diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 97b895da..ab5c3be5 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: Bitcoind Integration with etcd (txindex enabled)
       script:
         - bash ./scripts/install_bitcoind.sh
-        - make itest-parallel backend=bitcoind etcd=1
+        - make itest-parallel backend=bitcoind dbbackend=etcd
 
     - name: Bitcoind Integration (txindex disabled)
       script:
diff --git a/lntest/harness.go b/lntest/harness.go
index 2a8f9668..d9aff075 100644
--- a/lntest/harness.go
+++ b/lntest/harness.go
@@ -67,9 +67,8 @@ type NetworkHarness struct {
 	Alice *HarnessNode
 	Bob   *HarnessNode
 
-	// embeddedEtcd is set to true if new nodes are to be created with an
-	// embedded etcd backend instead of just bbolt.
-	embeddedEtcd bool
+	// dbBackend sets the database backend to use.
+	dbBackend DatabaseBackend
 
 	// Channel for transmitting stderr output from failed lightning node
 	// to main process.
@@ -84,12 +83,19 @@ type NetworkHarness struct {
 	mtx sync.Mutex
 }
 
+type DatabaseBackend int
+
+const (
+	BackendBbolt DatabaseBackend = iota
+	BackendEtcd
+)
+
 // NewNetworkHarness creates a new network test harness.
 // TODO(roasbeef): add option to use golang's build library to a binary of the
 // current repo. This will save developers from having to manually `go install`
 // within the repo each time before changes
 func NewNetworkHarness(r *rpctest.Harness, b BackendConfig, lndBinary string,
-	embeddedEtcd bool) (*NetworkHarness, error) {
+	dbBackend DatabaseBackend) (*NetworkHarness, error) {
 
 	feeService := startFeeService()
 
@@ -103,7 +109,7 @@ func NewNetworkHarness(r *rpctest.Harness, b BackendConfig, lndBinary string,
 		feeService:   feeService,
 		quit:         make(chan struct{}),
 		lndBinary:    lndBinary,
-		embeddedEtcd: embeddedEtcd,
+		dbBackend:    dbBackend,
 	}
 	return &n, nil
 }
@@ -306,11 +312,11 @@ func (n *NetworkHarness) NewNodeWithSeedEtcd(name string, etcdCfg *etcd.Config,
 	*HarnessNode, []string, []byte, error) {
 
 	// We don't want to use the embedded etcd instance.
-	const embeddedEtcd = false
+	const dbBackend = BackendBbolt
 
 	extraArgs := extraArgsEtcd(etcdCfg, name, cluster)
 	return n.newNodeWithSeed(
-		name, extraArgs, password, entropy, statelessInit, embeddedEtcd,
+		name, extraArgs, password, entropy, statelessInit, dbBackend,
 	)
 }
 
@@ -323,10 +329,10 @@ func (n *NetworkHarness) NewNodeEtcd(name string, etcdCfg *etcd.Config,
 	password []byte, cluster, wait bool) (*HarnessNode, error) {
 
 	// We don't want to use the embedded etcd instance.
-	const embeddedEtcd = false
+	const dbBackend = BackendBbolt
 
 	extraArgs := extraArgsEtcd(etcdCfg, name, cluster)
-	return n.newNode(name, extraArgs, true, password, embeddedEtcd, wait)
+	return n.newNode(name, extraArgs, true, password, dbBackend, wait)
 }
 
 // NewNode fully initializes a returns a new HarnessNode bound to the
@@ -336,7 +342,7 @@ func (n *NetworkHarness) NewNode(t *testing.T,
 	name string, extraArgs []string) *HarnessNode {
 
 	node, err := n.newNode(
-		name, extraArgs, false, nil, n.embeddedEtcd, true,
+		name, extraArgs, false, nil, n.dbBackend, true,
 	)
 	require.NoErrorf(t, err, "unable to create new node for %s", name)
 
@@ -352,16 +358,16 @@ func (n *NetworkHarness) NewNodeWithSeed(name string, extraArgs []string,
 	error) {
 
 	return n.newNodeWithSeed(
-		name, extraArgs, password, nil, statelessInit, n.embeddedEtcd,
+		name, extraArgs, password, nil, statelessInit, n.dbBackend,
 	)
 }
 
 func (n *NetworkHarness) newNodeWithSeed(name string, extraArgs []string,
-	password, entropy []byte, statelessInit, embeddedEtcd bool) (
+	password, entropy []byte, statelessInit bool, dbBackend DatabaseBackend) (
 	*HarnessNode, []string, []byte, error) {
 
 	node, err := n.newNode(
-		name, extraArgs, true, password, embeddedEtcd, true,
+		name, extraArgs, true, password, dbBackend, true,
 	)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, nil, nil, err
@@ -425,7 +431,7 @@ func (n *NetworkHarness) RestoreNodeWithSeed(name string, extraArgs []string,
 	opts ...NodeOption) (*HarnessNode, error) {
 
 	node, err := n.newNode(
-		name, extraArgs, true, password, n.embeddedEtcd, true, opts...,
+		name, extraArgs, true, password, n.dbBackend, true, opts...,
 	)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -456,7 +462,7 @@ func (n *NetworkHarness) RestoreNodeWithSeed(name string, extraArgs []string,
 // can be used immediately. Otherwise, the node will require an additional
 // initialization phase where the wallet is either created or restored.
 func (n *NetworkHarness) newNode(name string, extraArgs []string, hasSeed bool,
-	password []byte, embeddedEtcd, wait bool, opts ...NodeOption) (
+	password []byte, dbBackend DatabaseBackend, wait bool, opts ...NodeOption) (
 	*HarnessNode, error) {
 
 	cfg := &NodeConfig{
@@ -468,7 +474,7 @@ func (n *NetworkHarness) newNode(name string, extraArgs []string, hasSeed bool,
 		NetParams:         n.netParams,
 		ExtraArgs:         extraArgs,
 		FeeURL:            n.feeService.url,
-		Etcd:              embeddedEtcd,
+		DbBackend:         dbBackend,
 	}
 	for _, opt := range opts {
 		opt(cfg)
diff --git a/lntest/itest/lnd_test.go b/lntest/itest/lnd_test.go
index 9244f21e..49259d43 100644
--- a/lntest/itest/lnd_test.go
+++ b/lntest/itest/lnd_test.go
@@ -80,8 +80,8 @@ var (
 			"split test cases with the given (0-based) index",
 	)
 
-	// useEtcd test LND nodes use (embedded) etcd as remote db.
-	useEtcd = flag.Bool("etcd", false, "Use etcd backend for lnd.")
+	// dbBackendFlag specifies the backend to use
+	dbBackendFlag = flag.String("dbbackend", "bbolt", "Database backend (bbolt, etcd)")
 )
 
 // getTestCaseSplitTranche returns the sub slice of the test cases that should
@@ -11573,12 +11573,25 @@ func TestLightningNetworkDaemon(t *testing.T) {
 	require.NoError(t, miner.Client.NotifyNewTransactions(false))
 	require.NoError(t, chainBackend.ConnectMiner(), "connect miner")
 
+	// Parse database backend
+	var dbBackend lntest.DatabaseBackend
+	switch *dbBackendFlag {
+	case "bbolt":
+		dbBackend = lntest.BackendBbolt
+
+	case "etcd":
+		dbBackend = lntest.BackendEtcd
+
+	default:
+		require.Fail(t, "unknown db backend")
+	}
+
 	// Now we can set up our test harness (LND instance), with the chain
 	// backend we just created.
 	ht := newHarnessTest(t, nil)
 	binary := ht.getLndBinary()
 	lndHarness, err = lntest.NewNetworkHarness(
-		miner, chainBackend, binary, *useEtcd,
+		miner, chainBackend, binary, dbBackend,
 	)
 	if err != nil {
 		ht.Fatalf("unable to create lightning network harness: %v", err)
diff --git a/lntest/node.go b/lntest/node.go
index d9902326..27ccb15c 100644
--- a/lntest/node.go
+++ b/lntest/node.go
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ type NodeConfig struct {
 
 	FeeURL string
 
-	Etcd bool
+	DbBackend DatabaseBackend
 }
 
 func (cfg NodeConfig) P2PAddr() string {
@@ -308,7 +308,7 @@ func (cfg NodeConfig) genArgs() []string {
 		args = append(args, "--accept-amp")
 	}
 
-	if cfg.Etcd {
+	if cfg.DbBackend == BackendEtcd {
 		args = append(args, "--db.backend=etcd")
 		args = append(args, "--db.etcd.embedded")
 		args = append(
diff --git a/make/testing_flags.mk b/make/testing_flags.mk
index 569e86f4..1cfea551 100644
--- a/make/testing_flags.mk
+++ b/make/testing_flags.mk
@@ -49,9 +49,12 @@ ifneq ($(icase),)
 TEST_FLAGS += -test.run="TestLightningNetworkDaemon/.*-of-.*/.*/$(icase)"
 endif
 
-# Run itests with etcd backend.
-ifeq ($(etcd),1)
-ITEST_FLAGS += -etcd
+# Run itests with specified db backend.
+ifneq ($(dbbackend),)
+ITEST_FLAGS += -dbbackend=$(dbbackend)
+endif
+
+ifeq ($(dbbackend),etcd)
 DEV_TAGS += kvdb_etcd
 endif