diff --git a/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/CMakeLists.txt b/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/CMakeLists.txt
index fead95ffdab25c7ea96b7ef223efc0abf7eea3e3..c33539f6b50a3dc079e2a1e7820a63f264457b95 100644
--- a/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -48,5 +48,7 @@ foreach(TEST_OP ${TEST_OPS})
 endforeach(TEST_OP)
 py_test_modules(test_warpctc_op MODULES test_warpctc_op ENVS FLAGS_warpctc_dir=${WARPCTC_LIB_DIR} SERIAL)
 py_test_modules(test_dist_train MODULES test_dist_train SERIAL)
-# tests that need to be done in fixed timeout
-set_tests_properties(test_listen_and_serv_op PROPERTIES TIMEOUT 20)
+# FIXME(Yancey1989): this test would cost much more time on CUDAPlace
+# since load cudnn libraries, so we use a longer timeout to make this
+# unit test stability.
+set_tests_properties(test_listen_and_serv_op PROPERTIES TIMEOUT 30)
diff --git a/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/test_listen_and_serv_op.py b/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/test_listen_and_serv_op.py
index cf89f9d0ebf6200933e539ef7fa8cbdc8f6db058..ad479657cc2fbeebcac03bdad2e16315882e2f01 100644
--- a/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/test_listen_and_serv_op.py
+++ b/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/test_listen_and_serv_op.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ from multiprocessing import Process
 from op_test import OpTest
 
 
-def run_pserver(use_cuda, sync_mode, ip, port, trainer_count, trainer_id):
+def run_pserver(use_cuda, sync_mode, ip, port, trainers, trainer_id):
     x = fluid.layers.data(name='x', shape=[1], dtype='float32')
     y_predict = fluid.layers.fc(input=x, size=1, act=None)
     y = fluid.layers.data(name='y', shape=[1], dtype='float32')
@@ -39,15 +39,8 @@ def run_pserver(use_cuda, sync_mode, ip, port, trainer_count, trainer_id):
     place = fluid.CUDAPlace(0) if use_cuda else fluid.CPUPlace()
     exe = fluid.Executor(place)
 
-    port = os.getenv("PADDLE_INIT_PORT", port)
-    pserver_ips = os.getenv("PADDLE_INIT_PSERVERS", ip)  # ip,ip...
-    eplist = []
-    for ip in pserver_ips.split(","):
-        eplist.append(':'.join([ip, port]))
-    pserver_endpoints = ",".join(eplist)  # ip:port,ip:port...
-    trainers = int(os.getenv("TRAINERS", trainer_count))
-    current_endpoint = os.getenv("POD_IP", ip) + ":" + port
-    trainer_id = int(os.getenv("PADDLE_INIT_TRAINER_ID", trainer_id))
+    pserver_endpoints = ip + ":" + port
+    current_endpoint = ip + ":" + port
     t = fluid.DistributeTranspiler()
     t.transpile(
         trainer_id,
@@ -62,47 +55,47 @@ def run_pserver(use_cuda, sync_mode, ip, port, trainer_count, trainer_id):
 
 class TestListenAndServOp(OpTest):
     def setUp(self):
-        self.sleep_time = 5
+        self.ps_timeout = 5
         self.ip = "127.0.0.1"
         self.port = "6173"
-        self.trainer_count = 1
+        self.trainers = 1
         self.trainer_id = 1
 
-    def _raise_signal(self, parent_pid, raised_signal):
-        time.sleep(self.sleep_time)
-        ps_command = subprocess.Popen(
-            "ps -o pid --ppid %d --noheaders" % parent_pid,
-            shell=True,
-            stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
-        ps_output = ps_command.stdout.read()
-        retcode = ps_command.wait()
-        assert retcode == 0, "ps command returned %d" % retcode
-
-        for pid_str in ps_output.split("\n")[:-1]:
-            try:
-                os.kill(int(pid_str), raised_signal)
-            except Exception:
-                continue
-
     def _start_pserver(self, use_cuda, sync_mode):
         p = Process(
             target=run_pserver,
-            args=(use_cuda, sync_mode, self.ip, self.port, self.trainer_count,
+            args=(use_cuda, sync_mode, self.ip, self.port, self.trainers,
                   self.trainer_id))
         p.start()
+        return p.pid
+
+    def _wait_ps_ready(self, pid):
+        retry_times = self.ps_timeout
+        while True:
+            time.sleep(1)
+            assert retry_times >= 0, "wait ps ready failed"
+            try:
+                # the listen_and_serv_op would touch a file which contains the listen port
+                # on the /tmp directory until it was ready to process all the RPC call.
+                os.stat("/tmp/paddle.%d.port" % pid)
+                return
+            except os.error:
+                retry_times -= 1
 
     def test_handle_signal_in_serv_op(self):
         # run pserver on CPU in sync mode
-        self._start_pserver(False, True)
+        pid = self._start_pserver(False, True)
+        self._wait_ps_ready(pid)
 
         # raise SIGINT to pserver
-        self._raise_signal(os.getpid(), signal.SIGINT)
+        os.kill(pid, signal.SIGINT)
 
         # run pserver on CPU in async mode
-        self._start_pserver(False, False)
+        pid = self._start_pserver(False, False)
+        self._wait_ps_ready(pid)
 
         # raise SIGTERM to pserver
-        self._raise_signal(os.getpid(), signal.SIGTERM)
+        os.kill(pid, signal.SIGINT)
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':