diff --git a/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyServerHandler.java b/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyServerHandler.java
index 036fde55e2c..416fdd9be5c 100644
--- a/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyServerHandler.java
+++ b/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyServerHandler.java
@@ -124,6 +124,12 @@ class NettyServerHandler extends AbstractNettyHandler {
   private static final boolean DISABLE_CONNECTION_HEADER_CHECK = Boolean.parseBoolean(
       System.getProperty("io.grpc.netty.disableConnectionHeaderCheck", "false"));
 
+  /**
+   * A message that simply passes through the channel without any real processing. It is useful to
+   * check if buffers have been drained and test the health of the channel in a single operation.
+   */
+  static final Object NOOP_MESSAGE = new Object();
+
   private final Http2Connection.PropertyKey streamKey;
   private final ServerTransportListener transportListener;
   private final int maxMessageSize;
@@ -709,6 +715,8 @@ public void write(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, Object msg, ChannelPromise promise)
       gracefulClose(ctx, (GracefulServerCloseCommand) msg, promise);
     } else if (msg instanceof ForcefulCloseCommand) {
       forcefulClose(ctx, (ForcefulCloseCommand) msg, promise);
+    } else if (msg == NOOP_MESSAGE) {
+      ctx.write(Unpooled.EMPTY_BUFFER, promise);
     } else {
       AssertionError e =
           new AssertionError("Write called for unexpected type: " + msg.getClass().getName());
diff --git a/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyServerTransport.java b/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyServerTransport.java
index 758ffeee5b1..6651b42ee66 100644
--- a/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyServerTransport.java
+++ b/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyServerTransport.java
@@ -160,6 +160,18 @@ public void operationComplete(ChannelFuture future) throws Exception {
     channel.closeFuture().addListener(terminationNotifier);
 
     channel.pipeline().addLast(bufferingHandler);
+
+    channel.writeAndFlush(NettyServerHandler.NOOP_MESSAGE).addListener(new ChannelFutureListener() {
+      @Override
+      public void operationComplete(ChannelFuture future) throws Exception {
+        if (!future.isSuccess()) {
+          // grpcHandler (NettyServerHandler) may not be in the pipeline yet on early negotiation
+          // failure, so connectionError() can remain null. Notify termination here with the write
+          // failure cause to preserve/log the original transport termination reason.
+          notifyTerminated(future.cause());
+        }
+      }
+    });
   }
 
   @Override
diff --git a/netty/src/test/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyServerHandlerTest.java b/netty/src/test/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyServerHandlerTest.java
index 0d5a9bab176..7f958a2845c 100644
--- a/netty/src/test/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyServerHandlerTest.java
+++ b/netty/src/test/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyServerHandlerTest.java
@@ -1347,6 +1347,25 @@ public void maxRstCountSent_exceedsLimit_fails() throws Exception {
     assertFalse(channel().isOpen());
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void write_noopMessage_writesEmptyBuffer() throws Exception {
+    manualSetUp();
+
+    ChannelPromise promise = newPromise();
+    handler().write(ctx(), NettyServerHandler.NOOP_MESSAGE, promise);
+    channel().flush();
+
+    assertTrue(promise.isSuccess());
+
+    Object outbound = channel().readOutbound();
+    assertTrue(outbound instanceof ByteBuf);
+    ByteBuf buf = (ByteBuf) outbound;
+    assertEquals(0, buf.readableBytes());
+    buf.release();
+
+    assertNull(channel().readOutbound());
+  }
+
   private void madeYouReset(int burstSize) throws Exception {
     when(streamTracerFactory.newServerStreamTracer(anyString(), any(Metadata.class)))
         .thenAnswer((args) -> new TestServerStreamTracer());
diff --git a/netty/src/test/java/io/grpc/netty/ProtocolNegotiatorsTest.java b/netty/src/test/java/io/grpc/netty/ProtocolNegotiatorsTest.java
index 80438532172..90ca8f94c6c 100644
--- a/netty/src/test/java/io/grpc/netty/ProtocolNegotiatorsTest.java
+++ b/netty/src/test/java/io/grpc/netty/ProtocolNegotiatorsTest.java
@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
 import java.util.logging.Filter;
+import java.util.logging.Handler;
 import java.util.logging.Level;
 import java.util.logging.LogRecord;
 import java.util.logging.Logger;
@@ -472,6 +473,42 @@ public void from_tls_clientAuthRequire_noClientCert() throws Exception {
     }
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void from_plaintextClient_toTlsServer_logsTransportFailureCause() throws Exception {
+    final AtomicReference<LogRecord> transportFailureLog = new AtomicReference<>();
+    Handler handler = new Handler() {
+      @Override
+      public void publish(LogRecord record) {
+        if ("Transport failed".equals(record.getMessage()) && record.getThrown() != null) {
+          transportFailureLog.compareAndSet(null, record);
+        }
+      }
+
+      @Override
+      public void flush() {}
+
+      @Override
+      public void close() throws SecurityException {}
+    };
+    Logger logger =
+        Logger.getLogger(String.format("%s.connections", NettyServerTransport.class.getName()));
+    Level oldLevel = logger.getLevel();
+    try {
+      logger.addHandler(handler);
+      logger.setLevel(Level.ALL);
+
+      ServerCredentials serverCreds = TlsServerCredentials.create(server1Cert, server1Key);
+      ChannelCredentials channelCreds = InsecureChannelCredentials.create();
+      Status status = expectFailedHandshake(channelCreds, serverCreds);
+
+      assertEquals(Status.Code.UNAVAILABLE, status.getCode());
+      assertThat(transportFailureLog.get()).isNotNull();
+    } finally {
+      logger.removeHandler(handler);
+      logger.setLevel(oldLevel);
+    }
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void from_tls_clientAuthRequire_clientCert() throws Exception {
     ServerCredentials serverCreds = TlsServerCredentials.newBuilder()