diff --git a/samples/net/mqtt_publisher/Kconfig b/samples/net/mqtt_publisher/Kconfig
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..912987e3ae5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/samples/net/mqtt_publisher/Kconfig
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# Config options for mqtt_publisher sample application
+
+# Copyright (c) 2020 Intel Corporation
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+mainmenu "Networking mqtt_publisher sample application"
+
+config NET_SAMPLE_APP_MAX_ITERATIONS
+	int "Number of times to Publish sample MQTT messages"
+	default 500
+	help
+	  Send sample MQTT messages this many times in a MQTT connection
+	  before exiting. A value of zero means that the messages are sent
+	  forever.
+
+config NET_SAMPLE_APP_MAX_CONNECTIONS
+	int "Number of times to connect to the MQTT server"
+	default 0
+	help
+	  Number of times to connect to the MQTT server. With each connection
+	  send NET_SAMPLE_APP_MAX_ITERATIONS amount of MQTT sample messages.
+	  A value of zero means to continue forever.
+
+source "Kconfig.zephyr"
diff --git a/samples/net/mqtt_publisher/README.rst b/samples/net/mqtt_publisher/README.rst
index dc8e4ea5be5..a789197e93e 100644
--- a/samples/net/mqtt_publisher/README.rst
+++ b/samples/net/mqtt_publisher/README.rst
@@ -63,12 +63,6 @@ Max number of connection tries:
 
 	#define APP_CONNECT_TRIES	10
 
-Max number of MQTT PUBLISH iterations:
-
-.. code-block:: c
-
-	#define APP_MAX_ITERATIONS	5
-
 MQTT Client Identifier:
 
 .. code-block:: c
@@ -93,6 +87,12 @@ following macros to specify those values:
 	#define BLUEMIX_EVENT		"status"
 	#define BLUEMIX_FORMAT		"json"
 
+Max number of MQTT PUBLISH iterations is defined in Kconfig:
+
+.. code-block:: c
+
+	CONFIG_NET_SAMPLE_APP_MAX_ITERATIONS	5
+
 On your Linux host computer, open a terminal window, locate the source code
 of this sample application (i.e., :zephyr_file:`samples/net/mqtt_publisher`) and type:
 
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@ This is the output from the FRDM UART console, with:
 
 .. code-block:: c
 
-	#define APP_MAX_ITERATIONS     5
+	CONFIG_NET_SAMPLE_APP_MAX_ITERATIONS     5
 
 .. code-block:: console
 
diff --git a/samples/net/mqtt_publisher/overlay-sample.conf b/samples/net/mqtt_publisher/overlay-sample.conf
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b1b0d868355
--- /dev/null
+++ b/samples/net/mqtt_publisher/overlay-sample.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# Lower values used for testing
+CONFIG_NET_SAMPLE_APP_MAX_ITERATIONS=3
+CONFIG_NET_SAMPLE_APP_MAX_CONNECTIONS=3
diff --git a/samples/net/mqtt_publisher/src/config.h b/samples/net/mqtt_publisher/src/config.h
index 29134a5b383..eb30398a9cc 100644
--- a/samples/net/mqtt_publisher/src/config.h
+++ b/samples/net/mqtt_publisher/src/config.h
@@ -50,8 +50,6 @@
 
 #define APP_CONNECT_TRIES	10
 
-#define APP_MAX_ITERATIONS	100
-
 #define APP_MQTT_BUFFER_SIZE	128
 
 #define MQTT_CLIENTID		"zephyr_publisher"
diff --git a/samples/net/mqtt_publisher/src/main.c b/samples/net/mqtt_publisher/src/main.c
index ea54b4ef41b..59d5282c596 100644
--- a/samples/net/mqtt_publisher/src/main.c
+++ b/samples/net/mqtt_publisher/src/main.c
@@ -415,12 +415,12 @@ static int process_mqtt_and_sleep(struct mqtt_client *client, int timeout)
 	return 0;
 }
 
-#define SUCCESS_OR_EXIT(rc) { if (rc != 0) { return; } }
+#define SUCCESS_OR_EXIT(rc) { if (rc != 0) { return 1; } }
 #define SUCCESS_OR_BREAK(rc) { if (rc != 0) { break; } }
 
-static void publisher(void)
+static int publisher(void)
 {
-	int i, rc;
+	int i, rc, r = 0;
 
 	LOG_INF("attempting to connect: ");
 	rc = try_to_connect(&client_ctx);
@@ -428,7 +428,9 @@ static void publisher(void)
 	SUCCESS_OR_EXIT(rc);
 
 	i = 0;
-	while (i++ < APP_MAX_ITERATIONS && connected) {
+	while (i++ < CONFIG_NET_SAMPLE_APP_MAX_ITERATIONS && connected) {
+		r = -1;
+
 		rc = mqtt_ping(&client_ctx);
 		PRINT_RESULT("mqtt_ping", rc);
 		SUCCESS_OR_BREAK(rc);
@@ -456,16 +458,21 @@ static void publisher(void)
 
 		rc = process_mqtt_and_sleep(&client_ctx, APP_SLEEP_MSECS);
 		SUCCESS_OR_BREAK(rc);
+
+		r = 0;
 	}
 
 	rc = mqtt_disconnect(&client_ctx);
 	PRINT_RESULT("mqtt_disconnect", rc);
 
 	LOG_INF("Bye!");
+
+	return r;
 }
 
 void main(void)
 {
+	int r = 0, i = 0;
 #if defined(CONFIG_MQTT_LIB_TLS)
 	int rc;
 
@@ -473,8 +480,14 @@ void main(void)
 	PRINT_RESULT("tls_init", rc);
 #endif
 
-	while (1) {
-		publisher();
-		k_sleep(K_MSEC(5000));
+	while (!CONFIG_NET_SAMPLE_APP_MAX_CONNECTIONS ||
+	       i++ < CONFIG_NET_SAMPLE_APP_MAX_CONNECTIONS) {
+		r = publisher();
+
+		if (!CONFIG_NET_SAMPLE_APP_MAX_CONNECTIONS) {
+			k_sleep(K_MSEC(5000));
+		}
 	}
+
+	exit(r);
 }