diff --git a/check_ceph_io b/check_ceph_io
index f698704fd9a2d024e03414e13f0b16ffe17e4b6a..e5b65a88ea9da87904851ad027d8d97307eb6d50 100755
--- a/check_ceph_io
+++ b/check_ceph_io
@@ -17,12 +17,13 @@
 # 2023-05-09  v1.0  <axel.hahn@unibe.ch>
 # 2023-05-10  v1.1  <axel.hahn@unibe.ch>  fix for small transfer rates in B/s
 # 2023-05-10  v1.2  <axel.hahn@unibe.ch>  add tests
+# 2023-05-11  v1.3  <axel.hahn@unibe.ch>  handle ceph status without io data in output
 # ======================================================================
 
 . $(dirname $0)/inc_pluginfunctions
 
 self_APPNAME=$( basename $0 | tr [:lower:] [:upper:] )
-self_APPVERSION=1.2
+self_APPVERSION=1.3
 
 function showHelp(){
     _self=$(basename $0)
@@ -75,6 +76,7 @@ if [ "$1" = "-t" ]; then
     # TEST:   client: 8.9 KiB/s rd, 887 KiB/s wr, 138 op/s rd, 140 op/s wr
     # TEST:   client: 255 B/s rd, 85 B/s wr, 0 op/s rd, 0 op/s
     # TEST:   client: 255 B/s rd, 0 op/s rd, 0 op/s wr
+    # TEST:   no line with client
     if [ -z "$2" ]; then
         echo; echo ">>>>>>>>>> TESTS"; echo
         grep '# TEST: ' $0 | grep -v grep | cut -f 2- -d ':' | while read -r teststring
@@ -90,16 +92,20 @@ if [ "$1" = "-t" ]; then
 else
     # --- check required tools
     ph.require ceph
-    CEPHIO=$( sudo ceph status 2>/dev/null | grep "client:")
-fi
-
 
-if [ -z "${CEPHIO}" ]; then
+    # --- get output of ceph
+    if ! CEPHOUT=$( sudo ceph status 2>&1 ); then
         ph.setStatus "unknown"
         ph.status "no data"
         echo "There is no output from 'sudo ceph status'."
         echo "No ceph here or no sudo permissions on ceph command?"
-else
+        echo "$CEPHOUT"
+    fi
+    CEPHIO=$( echo "$CEPHOUT" | grep "client:")
+fi
+
+
+if [ -n "${CEPHOUT}${CEPHIO}" ]; then
 
         CEPHDATA=$( echo "${CEPHIO}" | cut -f 2 -d ':' )
         SEG_R=$(  echo "${CEPHDATA}" | cut -f 1 -d "," | grep "rd" | awk '{ print $1 " " $2 }')
@@ -111,6 +117,7 @@ else
         IO_READ=$(  echo "${SEG_R}" | sed -E "s#([0-9]*) (.).(.).*#\1\2\3#g" | tr -d 's')
         IO_WRITE=$( echo "${SEG_W}" | sed -E "s#([0-9]*) (.).(.).*#\1\2\3#g" | tr -d 's')
 
+        test -z "$CEPHIO"   && CEPHIO="'ceph status' successful - but there are no io data in output."
         test -z "$IO_READ"  && IO_READ="0"
         test -z "$IO_WRITE" && IO_WRITE="0"
         ph.status "$( echo "${CEPHIO}" | cut -f 2 -d ":" )"
diff --git a/docs/20_Checks/check_ceph_io.md b/docs/20_Checks/check_ceph_io.md
index 162ea29773f5307296f606d7fa8ff257eee2e3ad..f406e88150418cf87c1ac6e2fd623823f34da697 100644
--- a/docs/20_Checks/check_ceph_io.md
+++ b/docs/20_Checks/check_ceph_io.md
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ It returns a single line for the status and performance data.
 ______________________________________________________________________
 
 CHECK_CEPH_IO 
-v1.2
+v1.3
 
 (c) Institute for Medical Education - University of Bern
 Licence: GNU GPL 3