diff --git a/jdbc/src/main/java/org/apache/zeppelin/jdbc/JDBCInterpreter.java b/jdbc/src/main/java/org/apache/zeppelin/jdbc/JDBCInterpreter.java
index d2ae4042650..000b46f7768 100644
--- a/jdbc/src/main/java/org/apache/zeppelin/jdbc/JDBCInterpreter.java
+++ b/jdbc/src/main/java/org/apache/zeppelin/jdbc/JDBCInterpreter.java
@@ -409,7 +409,7 @@ private void createConnectionPool(String url, String user, String propertyKey,
     final String maxConnectionLifetime =
         StringUtils.defaultIfEmpty(getProperty("zeppelin.jdbc.maxConnLifetime"), "-1");
     poolableConnectionFactory.setMaxConnLifetimeMillis(Long.parseLong(maxConnectionLifetime));
-
+    poolableConnectionFactory.setValidationQuery("show databases");
     ObjectPool connectionPool = new GenericObjectPool(poolableConnectionFactory);
 
     poolableConnectionFactory.setPool(connectionPool);