diff --git a/admin/tool/behat/tests/behat/fixtures/environment.php b/admin/tool/behat/tests/behat/fixtures/environment.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7bbafda9346
--- /dev/null
+++ b/admin/tool/behat/tests/behat/fixtures/environment.php
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+<?php
+// This file is part of Moodle - http://moodle.org/
+//
+// Moodle is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+// it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+// the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+// (at your option) any later version.
+//
+// Moodle is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+// GNU General Public License for more details.
+//
+// You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+// along with Moodle.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+/**
+ * Display environment used for running behat.
+ *
+ * This file is used for behat testing to ensure cli and apache
+ * version of environment is same.
+ *
+ * @package    tool_behat
+ * @copyright  2016 onwards Rajesh Taneja
+ * @license    http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU GPL v3 or later
+ */
+
+require_once(__DIR__.'/../../../../../../config.php');
+
+// Only continue for behat site.
+defined('BEHAT_SITE_RUNNING') ||  die();
+
+require_once($CFG->libdir.'/behat/classes/util.php');
+echo json_encode(behat_util::get_environment(), true);
diff --git a/lib/behat/classes/util.php b/lib/behat/classes/util.php
index a1f4696f3e6..80f59232581 100644
--- a/lib/behat/classes/util.php
+++ b/lib/behat/classes/util.php
@@ -138,20 +138,42 @@ class behat_util extends testing_util {
     }
 
     /**
-     * Checks if $CFG->behat_wwwroot is available
+     * Checks if $CFG->behat_wwwroot is available and using same versions for cli and web.
      *
-     * @return bool
+     * @return void
      */
-    public static function is_server_running() {
+    public static function check_server_status() {
         global $CFG;
 
-        $request = new curl();
-        $request->get($CFG->behat_wwwroot);
+        $url = $CFG->behat_wwwroot . '/admin/tool/behat/tests/behat/fixtures/environment.php';
 
-        if ($request->get_errno() === 0) {
-            return true;
+        // Get web versions used by behat site.
+        $ch = curl_init($url);
+        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
+        $result = curl_exec($ch);
+        curl_close($ch);
+
+        if (empty($result)) {
+
+            behat_error (BEHAT_EXITCODE_REQUIREMENT, $CFG->behat_wwwroot . ' is not available, ensure you specified ' .
+                'correct url and that the server is set up and started.' . PHP_EOL . ' More info in ' .
+                behat_command::DOCS_URL . '#Running_tests' . PHP_EOL);
+        }
+
+        // Check if cli version is same as web version.
+        $result = json_decode($result, true);
+        $clienv = self::get_environment();
+        if ($result != $clienv) {
+            $output = 'Differences decteted between cli and webserver...'.PHP_EOL;
+            foreach ($result as $key => $version) {
+                if ($clienv[$key] != $version) {
+                    $output .= ' ' . $key . ': ' . PHP_EOL;
+                    $output .= ' - web server: ' . $version . PHP_EOL;
+                    $output .= ' - cli: ' . $clienv[$key] . PHP_EOL;
+                }
+            }
+            echo $output;
         }
-        return false;
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/lib/testing/classes/util.php b/lib/testing/classes/util.php
index dae5a4e149b..34c820c4350 100644
--- a/lib/testing/classes/util.php
+++ b/lib/testing/classes/util.php
@@ -778,34 +778,28 @@ abstract class testing_util {
      * @return string The site info
      */
     public static function get_site_info() {
-        global $CFG, $DB;
+        global $CFG;
 
         $output = '';
 
         // All developers have to understand English, do not localise!
+        $env = self::get_environment();
 
-        $release = null;
-        require("$CFG->dirroot/version.php");
-
-        $output .= "Moodle $release";
+        $output .= "Moodle ".$env['moodleversion'];
         if ($hash = self::get_git_hash()) {
             $output .= ", $hash";
         }
         $output .= "\n";
 
         // Add php version.
-        $phpversion = phpversion();
-        $output .= "Php: ". $phpversion;
+        require_once($CFG->libdir.'/environmentlib.php');
+        $output .= "Php: ". normalize_version($env['phpversion']);
 
         // Add database type and version.
-        $dbtype = $DB->get_dbvendor();
-        $dbinfo = $DB->get_server_info();
-        $dbversion = $dbinfo['version'];
-        $output .= ", " . ucfirst($dbtype) . ": " . $dbversion;
+        $output .= ", " . $env['dbtype'] . ": " . $env['dbversion'];
 
         // OS details.
-        $osdetails = php_uname('s') . " " . php_uname('r') . " " . php_uname('m');
-        $output .= ", OS: " . $osdetails . "\n";
+        $output .= ", OS: " . $env['os'] . "\n";
 
         return $output;
     }
@@ -989,4 +983,43 @@ abstract class testing_util {
             fclose($fp);
         }
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Return list of environment versions on which tests will run.
+     * Environment includes:
+     * - moodleversion
+     * - phpversion
+     * - dbtype
+     * - dbversion
+     * - os
+     *
+     * @return array
+     */
+    public static function get_environment() {
+        global $CFG, $DB;
+
+        $env = array();
+
+        // Add moodle version.
+        $release = null;
+        require("$CFG->dirroot/version.php");
+        $env['moodleversion'] = $release;
+
+        // Add php version.
+        $phpversion = phpversion();
+        $env['phpversion'] = $phpversion;
+
+        // Add database type and version.
+        $dbtype = $DB->get_dbvendor();
+        $dbinfo = $DB->get_server_info();
+        $dbversion = $dbinfo['version'];
+        $env['dbtype'] = ucfirst($dbtype);
+        $env['dbversion'] = $dbversion;
+
+        // OS details.
+        $osdetails = php_uname('s') . " " . php_uname('r') . " " . php_uname('m');
+        $env['os'] = $osdetails;
+
+        return $env;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/lib/tests/behat/behat_hooks.php b/lib/tests/behat/behat_hooks.php
index cddbe93c96f..03e7ef1e7b9 100644
--- a/lib/tests/behat/behat_hooks.php
+++ b/lib/tests/behat/behat_hooks.php
@@ -137,11 +137,8 @@ class behat_hooks extends behat_base {
         // If not done, then it can return apache error, while running tests.
         behat_util::reset_all_data();
 
-        if (!behat_util::is_server_running()) {
-            throw new Exception($CFG->behat_wwwroot .
-                ' is not available, ensure you specified correct url and that the server is set up and started.' .
-                ' More info in ' . behat_command::DOCS_URL . '#Running_tests');
-        }
+        // Check if server is running and using same version for cli and apache.
+        behat_util::check_server_status();
 
         // Prevents using outdated data, upgrade script would start and tests would fail.
         if (!behat_util::is_test_data_updated()) {
diff --git a/lib/upgrade.txt b/lib/upgrade.txt
index 683eeee2908..e2c2a0db212 100644
--- a/lib/upgrade.txt
+++ b/lib/upgrade.txt
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ information provided here is intended especially for developers.
   checking it against the parameter (PARAM_*) type of the target user field. MDL-52781 is
   going to add support to null/not null and choices validation, replacing the existing code to
   validate the user fields in different places in a common way.
+* behat_util::is_server_running() is removed, please use behat_util::check_server_status() instead.
 
 === 3.0.1 ===