diff --git a/roles/nagios_client/files/scripts/check_memcache_connect b/roles/nagios_client/files/scripts/check_memcache_connect
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7c472e3ec8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/nagios_client/files/scripts/check_memcache_connect
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# 2014-12-19
+# Author: Ralph Bean <rbean@redhat.com>
+
+# exit codes
+ok=0
+warn=1
+crit=2
+unkn=3
+
+# Right now we just check to see if we can even run this command without
+# hanging and timing out.  In the future, we could parse stdout for more
+# fine-grained information.
+echo stats | nc 127.0.0.1 11211 > /dev/null
+status=$?
+
+if [ $status -ne 0 ]; then
+    echo "CRIT:  stats command got status code $status"
+    exit $crit
+else
+    echo "OK:  stats command got status code $status"
+    exit $ok
+fi
diff --git a/roles/nagios_client/tasks/main.yml b/roles/nagios_client/tasks/main.yml
index 6c91ddab69..aa9b6c2223 100644
--- a/roles/nagios_client/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/nagios_client/tasks/main.yml
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
   - check_fedmsg_producers_consumers.py
   - check_supybot_plugin
   - check_datanommer_timesince.py
+  - check_memcache_connect
   when: not inventory_hostname.startswith('noc')
   tags:
   - nagios_client
diff --git a/roles/nagios_client/templates/check_memcache.cfg.j2 b/roles/nagios_client/templates/check_memcache.cfg.j2
index b350a654e3..b0ec100a5d 100644
--- a/roles/nagios_client/templates/check_memcache.cfg.j2
+++ b/roles/nagios_client/templates/check_memcache.cfg.j2
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 command[check_memcache]=/usr/lib64/nagios/plugins/check_procs -c 1:1 -a '/usr/bin/memcached' -u memcached
-
+command[check_memcache_connect]=/usr/lib64/nagios/plugins/check_memcache_connect
diff --git a/roles/nagios_server/files/nagios/services/memcached.cfg b/roles/nagios_server/files/nagios/services/memcached.cfg
index 9f497b50c6..814a5a8530 100644
--- a/roles/nagios_server/files/nagios/services/memcached.cfg
+++ b/roles/nagios_server/files/nagios/services/memcached.cfg
@@ -1,12 +1,24 @@
 define service {
   host_name             memcached01
-  service_description   Check memcached daemon
+  service_description   Check for the presence of the memcached daemon
   check_command         check_by_nrpe!check_memcache
   use                   defaulttemplate
 }
 define service {
   host_name             memcached02
-  service_description   Check memcached daemon
+  service_description   Check for the presence of the memcached daemon
   check_command         check_by_nrpe!check_memcache
   use                   defaulttemplate
 }
+define service {
+  host_name             memcached01
+  service_description   Check for connectivity to the memcached daemon
+  check_command         check_by_nrpe!check_memcache_connect
+  use                   defaulttemplate
+}
+define service {
+  host_name             memcached02
+  service_description   Check for connectivity to the memcached daemon
+  check_command         check_by_nrpe!check_memcache_connect
+  use                   defaulttemplate
+}
diff --git a/roles/nagios_server/files/nrpe.cfg b/roles/nagios_server/files/nrpe.cfg
index 86af64b5da..4fb1cdb424 100644
--- a/roles/nagios_server/files/nrpe.cfg
+++ b/roles/nagios_server/files/nrpe.cfg
@@ -238,6 +238,7 @@ command[check_fcomm_queue]=/usr/lib64/nagios/plugins/check_fcomm_queue
 command[check_redis_proc]=/usr/lib64/nagios/plugins/check_procs -c 1:1 -C 'redis-server' -u redis
 command[check_openvpn_link]=/usr/lib64/nagios/plugins/check_ping -H 192.168.1.58 -w 375.0,20% -c 500,60%
 command[check_memcache]=/usr/lib64/nagios/plugins/check_procs -c 1:1 -a '/usr/bin/memcached' -u memcached
+command[check_memcache_connect]=/usr/lib64/nagios/plugins/check_memcache_connect
 
 # The following are fedmsg/datanommer checks to be run on busgateway01.
 # They check for the time since the latest message in any particular category.