diff --git a/cmd/fs-v1.go b/cmd/fs-v1.go
index f9e65fd51..aec0a4d14 100644
--- a/cmd/fs-v1.go
+++ b/cmd/fs-v1.go
@@ -1356,3 +1356,9 @@ func (fs *FSObjects) IsEncryptionSupported() bool {
 func (fs *FSObjects) IsCompressionSupported() bool {
 	return true
 }
+
+// IsReady - Check if the backend disk is ready to accept traffic.
+func (fs *FSObjects) IsReady(_ context.Context) bool {
+	_, err := os.Stat(fs.fsPath)
+	return err == nil
+}
diff --git a/cmd/gateway-unsupported.go b/cmd/gateway-unsupported.go
index 691d05bfd..e722d7708 100644
--- a/cmd/gateway-unsupported.go
+++ b/cmd/gateway-unsupported.go
@@ -192,3 +192,8 @@ func (a GatewayUnsupported) IsEncryptionSupported() bool {
 func (a GatewayUnsupported) IsCompressionSupported() bool {
 	return false
 }
+
+// IsReady - No Op.
+func (a GatewayUnsupported) IsReady(_ context.Context) bool {
+	return false
+}
diff --git a/cmd/gateway/azure/gateway-azure.go b/cmd/gateway/azure/gateway-azure.go
index 09e81ae96..e410c1921 100644
--- a/cmd/gateway/azure/gateway-azure.go
+++ b/cmd/gateway/azure/gateway-azure.go
@@ -1296,3 +1296,8 @@ func (a *azureObjects) DeleteBucketPolicy(ctx context.Context, bucket string) er
 func (a *azureObjects) IsCompressionSupported() bool {
 	return false
 }
+
+// IsReady returns whether the layer is ready to take requests.
+func (a *azureObjects) IsReady(ctx context.Context) bool {
+	return minio.IsBackendOnline(ctx, a.httpClient, a.endpoint)
+}
diff --git a/cmd/gateway/b2/gateway-b2.go b/cmd/gateway/b2/gateway-b2.go
index eafb7aa1b..faa3fc684 100644
--- a/cmd/gateway/b2/gateway-b2.go
+++ b/cmd/gateway/b2/gateway-b2.go
@@ -862,3 +862,8 @@ func (l *b2Objects) DeleteBucketPolicy(ctx context.Context, bucket string) error
 func (l *b2Objects) IsCompressionSupported() bool {
 	return false
 }
+
+// IsReady returns whether the layer is ready to take requests.
+func (l *b2Objects) IsReady(ctx context.Context) bool {
+	return minio.IsBackendOnline(ctx, l.httpClient, "https://api.backblazeb2.com/b2api/v1")
+}
diff --git a/cmd/gateway/gcs/gateway-gcs.go b/cmd/gateway/gcs/gateway-gcs.go
index aa47abb17..50e1244c1 100644
--- a/cmd/gateway/gcs/gateway-gcs.go
+++ b/cmd/gateway/gcs/gateway-gcs.go
@@ -1467,3 +1467,8 @@ func (l *gcsGateway) DeleteBucketPolicy(ctx context.Context, bucket string) erro
 func (l *gcsGateway) IsCompressionSupported() bool {
 	return false
 }
+
+// IsReady returns whether the layer is ready to take requests.
+func (l *gcsGateway) IsReady(ctx context.Context) bool {
+	return minio.IsBackendOnline(ctx, l.httpClient, "https://storage.googleapis.com")
+}
diff --git a/cmd/gateway/hdfs/gateway-hdfs.go b/cmd/gateway/hdfs/gateway-hdfs.go
index 53fb317ac..3bd6bf235 100644
--- a/cmd/gateway/hdfs/gateway-hdfs.go
+++ b/cmd/gateway/hdfs/gateway-hdfs.go
@@ -715,3 +715,8 @@ func (n *hdfsObjects) AbortMultipartUpload(ctx context.Context, bucket, object,
 	}
 	return hdfsToObjectErr(ctx, n.clnt.Remove(minio.PathJoin(hdfsSeparator, minioMetaTmpBucket, uploadID)), bucket, object, uploadID)
 }
+
+// IsReady returns whether the layer is ready to take requests.
+func (n *hdfsObjects) IsReady(_ context.Context) bool {
+	return true
+}
diff --git a/cmd/gateway/nas/gateway-nas.go b/cmd/gateway/nas/gateway-nas.go
index a18f64117..ad7ef9f5a 100644
--- a/cmd/gateway/nas/gateway-nas.go
+++ b/cmd/gateway/nas/gateway-nas.go
@@ -117,3 +117,9 @@ func (n *nasObjects) StorageInfo(ctx context.Context) minio.StorageInfo {
 type nasObjects struct {
 	minio.ObjectLayer
 }
+
+// IsReady returns whether the layer is ready to take requests.
+func (n *nasObjects) IsReady(ctx context.Context) bool {
+	sinfo := n.ObjectLayer.StorageInfo(ctx)
+	return sinfo.Backend.Type == minio.BackendFS
+}
diff --git a/cmd/gateway/oss/gateway-oss.go b/cmd/gateway/oss/gateway-oss.go
index 8443e2042..cd6ec3b97 100644
--- a/cmd/gateway/oss/gateway-oss.go
+++ b/cmd/gateway/oss/gateway-oss.go
@@ -1098,3 +1098,8 @@ func (l *ossObjects) DeleteBucketPolicy(ctx context.Context, bucket string) erro
 func (l *ossObjects) IsCompressionSupported() bool {
 	return false
 }
+
+// IsReady returns whether the layer is ready to take requests.
+func (l *ossObjects) IsReady(ctx context.Context) bool {
+	return minio.IsBackendOnline(ctx, l.Client.HTTPClient, l.Client.Config.Endpoint)
+}
diff --git a/cmd/gateway/s3/gateway-s3.go b/cmd/gateway/s3/gateway-s3.go
index 4fb685426..1b3d77e2e 100644
--- a/cmd/gateway/s3/gateway-s3.go
+++ b/cmd/gateway/s3/gateway-s3.go
@@ -670,3 +670,8 @@ func (l *s3Objects) IsCompressionSupported() bool {
 func (l *s3Objects) IsEncryptionSupported() bool {
 	return minio.GlobalKMS != nil || len(minio.GlobalGatewaySSE) > 0
 }
+
+// IsReady returns whether the layer is ready to take requests.
+func (l *s3Objects) IsReady(ctx context.Context) bool {
+	return minio.IsBackendOnline(ctx, l.HTTPClient, l.Client.EndpointURL().String())
+}
diff --git a/cmd/healthcheck-handler.go b/cmd/healthcheck-handler.go
index 2f16fb200..6bbe92505 100644
--- a/cmd/healthcheck-handler.go
+++ b/cmd/healthcheck-handler.go
@@ -17,31 +17,26 @@
 package cmd
 
 import (
-	"fmt"
 	"net/http"
 	"os"
-	"runtime"
 
 	xhttp "github.com/minio/minio/cmd/http"
 	"github.com/minio/minio/cmd/logger"
 )
 
-const (
-	minioHealthGoroutineThreshold = 10000
-)
-
-// ReadinessCheckHandler -- checks if there are more than threshold
-// number of goroutines running, returns service unavailable.
-//
-// Readiness probes are used to detect situations where application
-// is under heavy load and temporarily unable to serve. In a orchestrated
-// setup like Kubernetes, containers reporting that they are not ready do
-// not receive traffic through Kubernetes Services.
+// ReadinessCheckHandler -- Checks if the quorum number of disks are available.
+// For FS - Checks if the backend disk is available
+// For Zones - Checks if all the zones have enough quorum
 func ReadinessCheckHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
-	if err := goroutineCountCheck(minioHealthGoroutineThreshold); err != nil {
+	ctx := newContext(r, w, "ReadinessCheckHandler")
+
+	objLayer := newObjectLayerFn()
+	// Service not initialized yet
+	if objLayer == nil || !objLayer.IsReady(ctx) {
 		writeResponse(w, http.StatusServiceUnavailable, nil, mimeNone)
 		return
 	}
+
 	writeResponse(w, http.StatusOK, nil, mimeNone)
 }
 
@@ -102,13 +97,3 @@ func LivenessCheckHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	}
 	writeResponse(w, http.StatusOK, nil, mimeNone)
 }
-
-// checks threshold against total number of go-routines in the system and
-// throws error if more than threshold go-routines are running.
-func goroutineCountCheck(threshold int) error {
-	count := runtime.NumGoroutine()
-	if count > threshold {
-		return fmt.Errorf("too many goroutines (%d > %d)", count, threshold)
-	}
-	return nil
-}
diff --git a/cmd/healthcheck-handler_test.go b/cmd/healthcheck-handler_test.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 4443762d3..000000000
--- a/cmd/healthcheck-handler_test.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,44 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * MinIO Cloud Storage, (C) 2018 MinIO, Inc.
- *
- * Licensed 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 cmd
-
-import (
-	"testing"
-	"time"
-)
-
-func TestGoroutineCountCheck(t *testing.T) {
-	tests := []struct {
-		threshold int
-		wantErr   bool
-	}{
-		{5000, false},
-		{5, true},
-		{6, true},
-	}
-	for _, tt := range tests {
-		// Make goroutines -- to make sure number of go-routines is higher than threshold
-		if tt.threshold == 5 || tt.threshold == 6 {
-			for i := 0; i < 6; i++ {
-				go time.Sleep(5 * time.Nanosecond)
-			}
-		}
-		if err := goroutineCountCheck(tt.threshold); (err != nil) != tt.wantErr {
-			t.Errorf("goroutineCountCheck() error = %v, wantErr %v", err, tt.wantErr)
-		}
-	}
-}
diff --git a/cmd/object-api-interface.go b/cmd/object-api-interface.go
index e75c90e60..61b5e5c04 100644
--- a/cmd/object-api-interface.go
+++ b/cmd/object-api-interface.go
@@ -122,4 +122,7 @@ type ObjectLayer interface {
 
 	// Backend related metrics
 	GetMetrics(ctx context.Context) (*Metrics, error)
+
+	// Check Readiness
+	IsReady(ctx context.Context) bool
 }
diff --git a/cmd/xl-sets.go b/cmd/xl-sets.go
index 36b26b71a..6ce6b1e3f 100644
--- a/cmd/xl-sets.go
+++ b/cmd/xl-sets.go
@@ -1656,3 +1656,30 @@ func (s *xlSets) GetMetrics(ctx context.Context) (*Metrics, error) {
 	logger.LogIf(ctx, NotImplemented{})
 	return &Metrics{}, NotImplemented{}
 }
+
+// IsReady - Returns true if more than n/2 disks (quorum) are online
+func (s *xlSets) IsReady(_ context.Context) bool {
+	s.xlDisksMu.RLock()
+	defer s.xlDisksMu.RUnlock()
+
+	var activeDisks int
+	for i := 0; i < s.setCount; i++ {
+		for j := 0; j < s.drivesPerSet; j++ {
+			if s.xlDisks[i][j] == nil {
+				continue
+			}
+			if !s.xlLockers[i][j].IsOnline() {
+				continue
+			}
+			if s.xlDisks[i][j].IsOnline() {
+				activeDisks++
+			}
+			// Return if more than n/2 disks are online.
+			if activeDisks > len(s.endpoints)/2 {
+				return true
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	// Disks are not ready
+	return false
+}
diff --git a/cmd/xl-v1.go b/cmd/xl-v1.go
index e70c3915b..cd1cdd601 100644
--- a/cmd/xl-v1.go
+++ b/cmd/xl-v1.go
@@ -245,3 +245,9 @@ func (xl xlObjects) crawlAndGetDataUsage(ctx context.Context, endCh <-chan struc
 
 	return dataUsageInfo
 }
+
+// IsReady - No Op.
+func (xl xlObjects) IsReady(ctx context.Context) bool {
+	logger.CriticalIf(ctx, NotImplemented{})
+	return true
+}
diff --git a/cmd/xl-zones.go b/cmd/xl-zones.go
index 3134ed8c0..6eddfa822 100644
--- a/cmd/xl-zones.go
+++ b/cmd/xl-zones.go
@@ -1359,3 +1359,16 @@ func (z *xlZones) GetMetrics(ctx context.Context) (*Metrics, error) {
 	logger.LogIf(ctx, NotImplemented{})
 	return &Metrics{}, NotImplemented{}
 }
+
+// IsReady - Returns True if all the zones have enough quorum to accept requests.
+func (z *xlZones) IsReady(ctx context.Context) bool {
+	if z.SingleZone() {
+		return z.zones[0].IsReady(ctx)
+	}
+	for _, xlsets := range z.zones {
+		if !xlsets.IsReady(ctx) {
+			return false
+		}
+	}
+	return true
+}