diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml
index 6262cb7bb2f..c9fa6cd9c76 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml
@@ -1727,7 +1727,9 @@ include_dir 'conf.d'
         server will try to request huge pages, but fall back to the default if
         that fails. With <literal>on</literal>, failure to request huge pages
         will prevent the server from starting up. With <literal>off</literal>,
-        huge pages will not be requested.
+        huge pages will not be requested. The actual state of huge pages is
+        indicated by the server variable
+        <xref linkend="guc-huge-pages-status"/>.
        </para>
 
        <para>
@@ -10738,6 +10740,25 @@ dynamic_library_path = 'C:\tools\postgresql;H:\my_project\lib;$libdir'
       </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
 
+     <varlistentry id="guc-huge-pages-status" xreflabel="huge_pages_status">
+      <term><varname>huge_pages_status</varname> (<type>enum</type>)
+      <indexterm>
+       <primary><varname>huge_pages_status</varname> configuration parameter</primary>
+      </indexterm>
+      </term>
+      <listitem>
+       <para>
+        Reports the state of huge pages in the current instance:
+        <literal>on</literal>, <literal>off</literal>, or
+        <literal>unknown</literal> (if displayed with
+        <literal>postgres -C</literal>).
+        This parameter is useful to determine whether allocation of huge pages
+        was successful under <literal>huge_pages=try</literal>.
+        See <xref linkend="guc-huge-pages"/> for more information.
+       </para>
+      </listitem>
+     </varlistentry>
+
      <varlistentry id="guc-integer-datetimes" xreflabel="integer_datetimes">
       <term><varname>integer_datetimes</varname> (<type>boolean</type>)
       <indexterm>
diff --git a/src/backend/port/sysv_shmem.c b/src/backend/port/sysv_shmem.c
index eaba244bc9c..f1eb5a1e208 100644
--- a/src/backend/port/sysv_shmem.c
+++ b/src/backend/port/sysv_shmem.c
@@ -627,6 +627,14 @@ CreateAnonymousSegment(Size *size)
 	}
 #endif
 
+	/*
+	 * Report whether huge pages are in use.  This needs to be tracked before
+	 * the second mmap() call if attempting to use huge pages failed
+	 * previously.
+	 */
+	SetConfigOption("huge_pages_status", (ptr == MAP_FAILED) ? "off" : "on",
+					PGC_INTERNAL, PGC_S_DYNAMIC_DEFAULT);
+
 	if (ptr == MAP_FAILED && huge_pages != HUGE_PAGES_ON)
 	{
 		/*
@@ -737,8 +745,14 @@ PGSharedMemoryCreate(Size size,
 		sysvsize = sizeof(PGShmemHeader);
 	}
 	else
+	{
 		sysvsize = size;
 
+		/* huge pages are only available with mmap */
+		SetConfigOption("huge_pages_status", "off",
+						PGC_INTERNAL, PGC_S_DYNAMIC_DEFAULT);
+	}
+
 	/*
 	 * Loop till we find a free IPC key.  Trust CreateDataDirLockFile() to
 	 * ensure no more than one postmaster per data directory can enter this
diff --git a/src/backend/port/win32_shmem.c b/src/backend/port/win32_shmem.c
index 62e08074770..05494c14a93 100644
--- a/src/backend/port/win32_shmem.c
+++ b/src/backend/port/win32_shmem.c
@@ -401,6 +401,11 @@ retry:
 	on_shmem_exit(pgwin32_SharedMemoryDelete, PointerGetDatum(hmap2));
 
 	*shim = hdr;
+
+	/* Report whether huge pages are in use */
+	SetConfigOption("huge_pages_status", (flProtect & SEC_LARGE_PAGES) ?
+					"on" : "off", PGC_INTERNAL, PGC_S_DYNAMIC_DEFAULT);
+
 	return hdr;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/backend/storage/ipc/ipci.c b/src/backend/storage/ipc/ipci.c
index 8f1ded7338f..cc387c00a15 100644
--- a/src/backend/storage/ipc/ipci.c
+++ b/src/backend/storage/ipc/ipci.c
@@ -190,6 +190,13 @@ CreateSharedMemoryAndSemaphores(void)
 		 */
 		seghdr = PGSharedMemoryCreate(size, &shim);
 
+		/*
+		 * Make sure that huge pages are never reported as "unknown" while the
+		 * server is running.
+		 */
+		Assert(strcmp("unknown",
+					  GetConfigOption("huge_pages_status", false, false)) != 0);
+
 		InitShmemAccess(seghdr);
 
 		/*
diff --git a/src/backend/utils/misc/guc_tables.c b/src/backend/utils/misc/guc_tables.c
index f8ef87d26dc..59ab630ae40 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/misc/guc_tables.c
+++ b/src/backend/utils/misc/guc_tables.c
@@ -365,6 +365,13 @@ static const struct config_enum_entry huge_pages_options[] = {
 	{NULL, 0, false}
 };
 
+static const struct config_enum_entry huge_pages_status_options[] = {
+	{"off", HUGE_PAGES_OFF, false},
+	{"on", HUGE_PAGES_ON, false},
+	{"unknown", HUGE_PAGES_UNKNOWN, false},
+	{NULL, 0, false}
+};
+
 static const struct config_enum_entry recovery_prefetch_options[] = {
 	{"off", RECOVERY_PREFETCH_OFF, false},
 	{"on", RECOVERY_PREFETCH_ON, false},
@@ -550,6 +557,7 @@ int			ssl_renegotiation_limit;
  */
 int			huge_pages = HUGE_PAGES_TRY;
 int			huge_page_size;
+int			huge_pages_status = HUGE_PAGES_UNKNOWN;
 
 /*
  * These variables are all dummies that don't do anything, except in some
@@ -4876,6 +4884,17 @@ struct config_enum ConfigureNamesEnum[] =
 		NULL, NULL, NULL
 	},
 
+	{
+		{"huge_pages_status", PGC_INTERNAL, PRESET_OPTIONS,
+			gettext_noop("Indicates the status of huge pages."),
+			NULL,
+			GUC_NOT_IN_SAMPLE | GUC_DISALLOW_IN_FILE
+		},
+		&huge_pages_status,
+		HUGE_PAGES_UNKNOWN, huge_pages_status_options,
+		NULL, NULL, NULL
+	},
+
 	{
 		{"recovery_prefetch", PGC_SIGHUP, WAL_RECOVERY,
 			gettext_noop("Prefetch referenced blocks during recovery."),
diff --git a/src/include/storage/pg_shmem.h b/src/include/storage/pg_shmem.h
index 4dd05f156d5..ba0cdc13c77 100644
--- a/src/include/storage/pg_shmem.h
+++ b/src/include/storage/pg_shmem.h
@@ -46,12 +46,13 @@ extern PGDLLIMPORT int shared_memory_type;
 extern PGDLLIMPORT int huge_pages;
 extern PGDLLIMPORT int huge_page_size;
 
-/* Possible values for huge_pages */
+/* Possible values for huge_pages and huge_pages_status */
 typedef enum
 {
 	HUGE_PAGES_OFF,
 	HUGE_PAGES_ON,
-	HUGE_PAGES_TRY
+	HUGE_PAGES_TRY,				/* only for huge_pages */
+	HUGE_PAGES_UNKNOWN			/* only for huge_pages_status */
 }			HugePagesType;
 
 /* Possible values for shared_memory_type */
diff --git a/src/test/authentication/t/003_peer.pl b/src/test/authentication/t/003_peer.pl
index d8e49760726..eacff2b52aa 100644
--- a/src/test/authentication/t/003_peer.pl
+++ b/src/test/authentication/t/003_peer.pl
@@ -100,6 +100,12 @@ my $system_user =
   $node->safe_psql('postgres',
 	q(select (string_to_array(SYSTEM_USER, ':'))[2]));
 
+# While on it, check the status of huge pages, that can be either on
+# or off, but never unknown.
+my $huge_pages_status =
+  $node->safe_psql('postgres', q(SHOW huge_pages_status;));
+isnt($huge_pages_status, 'unknown', "check huge_pages_status");
+
 # Tests without the user name map.
 # Failure as connection is attempted with a database role not mapping
 # to an authorized system user.
diff --git a/src/test/authentication/t/005_sspi.pl b/src/test/authentication/t/005_sspi.pl
index 05d81f34229..37fd5bc2437 100644
--- a/src/test/authentication/t/005_sspi.pl
+++ b/src/test/authentication/t/005_sspi.pl
@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@ $node->init;
 $node->append_conf('postgresql.conf', "log_connections = on\n");
 $node->start;
 
+my $huge_pages_status =
+  $node->safe_psql('postgres', q(SHOW huge_pages_status;));
+isnt($huge_pages_status, 'unknown', "check huge_pages_status");
+
 # SSPI is set up by default.  Make sure it interacts correctly with
 # require_auth.
 $node->connect_ok("require_auth=sspi",