diff --git a/vllm/engine/protocol.py b/vllm/engine/protocol.py
index 67b9e5cf5cc0..b8f8eea44573 100644
--- a/vllm/engine/protocol.py
+++ b/vllm/engine/protocol.py
@@ -79,3 +79,6 @@ async def do_log_stats(
         model_output: Optional[List[SamplerOutput]] = None,
     ) -> None:
         pass
+
+    async def check_health(self) -> None:
+        """Raise if unhealthy"""
diff --git a/vllm/entrypoints/openai/rpc/__init__.py b/vllm/entrypoints/openai/rpc/__init__.py
index 0f05b59cb2e9..7187bcdbe77b 100644
--- a/vllm/entrypoints/openai/rpc/__init__.py
+++ b/vllm/entrypoints/openai/rpc/__init__.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 from vllm.sampling_params import SamplingParams
 
 VLLM_RPC_SUCCESS_STR = "SUCCESS"
+VLLM_RPC_HEALTHY_STR = "HEALTHY"
 
 
 @dataclass
@@ -29,6 +30,7 @@ class RPCUtilityRequest(Enum):
     IS_SERVER_READY = 1
     GET_MODEL_CONFIG = 2
     DO_LOG_STATS = 3
+    CHECK_HEALTH = 4
 
 
 RPC_REQUEST_TYPE = Union[RPCGenerateRequest, RPCAbortRequest,
diff --git a/vllm/entrypoints/openai/rpc/client.py b/vllm/entrypoints/openai/rpc/client.py
index 1e8a98d6418f..bf07a05feb9c 100644
--- a/vllm/entrypoints/openai/rpc/client.py
+++ b/vllm/entrypoints/openai/rpc/client.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 
 from vllm.config import DecodingConfig, ModelConfig
 from vllm.entrypoints.openai.rpc import (RPC_REQUEST_TYPE,
+                                         VLLM_RPC_HEALTHY_STR,
                                          VLLM_RPC_SUCCESS_STR, RPCAbortRequest,
                                          RPCGenerateRequest, RPCUtilityRequest)
 from vllm.inputs import PromptInputs
@@ -153,3 +154,26 @@ async def generate(
 
         yield request_output
         socket.close()
+
+    async def check_health(self) -> None:
+        """Raise if unhealthy"""
+
+        # Connect to socket.
+        socket = self.context.socket(zmq.constants.DEALER)
+        socket.connect(self.path)
+
+        # Ping RPCServer with CHECK_HEALTH request.
+        await socket.send(pickle.dumps(RPCUtilityRequest.CHECK_HEALTH))
+
+        # Await the reply from the server.
+        # TODO: do we need an internal timeout here?
+        # Or do we expect the external probe to timeout and let this chill?
+        health_message = pickle.loads(await socket.recv())
+        socket.close()
+
+        if isinstance(health_message, Exception):
+            raise health_message
+
+        if health_message != VLLM_RPC_HEALTHY_STR:
+            raise ValueError("Expected healthy response from backend but got "
+                             "f{health_message}")
diff --git a/vllm/entrypoints/openai/rpc/server.py b/vllm/entrypoints/openai/rpc/server.py
index 6385eaa1b226..7e936b48b030 100644
--- a/vllm/entrypoints/openai/rpc/server.py
+++ b/vllm/entrypoints/openai/rpc/server.py
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@
 from typing_extensions import Never
 
 from vllm import AsyncEngineArgs, AsyncLLMEngine
-from vllm.entrypoints.openai.rpc import (VLLM_RPC_SUCCESS_STR, RPCAbortRequest,
+from vllm.entrypoints.openai.rpc import (VLLM_RPC_HEALTHY_STR,
+                                         VLLM_RPC_SUCCESS_STR, RPCAbortRequest,
                                          RPCGenerateRequest, RPCUtilityRequest)
 from vllm.logger import init_logger
 from vllm.usage.usage_lib import UsageContext
@@ -96,6 +97,17 @@ async def generate(self, identity, generate_request: RPCGenerateRequest):
             self.socket.send_multipart(
                 [identity, pickle.dumps(e, pickle.HIGHEST_PROTOCOL)])
 
+    async def check_health(self, identity):
+        try:
+            await self.engine.check_health()
+            await self.socket.send_multipart([
+                identity,
+                pickle.dumps(VLLM_RPC_HEALTHY_STR, pickle.HIGHEST_PROTOCOL)
+            ])
+        except Exception as e:
+            await self.socket.send_multipart(
+                [identity, pickle.dumps(e, pickle.HIGHEST_PROTOCOL)])
+
     def _make_handler_coro(self, identity,
                            message) -> Coroutine[Any, Any, Never]:
         """Route the zmq message to the handler coroutine."""
@@ -115,6 +127,8 @@ def _make_handler_coro(self, identity,
                 return self.do_log_stats(identity)
             elif request == RPCUtilityRequest.IS_SERVER_READY:
                 return self.is_server_ready(identity)
+            elif request == RPCUtilityRequest.CHECK_HEALTH:
+                return self.check_health(identity)
             else:
                 raise ValueError(f"Unknown RPCUtilityRequest type: {request}")