diff --git a/tempest/config.py b/tempest/config.py
index d9de205..68acdaa 100644
--- a/tempest/config.py
+++ b/tempest/config.py
@@ -160,6 +160,10 @@
     cfg.StrOpt('ssh_user',
                default='root',
                help="User name used to authenticate to an instance."),
+    cfg.IntOpt('ping_timeout',
+               default=60,
+               help="Timeout in seconds to wait for ping to "
+                    "succeed."),
     cfg.IntOpt('ssh_timeout',
                default=300,
                help="Timeout in seconds to wait for authentication to "