diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0d0eed2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+module github.com/bradfitz/gomemcache
+
+go 1.12
diff --git a/memcache/memcache.go b/memcache/memcache.go
index b98a7653..2ad8fc4b 100644
--- a/memcache/memcache.go
+++ b/memcache/memcache.go
@@ -23,17 +23,16 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"net"
-
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
+	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
 )
 
 // Similar to:
-// http://code.google.com/appengine/docs/go/memcache/reference.html
+// https://godoc.org/google.golang.org/appengine/memcache
 
 var (
 	// ErrCacheMiss means that a Get failed because the item wasn't present.
@@ -113,6 +112,7 @@ var (
 	resultTouched   = []byte("TOUCHED\r\n")
 
 	resultClientErrorPrefix = []byte("CLIENT_ERROR ")
+	versionPrefix           = []byte("VERSION")
 )
 
 // New returns a memcache client using the provided server(s)
@@ -129,6 +129,12 @@ func NewFromSelector(ss ServerSelector) *Client {
 	return &Client{selector: ss}
 }
 
+// Stats contains statistic about connections being used by client.
+type Stats struct {
+	ActiveConns int
+	IdleConns   int
+}
+
 // Client is a memcache client.
 // It is safe for unlocked use by multiple concurrent goroutines.
 type Client struct {
@@ -144,9 +150,12 @@ type Client struct {
 	// be set to a number higher than your peak parallel requests.
 	MaxIdleConns int
 
+	// number of currently used connections
+	activeConns int32
+
 	selector ServerSelector
 
-	lk       sync.Mutex
+	lk       sync.RWMutex
 	freeconn map[string][]*conn
 }
 
@@ -193,6 +202,7 @@ func (cn *conn) extendDeadline() {
 // cache miss).  The purpose is to not recycle TCP connections that
 // are bad.
 func (cn *conn) condRelease(err *error) {
+	atomic.AddInt32(&cn.c.activeConns, -1)
 	if *err == nil || resumableError(*err) {
 		cn.release()
 	} else {
@@ -276,6 +286,7 @@ func (c *Client) getConn(addr net.Addr) (*conn, error) {
 	cn, ok := c.getFreeConn(addr)
 	if ok {
 		cn.extendDeadline()
+		atomic.AddInt32(&c.activeConns, 1)
 		return cn, nil
 	}
 	nc, err := c.dial(addr)
@@ -289,6 +300,7 @@ func (c *Client) getConn(addr net.Addr) (*conn, error) {
 		c:    c,
 	}
 	cn.extendDeadline()
+	atomic.AddInt32(&c.activeConns, 1)
 	return cn, nil
 }
 
@@ -326,8 +338,9 @@ func (c *Client) Get(key string) (item *Item, err error) {
 
 // Touch updates the expiry for the given key. The seconds parameter is either
 // a Unix timestamp or, if seconds is less than 1 month, the number of seconds
-// into the future at which time the item will expire. ErrCacheMiss is returned if the
-// key is not in the cache. The key must be at most 250 bytes in length.
+// into the future at which time the item will expire. Zero means the item has
+// no expiration time. ErrCacheMiss is returned if the key is not in the cache.
+// The key must be at most 250 bytes in length.
 func (c *Client) Touch(key string, seconds int32) (err error) {
 	return c.withKeyAddr(key, func(addr net.Addr) error {
 		return c.touchFromAddr(addr, []string{key}, seconds)
@@ -398,6 +411,30 @@ func (c *Client) flushAllFromAddr(addr net.Addr) error {
 	})
 }
 
+// ping sends the version command to the given addr
+func (c *Client) ping(addr net.Addr) error {
+	return c.withAddrRw(addr, func(rw *bufio.ReadWriter) error {
+		if _, err := fmt.Fprintf(rw, "version\r\n"); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if err := rw.Flush(); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		line, err := rw.ReadSlice('\n')
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		switch {
+		case bytes.HasPrefix(line, versionPrefix):
+			break
+		default:
+			return fmt.Errorf("memcache: unexpected response line from ping: %q", string(line))
+		}
+		return nil
+	})
+}
+
 func (c *Client) touchFromAddr(addr net.Addr, keys []string, expiration int32) error {
 	return c.withAddrRw(addr, func(rw *bufio.ReadWriter) error {
 		for _, key := range keys {
@@ -465,6 +502,21 @@ func (c *Client) GetMulti(keys []string) (map[string]*Item, error) {
 	return m, err
 }
 
+// Stats returns current statistic
+func (c *Client) Stats() Stats {
+	c.lk.RLock()
+	idleConns := 0
+	for _, conns := range c.freeconn {
+		idleConns += len(conns)
+	}
+	c.lk.RUnlock()
+
+	return Stats{
+		ActiveConns: int(atomic.LoadInt32(&c.activeConns)),
+		IdleConns:   idleConns,
+	}
+}
+
 // parseGetResponse reads a GET response from r and calls cb for each
 // read and allocated Item
 func parseGetResponse(r *bufio.Reader, cb func(*Item)) error {
@@ -481,11 +533,14 @@ func parseGetResponse(r *bufio.Reader, cb func(*Item)) error {
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
-		it.Value, err = ioutil.ReadAll(io.LimitReader(r, int64(size)+2))
+		it.Value = make([]byte, size+2)
+		_, err = io.ReadFull(r, it.Value)
 		if err != nil {
+			it.Value = nil
 			return err
 		}
 		if !bytes.HasSuffix(it.Value, crlf) {
+			it.Value = nil
 			return fmt.Errorf("memcache: corrupt get result read")
 		}
 		it.Value = it.Value[:size]
@@ -641,6 +696,12 @@ func (c *Client) DeleteAll() error {
 	})
 }
 
+// Ping checks all instances if they are alive. Returns error if any
+// of them is down.
+func (c *Client) Ping() error {
+	return c.selector.Each(c.ping)
+}
+
 // Increment atomically increments key by delta. The return value is
 // the new value after being incremented or an error. If the value
 // didn't exist in memcached the error is ErrCacheMiss. The value in
diff --git a/memcache/memcache_test.go b/memcache/memcache_test.go
index 4b52a911..70d47026 100644
--- a/memcache/memcache_test.go
+++ b/memcache/memcache_test.go
@@ -209,6 +209,9 @@ func testWithClient(t *testing.T, c *Client) {
 		t.Errorf("post-DeleteAll want ErrCacheMiss, got %v", err)
 	}
 
+	// Test Ping
+	err = c.Ping()
+	checkErr(err, "error ping: %s", err)
 }
 
 func testTouchWithClient(t *testing.T, c *Client) {