diff --git a/core-common/src/main/java/org/glassfish/jersey/ExternalProperties.java b/core-common/src/main/java/org/glassfish/jersey/ExternalProperties.java
index 04ef1bd323..b7457a582a 100644
--- a/core-common/src/main/java/org/glassfish/jersey/ExternalProperties.java
+++ b/core-common/src/main/java/org/glassfish/jersey/ExternalProperties.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2020 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2020, 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
  *
  * This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the
  * terms of the Eclipse Public License v. 2.0, which is available at
@@ -37,6 +37,11 @@ public final class ExternalProperties {
      */
     public static final String HTTP_NON_PROXY_HOSTS = "http.nonProxyHosts";
 
+    /**
+     * Property used to indicates if persistent connections should be supported.
+     */
+    public static final String HTTP_KEEPALIVE = "http.keepAlive";
+
     /**
      * Prevent instantiation.
      */
diff --git a/tests/integration/externalproperties/pom.xml b/tests/integration/externalproperties/pom.xml
index c948a89d26..6c2b18f33a 100644
--- a/tests/integration/externalproperties/pom.xml
+++ b/tests/integration/externalproperties/pom.xml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!--
 
-    Copyright (c) 2020 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+    Copyright (c) 2020, 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 
     This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the
     terms of the Eclipse Public License v. 2.0, which is available at
@@ -42,6 +42,11 @@
             <artifactId>jersey-test-framework-provider-jetty</artifactId>
             <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.glassfish.jersey.containers</groupId>
+            <artifactId>jersey-container-grizzly2-http</artifactId>
+            <scope>test</scope>
+        </dependency>
     </dependencies>
 
     <build>
@@ -49,6 +54,11 @@
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                 <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
+                <configuration>
+                    <systemPropertyVariables>
+                        <http.keepAlive>false</http.keepAlive>
+                    </systemPropertyVariables>
+                </configuration>
             </plugin>
         </plugins>
     </build>
diff --git a/tests/integration/externalproperties/src/test/java/org/glassfish/jersey/tests/externalproperties/HttpKeepAliveTest.java b/tests/integration/externalproperties/src/test/java/org/glassfish/jersey/tests/externalproperties/HttpKeepAliveTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7c5bdf5f3a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/integration/externalproperties/src/test/java/org/glassfish/jersey/tests/externalproperties/HttpKeepAliveTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ *
+ * This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the
+ * terms of the Eclipse Public License v. 2.0, which is available at
+ * http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-2.0.
+ *
+ * This Source Code may also be made available under the following Secondary
+ * Licenses when the conditions for such availability set forth in the
+ * Eclipse Public License v. 2.0 are satisfied: GNU General Public License,
+ * version 2 with the GNU Classpath Exception, which is available at
+ * https://www.gnu.org/software/classpath/license.html.
+ *
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: EPL-2.0 OR GPL-2.0 WITH Classpath-exception-2.0
+ */
+
+package org.glassfish.jersey.tests.externalproperties;
+
+import org.glassfish.grizzly.http.server.HttpHandler;
+import org.glassfish.grizzly.http.server.HttpServer;
+import org.glassfish.grizzly.http.server.Request;
+import org.glassfish.jersey.grizzly2.httpserver.GrizzlyHttpServerFactory;
+import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Assert;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import javax.ws.rs.ProcessingException;
+import javax.ws.rs.client.ClientBuilder;
+import javax.ws.rs.core.Response;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.URI;
+
+public class HttpKeepAliveTest {
+
+    private final URI BASE_URI = URI.create("http://localhost:9997/");
+    private final String CONNECTION_HEADER = "Connection";
+    private HttpServer server;
+
+    @Test
+    public void testHttpKeepAlive() {
+        Response response = ClientBuilder.newClient()
+                .target(BASE_URI)
+                .request()
+                .get();
+
+        Assert.assertEquals("close", response.readEntity(String.class));
+        Assert.assertEquals(200, response.getStatus());
+    }
+
+    @Before
+    public void startServer()  {
+        server = GrizzlyHttpServerFactory.createHttpServer(BASE_URI);
+
+        try {
+            server.start();
+        } catch (IOException ioe) {
+            throw new ProcessingException("Grizzly server failed to start");
+        }
+
+        server.getServerConfiguration().addHttpHandler(new HttpHandler() {
+            @Override
+            public void service(Request request,
+                                org.glassfish.grizzly.http.server.Response response) throws Exception {
+
+                String connectionHeader = request.getHeader(CONNECTION_HEADER);
+
+                response.setContentType("text/plain");
+                response.setContentLength(connectionHeader.length());
+                response.getWriter().write(connectionHeader);
+                response.setStatus(200);
+            }
+        });
+    }
+
+    @After
+    public void stopServer() {
+        try {
+            server.shutdownNow();
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+
+        }
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/tests/integration/externalproperties/src/test/java/org/glassfish/jersey/tests/externalproperties/HttpProxyTest.java b/tests/integration/externalproperties/src/test/java/org/glassfish/jersey/tests/externalproperties/HttpProxyTest.java
index 94100297f0..d983da2686 100644
--- a/tests/integration/externalproperties/src/test/java/org/glassfish/jersey/tests/externalproperties/HttpProxyTest.java
+++ b/tests/integration/externalproperties/src/test/java/org/glassfish/jersey/tests/externalproperties/HttpProxyTest.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2020 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2020, 2021 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
  *
  * This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the
  * terms of the Eclipse Public License v. 2.0, which is available at
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 import org.glassfish.jersey.ExternalProperties;
 import org.glassfish.jersey.server.ResourceConfig;
 import org.glassfish.jersey.test.JerseyTest;
+import org.junit.After;
 import org.junit.Assert;
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
@@ -38,6 +39,7 @@ public class HttpProxyTest extends JerseyTest {
     private static final String PROXY_HOST = "localhost";
     private static final String PROXY_PORT = "9997";
     private static boolean proxyHit = false;
+    private Server server;
 
     @Path("resource")
     public static class ProxyTestResource {
@@ -58,7 +60,7 @@ protected Application configure() {
     public void startFakeProxy() {
         System.setProperty(ExternalProperties.HTTP_PROXY_HOST, PROXY_HOST);
         System.setProperty(ExternalProperties.HTTP_PROXY_PORT, PROXY_PORT);
-        Server server = new Server(Integer.parseInt(PROXY_PORT));
+        server = new Server(Integer.parseInt(PROXY_PORT));
         server.setHandler(new ProxyHandler(false));
         try {
             server.start();
@@ -67,6 +69,15 @@ public void startFakeProxy() {
         }
     }
 
+    @After
+    public void stopFakeProxy() {
+        try {
+            server.stop();
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+
+        }
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void testProxy() {
         System.setProperty(ExternalProperties.HTTP_NON_PROXY_HOSTS, "");