diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3e70b51be..b552f7677 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -47,3 +47,4 @@ If you find this module useful, send some bitcoins to 1Na3YFUmdxKxJLiuRXQYJU2kiN
 * $install_dev = false (TRUE if 'libmemcached-dev' package should be installed)
 * $processorcount = $::processorcount
 * $service_restart = true (restart service after configuration changes, false to prevent restarts)
+* $use_sasl = false (start memcached with SASL support)
diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index 0a28d845e..06f1ab4fb 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ require 'rubygems'
 require 'puppetlabs_spec_helper/rake_tasks'
 require 'puppet-lint/tasks/puppet-lint'
 PuppetLint.configuration.send('disable_80chars')
+PuppetLint.configuration.relative = true
 PuppetLint.configuration.ignore_paths = ["spec/**/*.pp", "pkg/**/*.pp"]
 
 desc "Run puppet in noop mode and check for syntax errors."
diff --git a/manifests/init.pp b/manifests/init.pp
index 0b6077ae7..19f825f31 100644
--- a/manifests/init.pp
+++ b/manifests/init.pp
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@
   $install_dev     = false,
   $processorcount  = $::processorcount,
   $service_restart = true,
-  $auto_removal    = false
+  $auto_removal    = false,
+  $use_sasl        = false
 ) inherits memcached::params {
 
   # validate type and convert string to boolean if necessary
diff --git a/spec/classes/memcached_spec.rb b/spec/classes/memcached_spec.rb
index 0bf5968b7..b40599f5d 100644
--- a/spec/classes/memcached_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/classes/memcached_spec.rb
@@ -59,7 +59,8 @@
       :user            => 'nobody',
       :max_connections => '8192',
       :install_dev     => false,
-      :processorcount  => 1
+      :processorcount  => 1,
+      :use_sasl        => false
     }
   end
 
@@ -76,7 +77,8 @@
       :user            => 'somebdy',
       :max_connections => '8193',
       :verbosity       => 'vvv',
-      :processorcount  => 3
+      :processorcount  => 3,
+      :use_sasl        => true
     },
     {
       :package_ensure  => 'present',
@@ -184,6 +186,9 @@
             if(param_hash[:verbosity])
               expected_lines.push("-vvv")
             end
+            if(param_hash[:use_sasl])
+              expected_lines.push("-S")
+            end
             (content.split("\n") & expected_lines).should =~ expected_lines
           end
         end
diff --git a/templates/memcached.conf.erb b/templates/memcached.conf.erb
index b0d65c5d7..ede73d064 100644
--- a/templates/memcached.conf.erb
+++ b/templates/memcached.conf.erb
@@ -23,6 +23,11 @@ logfile <%= @logfile -%>
 -k
 <% end -%>
 
+<% if @use_sasl -%>
+# Start with SASL support
+-S
+<% end -%>
+
 <% if @unix_socket -%>
 # UNIX socket path to listen on
 -s <%= @unix_socket %>