diff --git a/fail2ban/client/fail2banclient.py b/fail2ban/client/fail2banclient.py
index 13ebcdef..f80193ee 100755
--- a/fail2ban/client/fail2banclient.py
+++ b/fail2ban/client/fail2banclient.py
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ class Fail2banClient(Fail2banCmdLine, Thread):
 					ret = client.send(c)
 					if ret[0] == 0:
 						logSys.log(5, "OK : %r", ret[1])
-						if showRet or c[0] == 'echo':
+						if showRet or c[0] in ('echo', 'server-status'):
 							output(beautifier.beautify(ret[1]))
 					else:
 						logSys.error("NOK: %r", ret[1].args)
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ class Fail2banClient(Fail2banCmdLine, Thread):
 				except Exception as e: # pragma: no cover
 					if showRet or self._conf["verbose"] > 1:
 						logSys.debug(e)
-			if showRet or c[0] == 'echo':
+			if showRet or c[0] in ('echo', 'server-status'):
 				sys.stdout.flush()
 		return streamRet
 
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ class Fail2banClient(Fail2banCmdLine, Thread):
 			logSys.error("Fail2ban seems to be in unexpected state (not running but the socket exists)")
 			return None
 
-		stream.append(['echo', 'Server ready'])
+		stream.append(['server-status'])
 		return stream
 
 	##
diff --git a/fail2ban/server/transmitter.py b/fail2ban/server/transmitter.py
index ecc2a138..1aa7f3e2 100644
--- a/fail2ban/server/transmitter.py
+++ b/fail2ban/server/transmitter.py
@@ -115,6 +115,9 @@ class Transmitter:
 			return cnt
 		elif command[0] == "echo":
 			return command[1:]
+		elif command[0] == "server-status":
+			logSys.debug("Server ready")
+			return "Server ready"
 		elif command[0] == "sleep":
 			value = command[1]
 			time.sleep(float(value))