diff --git a/wsagent/agent/pom.xml b/wsagent/agent/pom.xml
index 420c429fc93e..7ed77a7ffc37 100644
--- a/wsagent/agent/pom.xml
+++ b/wsagent/agent/pom.xml
@@ -29,6 +29,10 @@
             <groupId>com.google.inject</groupId>
             <artifactId>guice</artifactId>
         </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>com.squareup.okhttp3</groupId>
+            <artifactId>okhttp</artifactId>
+        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>javax.inject</groupId>
             <artifactId>javax.inject</artifactId>
diff --git a/wsagent/agent/src/main/java/org/eclipse/che/api/agent/WsAgentLauncher.java b/wsagent/agent/src/main/java/org/eclipse/che/api/agent/WsAgentLauncher.java
index 29a6a15bd752..995f73bd7bd0 100644
--- a/wsagent/agent/src/main/java/org/eclipse/che/api/agent/WsAgentLauncher.java
+++ b/wsagent/agent/src/main/java/org/eclipse/che/api/agent/WsAgentLauncher.java
@@ -11,27 +11,36 @@
 package org.eclipse.che.api.agent;
 
 import static com.google.common.base.MoreObjects.firstNonNull;
+import static org.eclipse.che.api.machine.shared.Constants.WSAGENT_REFERENCE;
 import static org.eclipse.che.api.workspace.shared.Constants.WS_AGENT_PROCESS_NAME;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import javax.inject.Inject;
 import javax.inject.Named;
 import javax.inject.Provider;
 import javax.inject.Singleton;
+import okhttp3.OkHttpClient;
+import okhttp3.Request;
+import okhttp3.Request.Builder;
+import okhttp3.Response;
 import org.eclipse.che.api.agent.server.WsAgentHealthChecker;
 import org.eclipse.che.api.agent.server.WsAgentPingRequestFactory;
 import org.eclipse.che.api.agent.server.launcher.AgentLauncher;
 import org.eclipse.che.api.agent.shared.model.Agent;
-import org.eclipse.che.api.core.ApiException;
 import org.eclipse.che.api.core.BadRequestException;
 import org.eclipse.che.api.core.NotFoundException;
 import org.eclipse.che.api.core.ServerException;
+import org.eclipse.che.api.core.model.machine.Machine;
+import org.eclipse.che.api.core.model.machine.Server;
 import org.eclipse.che.api.environment.server.MachineProcessManager;
 import org.eclipse.che.api.machine.server.exception.MachineException;
 import org.eclipse.che.api.machine.server.model.impl.CommandImpl;
 import org.eclipse.che.api.machine.server.spi.Instance;
-import org.eclipse.che.api.workspace.shared.dto.WsAgentHealthStateDto;
 import org.eclipse.che.commons.annotation.Nullable;
+import org.eclipse.che.commons.env.EnvironmentContext;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
@@ -47,6 +56,10 @@ public class WsAgentLauncher implements AgentLauncher {
 
   private static final String WS_AGENT_PROCESS_OUTPUT_CHANNEL = "workspace:%s:ext-server:output";
   protected static final String DEFAULT_WS_AGENT_RUN_COMMAND = "~/che/ws-agent/bin/catalina.sh run";
+  private static final String WS_AGENT_SERVER_NOT_FOUND_ERROR =
+      "Workspace agent server not found in dev machine.";
+  private static final String WS_AGENT_URL_IS_NULL_OR_EMPTY_ERROR =
+      "URL of Workspace Agent is null or empty.";
 
   private final Provider<MachineProcessManager> machineProcessManagerProvider;
   private final WsAgentPingRequestFactory wsAgentPingRequestFactory;
@@ -56,6 +69,7 @@ public class WsAgentLauncher implements AgentLauncher {
   private final String pingTimedOutErrorMessage;
   private final int wsAgentPingSuccessThreshold;
   private final String wsAgentRunCommand;
+  private final OkHttpClient okHttpClient;
 
   @Inject
   public WsAgentLauncher(
@@ -66,7 +80,8 @@ public WsAgentLauncher(
       @Named("che.workspace.agent.dev.max_start_time_ms") long wsAgentMaxStartTimeMs,
       @Named("che.workspace.agent.dev.ping_delay_ms") long wsAgentPingDelayMs,
       @Named("che.workspace.agent.dev.ping_success_threshold") int wsAgentPingSuccessThreshold,
-      @Named("che.workspace.agent.dev.ping_timeout_error_msg") String pingTimedOutErrorMessage) {
+      @Named("che.workspace.agent.dev.ping_timeout_error_msg") String pingTimedOutErrorMessage,
+      @Named("che.workspace.agent.dev.ping_conn_timeout_ms") int wsAgentPingConnectionTimeoutMs) {
     this.machineProcessManagerProvider = machineProcessManagerProvider;
     this.wsAgentPingRequestFactory = wsAgentPingRequestFactory;
     this.wsAgentHealthChecker = wsAgentHealthChecker;
@@ -75,6 +90,11 @@ public WsAgentLauncher(
     this.wsAgentPingSuccessThreshold = wsAgentPingSuccessThreshold;
     this.pingTimedOutErrorMessage = pingTimedOutErrorMessage;
     this.wsAgentRunCommand = wsAgentRunCommand;
+    okHttpClient =
+        new OkHttpClient()
+            .newBuilder()
+            .connectTimeout(wsAgentPingConnectionTimeoutMs, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+            .build();
   }
 
   @Override
@@ -158,13 +178,41 @@ public static String getWsAgentProcessOutputChannel(String workspaceId) {
   }
 
   private boolean pingWsAgent(Instance machine) throws ServerException {
-    try {
-      WsAgentHealthStateDto state = wsAgentHealthChecker.check(machine);
-      if (state.getCode() == HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK) {
-        return true;
-      }
-    } catch (ApiException ignored) {
+    String wsAgentURL = getWsAgentURL(machine);
+    String token = EnvironmentContext.getCurrent().getSubject().getToken();
+
+    Builder requestBuilder = new Request.Builder().url(wsAgentURL);
+    if (token != null) {
+      requestBuilder.addHeader("Authorization", token);
+    }
+    Request request = requestBuilder.build();
+    try (Response response = okHttpClient.newCall(request).execute()) {
+      return response.code() == HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK;
+    } catch (IOException e) {
     }
     return false;
   }
+
+  private String getWsAgentURL(Machine machine) throws ServerException {
+    Server wsAgent = getWsAgent(machine);
+    if (wsAgent == null) {
+      LOG.error(
+          "{} WorkspaceId: {}, DevMachine Id: {}",
+          WS_AGENT_SERVER_NOT_FOUND_ERROR,
+          machine.getWorkspaceId(),
+          machine.getId());
+      throw new ServerException(WS_AGENT_SERVER_NOT_FOUND_ERROR);
+    }
+    return wsAgent.getProperties().getInternalUrl();
+  }
+
+  private Server getWsAgent(Machine machine) {
+    final Map<String, ? extends Server> servers = machine.getRuntime().getServers();
+    for (Server server : servers.values()) {
+      if (WSAGENT_REFERENCE.equals(server.getRef())) {
+        return server;
+      }
+    }
+    return null;
+  }
 }
diff --git a/wsagent/agent/src/test/java/org/eclipse/che/api/agent/WsAgentLauncherTest.java b/wsagent/agent/src/test/java/org/eclipse/che/api/agent/WsAgentLauncherTest.java
index d2938264e855..35cfedd07004 100644
--- a/wsagent/agent/src/test/java/org/eclipse/che/api/agent/WsAgentLauncherTest.java
+++ b/wsagent/agent/src/test/java/org/eclipse/che/api/agent/WsAgentLauncherTest.java
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ public class WsAgentLauncherTest {
   private static final String WORKSPACE_ID = "testWorkspaceId";
   private static final String WS_AGENT_PORT = Constants.WS_AGENT_PORT;
   private static final long WS_AGENT_MAX_START_TIME_MS = 1000;
+  private static final int WS_AGENT_DEV_PING_CONN_TIMEOUT_MS = 30000;
   private static final long WS_AGENT_PING_DELAY_MS = 1;
   private static final int WS_AGENT_PING_SUCCESS_THRESHOLD = 5;
   private static final String WS_AGENT_SERVER_LOCATION = "ws-agent.com:456789/";
@@ -61,7 +62,11 @@ public class WsAgentLauncherTest {
       new ServerPropertiesImpl(null, WS_AGENT_SERVER_LOCATION, WS_AGENT_SERVER_URL);
   private static final ServerImpl SERVER =
       new ServerImpl(
-          "ref", "http", WS_AGENT_SERVER_LOCATION_EXT, WS_AGENT_SERVER_URL_EXT, SERVER_PROPERTIES);
+          "wsagent",
+          "http",
+          WS_AGENT_SERVER_LOCATION_EXT,
+          WS_AGENT_SERVER_URL_EXT,
+          SERVER_PROPERTIES);
   private static final String WS_AGENT_TIMED_OUT_MESSAGE = "timeout error message";
 
   @Mock private MachineProcessManager machineProcessManager;
@@ -86,7 +91,8 @@ public void setUp() throws Exception {
             WS_AGENT_MAX_START_TIME_MS,
             WS_AGENT_PING_DELAY_MS,
             WS_AGENT_PING_SUCCESS_THRESHOLD,
-            WS_AGENT_TIMED_OUT_MESSAGE);
+            WS_AGENT_TIMED_OUT_MESSAGE,
+            WS_AGENT_DEV_PING_CONN_TIMEOUT_MS);
     pingRequest = Mockito.mock(HttpJsonRequest.class, new SelfReturningAnswer());
     Mockito.when(agent.getScript()).thenReturn("script");
     Mockito.when(machine.getId()).thenReturn(MACHINE_ID);