diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 56ab3581124..e85b8ea7873 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -148,6 +148,11 @@ New Features
     and a bevy of new and renamed options (see the wiki).
     (Mike Krimerman, Scott Taber via klaas).
 
+29. SOLR-408: Added PingRequestHandler and deprecated SolrCore.getPingQueryRequest().
+    Ping requests should be configured using standard RequestHandler syntax in
+    solrconfig.xml rather then using the <pingQuery></pingQuery> syntax.
+    (Karsten Sperling via ryan)
+
 
 Changes in runtime behavior
 
diff --git a/client/java/solrj/src/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/request/SolrPing.java b/client/java/solrj/src/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/request/SolrPing.java
index 33eacd354a4..d21b14731be 100644
--- a/client/java/solrj/src/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/request/SolrPing.java
+++ b/client/java/solrj/src/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/request/SolrPing.java
@@ -34,18 +34,19 @@ import org.apache.solr.common.util.ContentStream;
  */
 public class SolrPing extends RequestBase
 {
+  private ModifiableSolrParams params;
+  
   public SolrPing()
   {
     super( METHOD.GET, "/admin/ping" );
+    params = new ModifiableSolrParams();
   }
 
   public Collection<ContentStream> getContentStreams() {
     return null;
   }
 
-  public SolrParams getParams() {
-    ModifiableSolrParams params = new ModifiableSolrParams();
-    params.set( "q", "solrpingquery" );
+  public ModifiableSolrParams getParams() {
     return params;
   }
 
diff --git a/client/java/solrj/test/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/SolrExampleTests.java b/client/java/solrj/test/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/SolrExampleTests.java
index 8bac75ca198..db86963d8fc 100644
--- a/client/java/solrj/test/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/SolrExampleTests.java
+++ b/client/java/solrj/test/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/SolrExampleTests.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import junit.framework.Assert;
 
 import org.apache.solr.client.solrj.request.DirectXmlRequest;
 import org.apache.solr.client.solrj.request.LukeRequest;
+import org.apache.solr.client.solrj.request.SolrPing;
 import org.apache.solr.client.solrj.response.LukeResponse;
 import org.apache.solr.client.solrj.response.QueryResponse;
 import org.apache.solr.client.solrj.response.UpdateResponse;
@@ -255,7 +256,6 @@ abstract public class SolrExampleTests extends SolrExampleTestBase
     assertNumFound( "*:*", 0 ); // make sure it got out
   }
   
-  
   public void testLukeHandler() throws Exception
   {    
     SolrServer server = getSolrServer();
@@ -281,4 +281,28 @@ abstract public class SolrExampleTests extends SolrExampleTestBase
     rsp = luke.process( server );
     assertNotNull( rsp.getFieldTypeInfo() ); 
   }
+  
+
+  public void testPingHandler() throws Exception
+  {    
+    SolrServer server = getSolrServer();
+    
+    // Empty the database...
+    server.deleteByQuery( "*:*" );// delete everything!
+    server.commit();
+    assertNumFound( "*:*", 0 ); // make sure it got in
+    
+    // should be ok
+    server.ping();
+    
+    try {
+      SolrPing ping = new SolrPing();
+      ping.getParams().set( "qt", "unknown handler!" );
+      ping.process( server );
+      fail( "sent unknown query type!" );
+    }
+    catch( Exception ex ) {
+      // expected
+    }
+  }
 }
diff --git a/example/solr/conf/solrconfig.xml b/example/solr/conf/solrconfig.xml
index 39ee7496d04..d727465d7fe 100755
--- a/example/solr/conf/solrconfig.xml
+++ b/example/solr/conf/solrconfig.xml
@@ -455,6 +455,15 @@
   <requestHandler name="/admin/threads"    class="org.apache.solr.handler.admin.ThreadDumpHandler" />
   <requestHandler name="/admin/properties" class="org.apache.solr.handler.admin.PropertiesRequestHandler" />
   
+  <!-- ping/healthcheck -->
+  <requestHandler name="/admin/ping" class="PingRequestHandler">
+    <lst name="defaults">
+      <str name="qt">standard</str>
+      <str name="q">solrpingquery</str>
+      <str name="echoParams">all</str>
+    </lst>
+  </requestHandler>
+    
   <!-- Echo the request contents back to the client -->
   <requestHandler name="/debug/dump" class="solr.DumpRequestHandler" >
     <lst name="defaults">
@@ -523,12 +532,7 @@
   <admin>
     <defaultQuery>solr</defaultQuery>
     <gettableFiles>solrconfig.xml schema.xml admin-extra.html</gettableFiles>
-    <!-- pingQuery should be "URLish" ...
-         &amp; separated key=val pairs ... but there shouldn't be any
-         URL escaping of the values -->
-    <pingQuery>
-     qt=standard&amp;q=solrpingquery
-    </pingQuery>
+    
     <!-- configure a healthcheck file for servers behind a loadbalancer
     <healthcheck type="file">server-enabled</healthcheck>
     -->
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/SolrConfig.java b/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/SolrConfig.java
index c1da047c60b..942120b789f 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/SolrConfig.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/SolrConfig.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 package org.apache.solr.core;
 
 import org.apache.solr.common.util.NamedList;
+import org.apache.solr.handler.PingRequestHandler;
 import org.apache.solr.request.LocalSolrQueryRequest;
 import org.apache.solr.request.SolrQueryRequest;
 
@@ -151,7 +152,9 @@ public class SolrConfig extends Config {
   // default & main index configurations
   public final SolrIndexConfig defaultIndexConfig;
   public final SolrIndexConfig mainIndexConfig;
+  
   // ping query request parameters
+  @Deprecated
   private final NamedList pingQueryParams;
 
   static private NamedList readPingQueryParams(SolrConfig config) {  
@@ -172,7 +175,10 @@ public class SolrConfig extends Config {
   /**
    * Returns a Request object based on the admin/pingQuery section
    * of the Solr config file.
+   * 
+   * @use {@link PingRequestHandler} instead 
    */
+  @Deprecated
   public SolrQueryRequest getPingQueryRequest(SolrCore core) {
     return new LocalSolrQueryRequest(core, pingQueryParams);
   }
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/SolrCore.java b/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/SolrCore.java
index 875a3ff168a..2ef4c5c5282 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/SolrCore.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/SolrCore.java
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ import org.apache.solr.common.params.CommonParams.EchoParamStyle;
 import org.apache.solr.common.util.DOMUtil;
 import org.apache.solr.common.util.NamedList;
 import org.apache.solr.common.util.SimpleOrderedMap;
+import org.apache.solr.handler.PingRequestHandler;
 import org.apache.solr.highlight.SolrHighlighter;
 import org.apache.solr.request.JSONResponseWriter;
 import org.apache.solr.request.PythonResponseWriter;
@@ -235,7 +236,7 @@ public final class SolrCore {
 
   
   /** 
-   * @return the last core initalized.  If you are using multiple cores, 
+   * @return the last core initialized.  If you are using multiple cores, 
    * this is not a function to use.
    */
   @Deprecated
@@ -389,7 +390,10 @@ public final class SolrCore {
   /**
    * Returns a Request object based on the admin/pingQuery section
    * of the Solr config file.
+   * 
+   * @use {@link PingRequestHandler} instead 
    */
+  @Deprecated
   public SolrQueryRequest getPingQueryRequest() {
     return solrConfig.getPingQueryRequest(this);
   }
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/solr/handler/PingRequestHandler.java b/src/java/org/apache/solr/handler/PingRequestHandler.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..1a5c93d5733
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/solr/handler/PingRequestHandler.java
@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.solr.handler;
+
+import java.io.File;
+
+import org.apache.solr.common.SolrException;
+import org.apache.solr.common.params.CommonParams;
+import org.apache.solr.common.params.SolrParams;
+import org.apache.solr.core.SolrCore;
+import org.apache.solr.request.SolrQueryRequest;
+import org.apache.solr.request.SolrQueryResponse;
+import org.apache.solr.request.SolrRequestHandler;
+
+
+/**
+ * Ping solr core
+ * 
+ * @since solr 1.3
+ */
+public class PingRequestHandler extends RequestHandlerBase 
+{
+  @Override
+  public void handleRequestBody(SolrQueryRequest req, SolrQueryResponse rsp) throws Exception 
+  {
+    SolrParams params = req.getParams();
+    SolrParams required = params.required();
+    SolrCore core = req.getCore();
+    
+    // Check if the service is available
+    String healthcheck = core.getSolrConfig().get("admin/healthcheck/text()", null );
+    if( healthcheck != null && !new File(healthcheck).exists() ) {
+      throw new SolrException(SolrException.ErrorCode.SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE, "Service disabled", true);
+    }
+    
+    // Get the RequestHandler
+    String qt = required.get( CommonParams.QT );
+    SolrRequestHandler handler = core.getRequestHandler( qt );
+    if( handler == null ) {
+      throw new SolrException(SolrException.ErrorCode.BAD_REQUEST, 
+          "Unknown RequestHandler: "+qt );
+    }
+    
+    // Execute the ping query and catch any possible exception
+    Throwable ex = null;
+    try {
+      SolrQueryResponse pingrsp = new SolrQueryResponse();
+      core.execute(handler, req, pingrsp );
+      ex = pingrsp.getException();
+    }
+    catch( Throwable th ) {
+      ex = th;
+    }
+    
+    // Send an error or an 'OK' message (response code will be 200)
+    if( ex != null ) {
+      throw new SolrException(SolrException.ErrorCode.SERVER_ERROR, 
+          "Ping query caused exception: "+ex.getMessage(), ex );
+    }
+    rsp.add( "status", "OK" );
+  }
+  
+  
+  //////////////////////// SolrInfoMBeans methods //////////////////////
+
+  @Override
+  public String getVersion() {
+    return "$Revision$";
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public String getDescription() {
+    return "Reports application health to a load-balancer";
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public String getSourceId() {
+    return "$Id$";
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public String getSource() {
+    return "$URL$";
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml b/src/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml
index f3eaa2a0268..13669b3eae9 100644
--- a/src/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml
+++ b/src/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@
     <load-on-startup>2</load-on-startup>
   </servlet>
 
+  <!-- @Deprecated -->
   <servlet>
     <servlet-name>ping</servlet-name>
     <jsp-file>/admin/ping.jsp</jsp-file>
@@ -79,6 +80,7 @@
     <url-pattern>/update/*</url-pattern>
   </servlet-mapping>
 
+  <!-- @Deprecated -->
   <servlet-mapping>
     <servlet-name>ping</servlet-name>
     <url-pattern>/admin/ping</url-pattern>
diff --git a/src/webapp/resources/admin/ping.jsp b/src/webapp/resources/admin/ping.jsp
index a85775c5f9e..6987f0d671f 100644
--- a/src/webapp/resources/admin/ping.jsp
+++ b/src/webapp/resources/admin/ping.jsp
@@ -29,6 +29,10 @@
 <solr>
   <ping>
 <%
+//
+//  Deprecated -- use PingRequestHandler
+// 
+
   Object ocore = request.getAttribute("org.apache.solr.SolrCore");
   SolrCore core = ocore instanceof SolrCore? (SolrCore) ocore : SolrCore.getSolrCore();