diff --git a/scripts/rpc.py b/scripts/rpc.py
index 2d010f1d2..fbbbdc330 100755
--- a/scripts/rpc.py
+++ b/scripts/rpc.py
@@ -932,5 +932,9 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
 
     args = parser.parse_args()
 
-    args.client = rpc.client.JSONRPCClient(args.server_addr, args.port, args.verbose, args.timeout)
+    try:
+        args.client = rpc.client.JSONRPCClient(args.server_addr, args.port, args.verbose, args.timeout)
+    except JSONRPCException as ex:
+        print(ex.message)
+        exit(1)
     args.func(args)
diff --git a/scripts/rpc/client.py b/scripts/rpc/client.py
index f1e5482d3..e532c0fd8 100755
--- a/scripts/rpc/client.py
+++ b/scripts/rpc/client.py
@@ -16,17 +16,21 @@ class JSONRPCClient(object):
     def __init__(self, addr, port=None, verbose=False, timeout=60.0):
         self.verbose = verbose
         self.timeout = timeout
-        if addr.startswith('/'):
-            self.sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_UNIX, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
-            self.sock.connect(addr)
-        elif ':' in addr:
-            for res in socket.getaddrinfo(addr, port, socket.AF_INET6, socket.SOCK_STREAM, socket.SOL_TCP):
-                af, socktype, proto, canonname, sa = res
-            self.sock = socket.socket(af, socktype, proto)
-            self.sock.connect(sa)
-        else:
-            self.sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
-            self.sock.connect((addr, port))
+        try:
+            if addr.startswith('/'):
+                self.sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_UNIX, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
+                self.sock.connect(addr)
+            elif ':' in addr:
+                for res in socket.getaddrinfo(addr, port, socket.AF_INET6, socket.SOCK_STREAM, socket.SOL_TCP):
+                    af, socktype, proto, canonname, sa = res
+                self.sock = socket.socket(af, socktype, proto)
+                self.sock.connect(sa)
+            else:
+                self.sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
+                self.sock.connect((addr, port))
+        except socket.error as ex:
+            raise JSONRPCException("Error while connecting to %s\n"
+                                   "Error details: %s" % (addr, ex))
 
     def __del__(self):
         self.sock.close()