diff --git a/redis.conf b/redis.conf
index f4b0af7e02fed9c9452a4ee70c33f8f6828fb9ab..9bcb130dece32f52edbf6f95aa78003694dc041c 100644
--- a/redis.conf
+++ b/redis.conf
@@ -493,6 +493,12 @@ lua-time-limit 5000
 #
 # cluster-config-file nodes-6379.conf
 
+# Cluster node timeout is the amount of seconds a node must be unreachable 
+# for it to be considered in failure state.
+# Most other internal time limits are multiplicators of the node timeout.
+#
+# cluster-node-timeout 15
+
 # In order to setup your cluster make sure to read the documentation
 # available at http://redis.io web site.
 
diff --git a/src/cluster.c b/src/cluster.c
index 98d37b286c59df67b5ffc7237237c6017407e2c0..2f412ae5003b22853c69ac4540ece1d75dca3c5c 100644
--- a/src/cluster.c
+++ b/src/cluster.c
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ void clusterInit(void) {
     server.cluster->state = REDIS_CLUSTER_FAIL;
     server.cluster->size = 1;
     server.cluster->nodes = dictCreate(&clusterNodesDictType,NULL);
-    server.cluster->node_timeout = REDIS_CLUSTER_DEFAULT_NODE_TIMEOUT;
+    server.cluster->node_timeout = server.cluster_node_timeout;
     server.cluster->failover_auth_time = 0;
     server.cluster->failover_auth_count = 0;
     memset(server.cluster->migrating_slots_to,0,
diff --git a/src/config.c b/src/config.c
index 98136fde0685a5d2734793aeeefbd2d4db204349..cb7de78be1ee934940a956a2fb9acac5f9de567c 100644
--- a/src/config.c
+++ b/src/config.c
@@ -387,6 +387,11 @@ void loadServerConfigFromString(char *config) {
         } else if (!strcasecmp(argv[0],"cluster-config-file") && argc == 2) {
             zfree(server.cluster_configfile);
             server.cluster_configfile = zstrdup(argv[1]);
+        } else if (!strcasecmp(argv[0],"cluster-node-timeout") && argc == 2) {
+            server.cluster_node_timeout = atoi(argv[1]);
+            if (server.cluster_node_timeout <= 0) {
+                err = "cluster node timeout must be 1 or greater"; goto loaderr;
+            }
         } else if (!strcasecmp(argv[0],"lua-time-limit") && argc == 2) {
             server.lua_time_limit = strtoll(argv[1],NULL,10);
         } else if (!strcasecmp(argv[0],"slowlog-log-slower-than") &&
diff --git a/src/redis.c b/src/redis.c
index 6d5f3eec63e60957c9fe1a7d42a5f66b71dd4e2e..d375d5bb653d381ea8c88cd88c4c366a47c9b885 100644
--- a/src/redis.c
+++ b/src/redis.c
@@ -1261,6 +1261,7 @@ void initServerConfig() {
     server.repl_ping_slave_period = REDIS_REPL_PING_SLAVE_PERIOD;
     server.repl_timeout = REDIS_REPL_TIMEOUT;
     server.cluster_enabled = 0;
+    server.cluster_node_timeout = REDIS_CLUSTER_DEFAULT_NODE_TIMEOUT;
     server.cluster_configfile = zstrdup("nodes.conf");
     server.lua_caller = NULL;
     server.lua_time_limit = REDIS_LUA_TIME_LIMIT;
diff --git a/src/redis.h b/src/redis.h
index 0d0f9a85c064fc0626932a3614b8678a5d1d78d3..dddc70173db7a79835c0717979131f234ff37025 100644
--- a/src/redis.h
+++ b/src/redis.h
@@ -853,6 +853,7 @@ struct redisServer {
                                    xor of REDIS_NOTIFY... flags. */
     /* Cluster */
     int cluster_enabled;      /* Is cluster enabled? */
+    int cluster_node_timeout; /* Cluster node timeout. */
     char *cluster_configfile; /* Cluster auto-generated config file name. */
     clusterState *cluster;  /* State of the cluster */
     /* Scripting */