diff --git a/etc/tempest.conf.sample b/etc/tempest.conf.sample
index a73e8a0..92371e8 100644
--- a/etc/tempest.conf.sample
+++ b/etc/tempest.conf.sample
@@ -91,6 +91,9 @@
 # IP version of the address used for SSH
 ip_version_for_ssh = 4
 
+# Number of seconds to wait to ping to an instance
+ping_timeout = 60
+
 # Number of seconds to wait to authenticate to an instance
 ssh_timeout = 300
 
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 "
diff --git a/tempest/scenario/manager.py b/tempest/scenario/manager.py
index fcd5d0e..8b24b2e 100644
--- a/tempest/scenario/manager.py
+++ b/tempest/scenario/manager.py
@@ -425,24 +425,24 @@
             if proc.returncode == 0:
                 return True
 
-        # TODO(mnewby) Allow configuration of execution and sleep duration.
-        return tempest.test.call_until_true(ping, 20, 1)
+        return tempest.test.call_until_true(
+            ping, self.config.compute.ping_timeout, 1)
 
     def _is_reachable_via_ssh(self, ip_address, username, private_key,
-                              timeout=120):
+                              timeout):
         ssh_client = ssh.Client(ip_address, username,
                                 pkey=private_key,
                                 timeout=timeout)
         return ssh_client.test_connection_auth()
 
-    def _check_vm_connectivity(self, ip_address, username, private_key,
-                               timeout=120):
+    def _check_vm_connectivity(self, ip_address, username, private_key):
         self.assertTrue(self._ping_ip_address(ip_address),
                         "Timed out waiting for %s to become "
                         "reachable" % ip_address)
-        self.assertTrue(self._is_reachable_via_ssh(ip_address,
-                                                   username,
-                                                   private_key,
-                                                   timeout=timeout),
-                        'Auth failure in connecting to %s@%s via ssh' %
-                        (username, ip_address))
+        self.assertTrue(self._is_reachable_via_ssh(
+            ip_address,
+            username,
+            private_key,
+            timeout=self.config.compute.ssh_timeout),
+            'Auth failure in connecting to %s@%s via ssh' %
+            (username, ip_address))