diff --git a/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/llite/llite_internal.h b/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/llite/llite_internal.h
index e37ba1ffa574d680d66d19df622b28e4fe616b5b..2f46d475cd7dffc65ff1fd7ab2baa57c715d4db3 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/llite/llite_internal.h
+++ b/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/llite/llite_internal.h
@@ -391,6 +391,8 @@ enum stats_track_type {
 #define LL_SBI_USER_FID2PATH  0x40000 /* allow fid2path by unprivileged users */
 #define LL_SBI_XATTR_CACHE    0x80000 /* support for xattr cache */
 #define LL_SBI_NOROOTSQUASH	0x100000 /* do not apply root squash */
+#define LL_SBI_ALWAYS_PING	0x200000 /* always ping even if server
+					  * suppress_pings */
 
 #define LL_SBI_FLAGS {	\
 	"nolck",	\
@@ -414,6 +416,7 @@ enum stats_track_type {
 	"user_fid2path",\
 	"xattr_cache",	\
 	"norootsquash",	\
+	"always_ping",	\
 }
 
 /*
diff --git a/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/llite/llite_lib.c b/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/llite/llite_lib.c
index 2a51efa0b6823872c52cec4d914a302f76a50de2..25f5aed97f63ca98619f27109e8a55b1a580ed23 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/llite/llite_lib.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/llite/llite_lib.c
@@ -224,6 +224,10 @@ static int client_common_fill_super(struct super_block *sb, char *md, char *dt,
 	/* real client */
 	data->ocd_connect_flags |= OBD_CONNECT_REAL;
 
+	/* always ping even if server suppress_pings */
+	if (sbi->ll_flags & LL_SBI_ALWAYS_PING)
+		data->ocd_connect_flags &= ~OBD_CONNECT_PINGLESS;
+
 	data->ocd_brw_size = MD_MAX_BRW_SIZE;
 
 	err = obd_connect(NULL, &sbi->ll_md_exp, obd, &sbi->ll_sb_uuid,
@@ -373,6 +377,10 @@ static int client_common_fill_super(struct super_block *sb, char *md, char *dt,
 
 	data->ocd_connect_flags |= OBD_CONNECT_LRU_RESIZE;
 
+	/* always ping even if server suppress_pings */
+	if (sbi->ll_flags & LL_SBI_ALWAYS_PING)
+		data->ocd_connect_flags &= ~OBD_CONNECT_PINGLESS;
+
 	CDEBUG(D_RPCTRACE, "ocd_connect_flags: %#llx ocd_version: %d ocd_grant: %d\n",
 	       data->ocd_connect_flags,
 	       data->ocd_version, data->ocd_grant);
@@ -788,6 +796,11 @@ static int ll_options(char *options, int *flags)
 			*flags &= ~tmp;
 			goto next;
 		}
+		tmp = ll_set_opt("always_ping", s1, LL_SBI_ALWAYS_PING);
+		if (tmp) {
+			*flags |= tmp;
+			goto next;
+		}
 		LCONSOLE_ERROR_MSG(0x152, "Unknown option '%s', won't mount.\n",
 				   s1);
 		return -EINVAL;
@@ -2361,6 +2374,9 @@ int ll_show_options(struct seq_file *seq, struct dentry *dentry)
 	if (sbi->ll_flags & LL_SBI_USER_FID2PATH)
 		seq_puts(seq, ",user_fid2path");
 
+	if (sbi->ll_flags & LL_SBI_ALWAYS_PING)
+		seq_puts(seq, ",always_ping");
+
 	return 0;
 }