diff --git a/lustre/utils/liblustreapi.c b/lustre/utils/liblustreapi.c
index a278c31f76a3474c54301f4d7c3d5cc156e3aa66..b32408c788b2d377bd04c4903c2f4d846b7719df 100644
--- a/lustre/utils/liblustreapi.c
+++ b/lustre/utils/liblustreapi.c
@@ -1522,7 +1522,9 @@ static void do_target_check(char *obd_type_name, char *obd_name,
         int rc;
 
         rc = llapi_ping(obd_type_name, obd_name);
-        if (rc) {
+        if (rc == ENOTCONN) {
+                llapi_printf(LLAPI_MSG_NORMAL, "%s inactive.\n", obd_name);
+        } else if (rc) {
                 llapi_err(LLAPI_MSG_ERROR, "error: check '%s'", obd_name);
         } else {
                 llapi_printf(LLAPI_MSG_NORMAL, "%s active.\n", obd_name);