diff --git a/autotest.sh b/autotest.sh
index f9e29a05d..a0f914fbf 100755
--- a/autotest.sh
+++ b/autotest.sh
@@ -152,6 +152,7 @@ if [ $SPDK_RUN_FUNCTIONAL_TEST -eq 1 ]; then
 	timing_enter lib
 
 	run_test "env" test/env/env.sh
+	run_test "rpc" test/rpc/rpc.sh
 	run_test "rpc_client" test/rpc_client/rpc_client.sh
 	run_test "json_config" ./test/json_config/json_config.sh
 	run_test "alias_rpc" test/json_config/alias_rpc/alias_rpc.sh
diff --git a/scripts/rpc.py b/scripts/rpc.py
index 44870d36b..74f6c59aa 100755
--- a/scripts/rpc.py
+++ b/scripts/rpc.py
@@ -37,6 +37,14 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
                         help="""Set verbose level. """)
     parser.add_argument('--dry_run', dest='dry_run', action='store_true', help="Display request and exit")
     parser.set_defaults(dry_run=False)
+    parser.add_argument('--server', dest='is_server', action='store_true',
+                        help="Start listening on stdin, parse each line as a regular rpc.py execution and create \
+                                a separate connection for each command. Each command's output ends with either \
+                                **STATUS=0 if the command succeeded or **STATUS=1 if it failed. --server is meant \
+                                to be used in conjunction with bash coproc, where stdin and stdout are connected to \
+                                pipes and can be used as a faster way to send RPC commands. If enabled, rpc.py \
+                                must be executed without any other parameters.")
+    parser.set_defaults(is_server=False)
     subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(help='RPC methods', dest='called_rpc_name')
 
     def framework_start_init(args):
@@ -2374,7 +2382,26 @@ Format: 'user:u1 secret:s1 muser:mu1 msecret:ms1,user:u2 secret:s2 muser:mu2 mse
                 exit(1)
 
     args = parser.parse_args()
-    if args.dry_run:
+    if args.is_server:
+        for input in sys.stdin:
+            cmd = shlex.split(input)
+            try:
+                tmp_args = parser.parse_args(cmd)
+            except SystemExit as ex:
+                print("**STATUS=1", flush=True)
+                continue
+
+            try:
+                tmp_args.client = rpc.client.JSONRPCClient(
+                    tmp_args.server_addr, tmp_args.port, tmp_args.timeout,
+                    log_level=getattr(logging, tmp_args.verbose.upper()))
+                call_rpc_func(tmp_args)
+                print("**STATUS=0", flush=True)
+            except JSONRPCException as ex:
+                print(ex.message)
+                print("**STATUS=1", flush=True)
+        exit(0)
+    elif args.dry_run:
         args.client = dry_run_client()
         print_dict = null_print
         print_json = null_print
diff --git a/test/common/autotest_common.sh b/test/common/autotest_common.sh
index 98077e9a7..0d37e957f 100644
--- a/test/common/autotest_common.sh
+++ b/test/common/autotest_common.sh
@@ -300,6 +300,31 @@ for i in "$@"; do
 	esac
 done
 
+# start rpc.py coprocess if it's not started yet
+if [[ -z $RPC_PIPE_PID ]] || ! kill -0 "$RPC_PIPE_PID" &>/dev/null; then
+	coproc RPC_PIPE { "$rootdir/scripts/rpc.py" --server; }
+	exec {RPC_PIPE_OUTPUT}<&${RPC_PIPE[0]} {RPC_PIPE_INPUT}>&${RPC_PIPE[1]}
+	# all descriptors will automatically close together with this bash
+	# process, this will make rpc.py stop reading and exit gracefully
+fi
+
+function rpc_cmd() {
+	xtrace_disable
+	local rsp rc
+
+	echo "$@" >&$RPC_PIPE_INPUT
+	while read -t 5 -ru $RPC_PIPE_OUTPUT rsp; do
+		if [[ $rsp == "**STATUS="* ]]; then
+			break
+		fi
+		echo "$rsp"
+	done
+
+	rc=${rsp#*=}
+	xtrace_restore
+	[[ $rc == 0 ]]
+}
+
 function timing() {
 	direction="$1"
 	testname="$2"
diff --git a/test/make/check_so_deps.sh b/test/make/check_so_deps.sh
index 1d6c2bc37..943072393 100755
--- a/test/make/check_so_deps.sh
+++ b/test/make/check_so_deps.sh
@@ -123,11 +123,7 @@ fail_file=$output_dir/check_so_deps_fail
 
 rm -f $fail_file
 
-for lib in $SPDK_LIBS; do
-	confirm_deps $lib&
-done
-
-wait
+( for lib in $SPDK_LIBS; do confirm_deps $lib & done; wait )
 
 $MAKE $MAKEFLAGS clean
 git checkout "$rootdir/mk/spdk.lib.mk"
diff --git a/test/rpc/rpc.sh b/test/rpc/rpc.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..4fbda195f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/rpc/rpc.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+testdir=$(readlink -f $(dirname $0))
+rootdir=$(readlink -f $testdir/../..)
+source $rootdir/test/common/autotest_common.sh
+
+# simply check if rpc commands have any effect on spdk
+function rpc_integrity() {
+	time {
+		bdevs=$($rpc bdev_get_bdevs)
+		[ "$(jq length <<< "$bdevs")" == "0" ]
+
+		malloc=$($rpc bdev_malloc_create 8 512)
+		bdevs=$($rpc bdev_get_bdevs)
+		[ "$(jq length <<< "$bdevs")" == "1" ]
+
+		$rpc bdev_passthru_create -b "$malloc" -p Passthru0
+		bdevs=$($rpc bdev_get_bdevs)
+		[ "$(jq length <<< "$bdevs")" == "2" ]
+
+		$rpc bdev_passthru_delete Passthru0
+		$rpc bdev_malloc_delete $malloc
+		bdevs=$($rpc bdev_get_bdevs)
+		[ "$(jq length <<< "$bdevs")" == "0" ]
+	}
+}
+
+$rootdir/app/spdk_tgt/spdk_tgt &
+spdk_pid=$!
+trap 'killprocess $spdk_pid; exit 1' SIGINT SIGTERM EXIT
+waitforlisten $spdk_pid
+
+# basic integrity test
+rpc="$rootdir/scripts/rpc.py"
+run_test "rpc_integrity" rpc_integrity
+# same test, but with rpc_cmd() instead
+rpc="rpc_cmd"
+run_test "rpc_daemon_integrity" rpc_integrity
+
+trap - SIGINT SIGTERM EXIT
+killprocess $spdk_pid