diff --git a/aodh/api/__init__.py b/aodh/api/__init__.py
index 115f2551..36e0b0dd 100644
--- a/aodh/api/__init__.py
+++ b/aodh/api/__init__.py
@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@ OPTS = [
     cfg.StrOpt('paste_config',
                default="api_paste.ini",
                help="Configuration file for WSGI definition of API."),
+    cfg.StrOpt(
+        'auth_mode',
+        default="keystone",
+        help="Authentication mode to use. Unset to disable authentication"),
     cfg.BoolOpt('enable_combination_alarms',
                 default=False,
                 help="Enable deprecated combination alarms.",
diff --git a/aodh/api/app.py b/aodh/api/app.py
index 4dda7f97..71bf89ae 100644
--- a/aodh/api/app.py
+++ b/aodh/api/app.py
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ def setup_app(root, conf):
     )
 
 
-def load_app(conf, appname="aodh+keystone"):
+def load_app(conf):
     global APPCONFIGS
 
     # Build the WSGI app
@@ -71,7 +71,10 @@ def load_app(conf, appname="aodh+keystone"):
 
     LOG.info(_LI("WSGI config used: %s"), cfg_path)
     return deploy.loadapp("config:" + cfg_path,
-                          name=appname,
+                          name="aodh+" + (
+                              conf.api.auth_mode
+                              if conf.api.auth_mode else "noauth"
+                          ),
                           global_conf={'configkey': configkey})
 
 
diff --git a/aodh/tests/functional/api/__init__.py b/aodh/tests/functional/api/__init__.py
index ed38b6ed..09c8b42a 100644
--- a/aodh/tests/functional/api/__init__.py
+++ b/aodh/tests/functional/api/__init__.py
@@ -47,8 +47,8 @@ class FunctionalTest(db_test_base.TestBase):
         self.CONF.set_override('paste_config',
                                os.path.abspath('etc/aodh/api_paste.ini'),
                                group='api', enforce_type=True)
-        self.app = webtest.TestApp(app.load_app(
-            self.CONF, appname='aodh+noauth'))
+        self.CONF.set_override('auth_mode', None, group='api')
+        self.app = webtest.TestApp(app.load_app(self.CONF))
 
     def put_json(self, path, params, expect_errors=False, headers=None,
                  extra_environ=None, status=None):
diff --git a/aodh/tests/functional/api/v2/test_alarm_scenarios.py b/aodh/tests/functional/api/v2/test_alarm_scenarios.py
index 99ca4f4c..8d4c99e8 100644
--- a/aodh/tests/functional/api/v2/test_alarm_scenarios.py
+++ b/aodh/tests/functional/api/v2/test_alarm_scenarios.py
@@ -392,8 +392,8 @@ class TestAlarms(TestAlarmsBase):
         pf = os.path.abspath('aodh/tests/functional/api/v2/policy.json-test')
         self.CONF.set_override('policy_file', pf, group='oslo_policy',
                                enforce_type=True)
-        self.app = webtest.TestApp(app.load_app(
-            self.CONF, appname='aodh+noauth'))
+        self.CONF.set_override('auth_mode', None, group='api')
+        self.app = webtest.TestApp(app.load_app(self.CONF))
 
         response = self.get_json('/alarms',
                                  expect_errors=True,
diff --git a/aodh/tests/functional/gabbi/fixtures.py b/aodh/tests/functional/gabbi/fixtures.py
index 206f6229..4aa7ee74 100644
--- a/aodh/tests/functional/gabbi/fixtures.py
+++ b/aodh/tests/functional/gabbi/fixtures.py
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ class ConfigFixture(fixture.GabbiFixture):
             os.path.abspath('etc/aodh/api_paste.ini'),
             group='api',
         )
+        conf.set_override('auth_mode', None, group='api')
 
         parsed_url = urlparse.urlparse(db_url)
         if parsed_url.scheme != 'sqlite':
@@ -105,7 +106,6 @@ class ConfigFixture(fixture.GabbiFixture):
 
         LOAD_APP_KWARGS = {
             'conf': conf,
-            'appname': 'aodh+noauth',
         }
 
     def stop_fixture(self):