diff --git a/examples/nvme/hotplug/hotplug.c b/examples/nvme/hotplug/hotplug.c
index 2b185be1e..9ee9600ca 100644
--- a/examples/nvme/hotplug/hotplug.c
+++ b/examples/nvme/hotplug/hotplug.c
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@
 #include "spdk/string.h"
 #include "spdk/util.h"
 #include "spdk/log.h"
+#include "spdk/rpc.h"
+
+static const char *g_rpc_addr = "/var/tmp/spdk.sock";
 
 struct dev_ctx {
 	TAILQ_ENTRY(dev_ctx)	tailq;
@@ -49,6 +52,9 @@ static const char *g_iova_mode = NULL;
 static uint64_t g_timeout_in_us = SPDK_SEC_TO_USEC;
 static struct spdk_nvme_detach_ctx *g_detach_ctx;
 
+static bool g_wait_for_rpc = false;
+static bool g_rpc_received = false;
+
 static void task_complete(struct perf_task *task);
 
 static void timeout_cb(void *cb_arg, struct spdk_nvme_ctrlr *ctrlr,
@@ -402,24 +408,34 @@ usage(char *program_name)
 	printf("\t[-l log level]\n");
 	printf("\t Available log levels:\n");
 	printf("\t  disabled, error, warning, notice, info, debug\n");
+	printf("\t[--wait-for-rpc wait for RPC perform_tests\n");
+	printf("\t  to proceed with starting IO on NVMe disks]\n");
 }
 
+static const struct option g_wait_option[] = {
+#define WAIT_FOR_RPC_OPT_IDX	257
+	{"wait-for-rpc", no_argument, NULL, WAIT_FOR_RPC_OPT_IDX},
+};
+
 static int
 parse_args(int argc, char **argv)
 {
-	int op;
+	int op, opt_idx;
 	long int val;
 
 	/* default value */
 	g_time_in_sec = 0;
 
-	while ((op = getopt(argc, argv, "c:i:l:m:n:r:t:")) != -1) {
+	while ((op = getopt_long(argc, argv, "c:i:l:m:n:r:t:", g_wait_option, &opt_idx)) != -1) {
 		if (op == '?') {
 			usage(argv[0]);
 			return 1;
 		}
 
 		switch (op) {
+		case WAIT_FOR_RPC_OPT_IDX:
+			g_wait_for_rpc = true;
+			break;
 		case 'c':
 		case 'i':
 		case 'n':
@@ -498,6 +514,39 @@ register_controllers(void)
 	return 0;
 }
 
+/* Hotplug RPC */
+static void
+rpc_perform_tests(struct spdk_jsonrpc_request *request,
+		  const struct spdk_json_val *params)
+{
+	if (params) {
+		spdk_jsonrpc_send_error_response(request, SPDK_JSONRPC_ERROR_INVALID_PARAMS,
+						 "'perform_tests' requires no arguments");
+		return;
+	}
+
+	spdk_jsonrpc_send_bool_response(request, true);
+
+	g_rpc_received = true;
+}
+SPDK_RPC_REGISTER("perform_tests", rpc_perform_tests, SPDK_RPC_RUNTIME);
+
+static void
+wait_for_rpc_call(void)
+{
+	fprintf(stderr,
+		"Listening for perform_tests to start the application...\n");
+	spdk_rpc_listen(g_rpc_addr);
+	spdk_rpc_set_state(SPDK_RPC_RUNTIME);
+
+	while (!g_rpc_received) {
+		spdk_rpc_accept();
+	}
+	/* Run spdk_rpc_accept() one more time to trigger
+	 * spdk_jsonrpv_server_poll() and send the RPC response. */
+	spdk_rpc_accept();
+}
+
 int
 main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
@@ -531,6 +580,10 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 		goto cleanup;
 	}
 
+	if (g_wait_for_rpc) {
+		wait_for_rpc_call();
+	}
+
 	fprintf(stderr, "Initialization complete. Starting I/O...\n");
 	io_loop();
 
diff --git a/examples/nvme/hotplug/hotplug_plugin.py b/examples/nvme/hotplug/hotplug_plugin.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ba39524e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/nvme/hotplug/hotplug_plugin.py
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+from spdk.rpc.client import print_json
+
+
+def perform_tests(args):
+    print_json(args.client.call('perform_tests'))
+
+
+def spdk_rpc_plugin_initialize(subparsers):
+    p = subparsers.add_parser('perform_tests',
+                              help='Returns true when hotplug apps starts running IO')
+    p.set_defaults(func=perform_tests)
diff --git a/scripts/check_format.sh b/scripts/check_format.sh
index 6fe67a485..1a00d4674 100755
--- a/scripts/check_format.sh
+++ b/scripts/check_format.sh
@@ -614,7 +614,7 @@ function check_json_rpc() {
 			echo "Missing JSON-RPC documentation for ${rpc}"
 			rc=1
 		fi
-	done < <(git grep -h -E "^SPDK_RPC_REGISTER\(" ':!test/*')
+	done < <(git grep -h -E "^SPDK_RPC_REGISTER\(" ':!test/*' ':!examples/nvme/hotplug/*')
 
 	if [ $rc -eq 0 ]; then
 		echo " OK"
diff --git a/test/nvme/hw_hotplug.sh b/test/nvme/hw_hotplug.sh
index 657fe2f02..c03a1c3d6 100755
--- a/test/nvme/hw_hotplug.sh
+++ b/test/nvme/hw_hotplug.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ testdir=$(readlink -f $(dirname $0))
 rootdir=$(readlink -f $testdir/../..)
 source $rootdir/test/common/autotest_common.sh
 
+export PYTHONPATH="$rootdir/examples/nvme/hotplug/"
+rpc_py=$rootdir/scripts/rpc.py
+
 function beetle_ssh() {
 	ssh_opts="-o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null"
 	if [[ -n $BEETLE_SSH_KEY ]]; then
@@ -69,25 +72,14 @@ if [ "$driver" = "uio_pci_generic" ]; then
 	mode="-m pa"
 fi
 
-exec {log}> >(tee -a "$testdir/log.txt")
-exec >&$log 2>&1
-
-"$SPDK_EXAMPLE_DIR/hotplug" -i 0 -t 100 -n $((2 * nvme_count)) -r $((2 * nvme_count)) $mode &
+"$SPDK_EXAMPLE_DIR/hotplug" -i 0 -t 100 -n $((2 * nvme_count)) -r $((2 * nvme_count)) \
+	$mode --wait-for-rpc &
 hotplug_pid=$!
 
-trap 'killprocess $hotplug_pid; restore_device; rm $testdir/log.txt; exit 1' SIGINT SIGTERM EXIT
+trap 'killprocess $hotplug_pid; restore_device; exit 1' SIGINT SIGTERM EXIT
 
-i=0
-while ! grep -q "Starting I/O" $testdir/log.txt; do
-	[ $i -lt 20 ] || break
-	i=$((i + 1))
-	sleep 1
-done
-
-if ! grep -q "Starting I/O" $testdir/log.txt; then
-	rm $testdir/log.txt
-	exit 1
-fi
+waitforlisten $hotplug_pid
+$rpc_py --plugin hotplug_plugin perform_tests
 
 # Add and remove NVMe with delays between to give some time for IO to proceed
 remove_device
@@ -103,14 +95,11 @@ timing_enter wait_for_example
 
 if ! wait $hotplug_pid; then
 	echo "Hotplug example returned error!"
-	rm $testdir/log.txt
 	exit 1
 fi
 
 timing_exit wait_for_example
 
-rm $testdir/log.txt
-
 trap - SIGINT SIGTERM EXIT
 
 restore_device