diff --git a/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/fabric/sdk/NetworkConfig.java b/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/fabric/sdk/NetworkConfig.java
index 5a3f0e25..82ce2028 100755
--- a/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/fabric/sdk/NetworkConfig.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/fabric/sdk/NetworkConfig.java
@@ -850,6 +850,12 @@ private Node createNode(String nodeName, JsonObject jsonNode, String urlPropName
                 props.remove("grpc.keepalive_timeout_ms");
                 props.put("grpc.NettyChannelBuilderOption.keepAliveTimeout", new Object[] {new Long(value), TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS});
             }
+
+            value = props.getProperty("grpc.keepalive_without_calls");
+            if (null != value) {
+                props.remove("grpc.keepalive_without_calls");
+                props.put("grpc.NettyChannelBuilderOption.keepAliveWithoutCalls", new Object[] { new Boolean(value) });
+            }
         }
 
         // Extract the pem details
diff --git a/src/test/fixture/sdkintegration/network_configs/network-config.yaml b/src/test/fixture/sdkintegration/network_configs/network-config.yaml
index de0d9f11..191610ea 100755
--- a/src/test/fixture/sdkintegration/network_configs/network-config.yaml
+++ b/src/test/fixture/sdkintegration/network_configs/network-config.yaml
@@ -192,6 +192,7 @@ orderers:
       grpc-max-send-message-length: 15
       grpc.keepalive_time_ms: 360000
       grpc.keepalive_timeout_ms: 180000
+      grpc.keepalive_without_calls: true
 
     # src/test/fixture/sdkintegration/e2e-2Orgs/v1.3/crypto-config/ordererOrganizations/example.com/tlsca
 #    tlsCACerts: