diff --git a/circle.yml b/circle.yml
index b179490d42436c..41ade32ca90f94 100644
--- a/circle.yml
+++ b/circle.yml
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ machine:
     CROSS_COMPILE: $(case $CIRCLE_NODE_INDEX in 0) host='' ;; 1) host='i686-w64-mingw32-' ;; 2) host='arm-linux-androideabi-' ;; esac; echo $host)
     MKARG: $(case $CIRCLE_NODE_INDEX in 0) mkarg='dpdk=yes' ;; 1) host='i686-w64-mingw32-' ;; 2) host='arm-linux-androideabi-' ;; esac; echo $mkarg)
     PATH: /home/ubuntu/android-toolchain/bin:${PATH}
+    LKL_TEST_DHCP: 1
 
 ## Customize dependencies
 dependencies:
diff --git a/tools/lkl/scripts/lkl-jenkins.sh b/tools/lkl/scripts/lkl-jenkins.sh
index d6d67632f54434..861377f9e28398 100755
--- a/tools/lkl/scripts/lkl-jenkins.sh
+++ b/tools/lkl/scripts/lkl-jenkins.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 set -ex
 
+export LKL_TEST_DHCP=1
+
 make mrproper
 cd tools/lkl
 make -j4
diff --git a/tools/lkl/tests/net.sh b/tools/lkl/tests/net.sh
index 9300360582732d..83e14187291e07 100755
--- a/tools/lkl/tests/net.sh
+++ b/tools/lkl/tests/net.sh
@@ -40,6 +40,9 @@ elif ping -c1 -w1 8.8.8.8 &>/dev/null; then
     DST=8.8.8.8
 fi
 
+if [ -z $LKL_TEST_DHCP ] ; then
+    echo "\$LKL_TEST_DHCP is not configured. skipped dhcp client test"
+else
 if ! [ -z $DST ]; then
     echo "== RAW socket (LKL net) tests =="
     sudo ip link set dev ${IFNAME} promisc on
@@ -54,6 +57,7 @@ if ! [ -z $DST ]; then
 	./net-test macvtap `ls /dev/tap*` $DST dhcp
     fi
 fi
+fi
 
 # we disabled this DPDK test because it's unlikely possible to describe
 # a generic set of commands for all environments to test with DPDK.  users