diff --git a/net/sunrpc/clnt.c b/net/sunrpc/clnt.c
index 99515d7..b36797a 100644
--- a/net/sunrpc/clnt.c
+++ b/net/sunrpc/clnt.c
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@
  * made to sleep too long.
  */
 struct rpc_clnt *
-rpc_create_client(struct rpc_xprt *xprt, char *servname,
+rpc_new_client(struct rpc_xprt *xprt, char *servname,
 		  struct rpc_program *program, u32 vers,
 		  rpc_authflavor_t flavor)
 {
@@ -182,6 +182,36 @@
 	return ERR_PTR(err);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Create an RPC client
+ * @xprt - pointer to xprt struct
+ * @servname - name of server
+ * @info - rpc_program
+ * @version - rpc_program version
+ * @authflavor - rpc_auth flavour to use
+ *
+ * Creates an RPC client structure, then pings the server in order to
+ * determine if it is up, and if it supports this program and version.
+ *
+ * This function should never be called by asynchronous tasks such as
+ * the portmapper.
+ */
+struct rpc_clnt *rpc_create_client(struct rpc_xprt *xprt, char *servname,
+		struct rpc_program *info, u32 version, rpc_authflavor_t authflavor)
+{
+	struct rpc_clnt *clnt;
+	int err;
+	
+	clnt = rpc_new_client(xprt, servname, info, version, authflavor);
+	if (IS_ERR(clnt))
+		return clnt;
+	err = rpc_ping(clnt, RPC_TASK_SOFT|RPC_TASK_NOINTR);
+	if (err == 0)
+		return clnt;
+	rpc_shutdown_client(clnt);
+	return ERR_PTR(err);
+}
+
 /*
  * This function clones the RPC client structure. It allows us to share the
  * same transport while varying parameters such as the authentication
@@ -1086,3 +1116,30 @@
 	printk(KERN_WARNING "RPC %s: server reply was truncated.\n", __FUNCTION__);
 	goto out_retry;
 }
+
+static int rpcproc_encode_null(void *rqstp, u32 *data, void *obj)
+{
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static int rpcproc_decode_null(void *rqstp, u32 *data, void *obj)
+{
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static struct rpc_procinfo rpcproc_null = {
+	.p_encode = rpcproc_encode_null,
+	.p_decode = rpcproc_decode_null,
+};
+
+int rpc_ping(struct rpc_clnt *clnt, int flags)
+{
+	struct rpc_message msg = {
+		.rpc_proc = &rpcproc_null,
+	};
+	int err;
+	msg.rpc_cred = authnull_ops.lookup_cred(NULL, NULL, 0);
+	err = rpc_call_sync(clnt, &msg, flags);
+	put_rpccred(msg.rpc_cred);
+	return err;
+}
diff --git a/net/sunrpc/pmap_clnt.c b/net/sunrpc/pmap_clnt.c
index 97c420f..df4d84c 100644
--- a/net/sunrpc/pmap_clnt.c
+++ b/net/sunrpc/pmap_clnt.c
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@
 	xprt->addr.sin_port = htons(RPC_PMAP_PORT);
 
 	/* printk("pmap: create clnt\n"); */
-	clnt = rpc_create_client(xprt, hostname,
+	clnt = rpc_new_client(xprt, hostname,
 				&pmap_program, RPC_PMAP_VERSION,
 				RPC_AUTH_UNIX);
 	if (!IS_ERR(clnt)) {