diff --git a/etc/tempest.conf.sample b/etc/tempest.conf.sample
index 296ea17..1010ba5 100644
--- a/etc/tempest.conf.sample
+++ b/etc/tempest.conf.sample
@@ -282,6 +282,14 @@
 # Timeout in seconds to wait for ping to succeed. (integer value)
 #ping_timeout = 120
 
+# The packet size for ping packets originating from remote linux hosts
+# (integer value)
+#ping_size = 56
+
+# The number of ping packets originating from remote linux hosts
+# (integer value)
+#ping_count = 1
+
 # Timeout in seconds to wait for authentication to succeed. (integer
 # value)
 #ssh_timeout = 300
diff --git a/tempest/common/utils/linux/remote_client.py b/tempest/common/utils/linux/remote_client.py
index b19faef..29fb493 100644
--- a/tempest/common/utils/linux/remote_client.py
+++ b/tempest/common/utils/linux/remote_client.py
@@ -87,10 +87,11 @@
         cmd = 'sudo sh -c "echo \\"%s\\" >/dev/console"' % message
         return self.exec_command(cmd)
 
-    def ping_host(self, host):
+    def ping_host(self, host, count=CONF.compute.ping_count,
+                  size=CONF.compute.ping_size):
         addr = netaddr.IPAddress(host)
         cmd = 'ping6' if addr.version == 6 else 'ping'
-        cmd += ' -c1 -w1 {0}'.format(host)
+        cmd += ' -c{0} -w{0} -s{1} {2}'.format(count, size, host)
         return self.exec_command(cmd)
 
     def get_mac_address(self):
diff --git a/tempest/config.py b/tempest/config.py
index 77b95ae..6b8113e 100644
--- a/tempest/config.py
+++ b/tempest/config.py
@@ -219,6 +219,14 @@
                default=120,
                help="Timeout in seconds to wait for ping to "
                     "succeed."),
+    cfg.IntOpt('ping_size',
+               default=56,
+               help="The packet size for ping packets originating "
+                    "from remote linux hosts"),
+    cfg.IntOpt('ping_count',
+               default=1,
+               help="The number of ping packets originating from remote "
+                    "linux hosts"),
     cfg.IntOpt('ssh_timeout',
                default=300,
                help="Timeout in seconds to wait for authentication to "
diff --git a/tempest/tests/common/utils/linux/test_remote_client.py b/tempest/tests/common/utils/linux/test_remote_client.py
index 40b7b32..d6377e6 100644
--- a/tempest/tests/common/utils/linux/test_remote_client.py
+++ b/tempest/tests/common/utils/linux/test_remote_client.py
@@ -100,15 +100,17 @@
         self._assert_exec_called_with('cut -f1 -d. /proc/uptime')
 
     def test_ping_host(self):
-        ping_response = """PING localhost (127.0.0.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
-64 bytes from localhost (127.0.0.1): icmp_req=1 ttl=64 time=0.048 ms
+        ping_response = """PING localhost (127.0.0.1) 70(98) bytes of data.
+78 bytes from localhost (127.0.0.1): icmp_req=1 ttl=64 time=0.048 ms
+78 bytes from localhost (127.0.0.1): icmp_req=2 ttl=64 time=0.048 ms
 
 --- localhost ping statistics ---
-1 packets transmitted, 1 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms
+2 packets transmitted, 2 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms
 rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.048/0.048/0.048/0.000 ms"""
         self.ssh_mock.mock.exec_command.return_value = ping_response
-        self.assertEqual(self.conn.ping_host('127.0.0.1'), ping_response)
-        self._assert_exec_called_with('ping -c1 -w1 127.0.0.1')
+        self.assertEqual(self.conn.ping_host('127.0.0.1', count=2, size=70),
+                         ping_response)
+        self._assert_exec_called_with('ping -c2 -w2 -s70 127.0.0.1')
 
     def test_get_mac_address(self):
         macs = """0a:0b:0c:0d:0e:0f