvme/nvme.h>
 #include <dev/nvmf/nvmf.h>
@@ -23,6 +24,10 @@
 
 static struct cdevsw nvmf_cdevsw;
 
+bool nvmf_fail_disconnect = false;
+SYSCTL_BOOL(_kern_nvmf, OID_AUTO, fail_on_disconnection, CTLFLAG_RWTUN,
+    &nvmf_fail_disconnect, 0, "Fail I/O requests on connection failure");
+
 MALLOC_DEFINE(M_NVMF, "nvmf", "NVMe over Fabrics host");
 
 static void	nvmf_disconnect_task(void *arg, int pending);
diff --git a/sys/dev/nvmf/host/nvmf_ns.c b/sys/dev/nvmf/host/nvmf_ns.c
--- a/sys/dev/nvmf/host/nvmf_ns.c
+++ b/sys/dev/nvmf/host/nvmf_ns.c
@@ -84,13 +84,22 @@
 	ns = bio->bio_dev->si_drv1;
 
 	/* If a request is aborted, resubmit or queue it for resubmission. */
-	if (bio->bio_error == ECONNABORTED) {
+	if (bio->bio_error == ECONNABORTED && !nvmf_fail_disconnect) {
 		bio->bio_error = 0;
 		bio->bio_driver2 = 0;
 		mtx_lock(&ns->lock);
 		if (ns->disconnected) {
-			TAILQ_INSERT_TAIL(&ns->pending_bios, bio, bio_queue);
-			mtx_unlock(&ns->lock);
+			if (nvmf_fail_disconnect) {
+				mtx_unlock(&ns->lock);
+				bio->bio_error = ECONNABORTED;
+				bio->bio_flags |= BIO_ERROR;
+				bio->bio_resid = bio->bio_bcount;
+				biodone(bio);
+			} else {
+				TAILQ_INSERT_TAIL(&ns->pending_bios, bio,
+				    bio_queue);
+				mtx_unlock(&ns->lock);
+			}
 		} else {
 			mtx_unlock(&ns->lock);
 			nvmf_ns_strategy(bio);
@@ -163,6 +172,7 @@
 	struct nvme_dsm_range *dsm_range;
 	struct memdesc mem;
 	uint64_t lba, lba_count;
+	int error;
 
 	dsm_range = NULL;
 	memset(&cmd, 0, sizeof(cmd));
@@ -201,10 +211,15 @@
 
 	mtx_lock(&ns->lock);
 	if (ns->disconnected) {
-		TAILQ_INSERT_TAIL(&ns->pending_bios, bio, bio_queue);
+		if (nvmf_fail_disconnect) {
+			error = ECONNABORTED;
+		} else {
+			TAILQ_INSERT_TAIL(&ns->pending_bios, bio, bio_queue);
+			error = 0;
+		}
 		mtx_unlock(&ns->lock);
 		free(dsm_range, M_NVMF);
-		return (0);
+		return (error);
 	}
 
 	req = nvmf_allocate_request(nvmf_select_io_queue(ns->sc), &cmd,
diff --git a/sys/dev/nvmf/host/nvmf_sim.c b/sys/dev/nvmf/host/nvmf_sim.c
--- a/sys/dev/nvmf/host/nvmf_sim.c
+++ b/sys/dev/nvmf/host/nvmf_sim.c
@@ -40,7 +40,10 @@
 		return;
 
 	if (nvmf_cqe_aborted(&ccb->nvmeio.cpl)) {
-		ccb->ccb_h.status = CAM_REQUEUE_REQ;
+		if (nvmf_fail_disconnect)
+			ccb->ccb_h.status = CAM_DEV_NOT_THERE;
+		else
+			ccb->ccb_h.status = CAM_REQUEUE_REQ;
 		xpt_done(ccb);
 	} else if (ccb->nvmeio.cpl.status != 0) {
 		ccb->ccb_h.status = CAM_NVME_STATUS_ERROR;
@@ -106,7 +109,10 @@
 	mtx_lock(&sc->sim_mtx);
 	if (sc->sim_disconnected) {
 		mtx_unlock(&sc->sim_mtx);
-		nvmeio->ccb_h.status = CAM_REQUEUE_REQ;
+		if (nvmf_fail_disconnect)
+			nvmeio->ccb_h.status = CAM_DEV_NOT_THERE;
+		else
+			nvmeio->ccb_h.status = CAM_REQUEUE_REQ;
 		xpt_done(ccb);
 		return;
 	}
diff --git a/sys/dev/nvmf/host/nvmf_var.h b/sys/dev/nvmf/host/nvmf_var.h
--- a/sys/dev/nvmf/host/nvmf_var.h
+++ b/sys/dev/nvmf/host/nvmf_var.h
@@ -140,6 +140,9 @@
 MALLOC_DECLARE(M_NVMF);
 #endif
 
+/* If true, I/O requests will fail while the host is disconnected. */
+extern bool nvmf_fail_disconnect;
+
 /* nvmf.c */
 void	nvmf_complete(void *arg, const struct nvme_completion *cqe);
 void	nvmf_io_complete(void *arg, size_t xfered, int error);