diff --git a/nova/conf/libvirt.py b/nova/conf/libvirt.py
index 5f8dd49e11a4..a15d2c8062cb 100644
--- a/nova/conf/libvirt.py
+++ b/nova/conf/libvirt.py
@@ -1068,6 +1068,11 @@ the Ceph RBD server.
     cfg.StrOpt('rbd_secret_uuid',
                help="""
 The libvirt UUID of the secret for the rbd_user volumes.
+"""),
+    cfg.IntOpt('rbd_connect_timeout',
+               default=5,
+               help="""
+The RADOS client timeout in seconds when initially connecting to the cluster.
 """),
 ]
 
diff --git a/nova/tests/unit/virt/libvirt/storage/test_rbd.py b/nova/tests/unit/virt/libvirt/storage/test_rbd.py
index 5464f1ba7b2c..cd1c33bbaad6 100644
--- a/nova/tests/unit/virt/libvirt/storage/test_rbd.py
+++ b/nova/tests/unit/virt/libvirt/storage/test_rbd.py
@@ -83,7 +83,9 @@ class RbdTestCase(test.NoDBTestCase):
         self.mock_rbd.ImageHasSnapshots = FakeException
 
         self.rbd_pool = 'rbd'
-        self.driver = rbd_utils.RBDDriver(self.rbd_pool, None, None)
+        self.rbd_connect_timeout = 5
+        self.driver = rbd_utils.RBDDriver(self.rbd_pool, None, None,
+                                          self.rbd_connect_timeout)
 
         self.volume_name = u'volume-00000001'
         self.snap_name = u'test-snap'
@@ -276,7 +278,8 @@ class RbdTestCase(test.NoDBTestCase):
 
     def test_connect_to_rados_default(self):
         ret = self.driver._connect_to_rados()
-        self.assertTrue(self.mock_rados.Rados.connect.called)
+        self.mock_rados.Rados.connect.assert_called_once_with(
+                timeout=self.rbd_connect_timeout)
         self.assertTrue(self.mock_rados.Rados.open_ioctx.called)
         self.assertIsInstance(ret[0], self.mock_rados.Rados)
         self.assertEqual(self.mock_rados.Rados.ioctx, ret[1])
@@ -284,7 +287,8 @@ class RbdTestCase(test.NoDBTestCase):
 
     def test_connect_to_rados_different_pool(self):
         ret = self.driver._connect_to_rados('alt_pool')
-        self.assertTrue(self.mock_rados.Rados.connect.called)
+        self.mock_rados.Rados.connect.assert_called_once_with(
+                timeout=self.rbd_connect_timeout)
         self.assertTrue(self.mock_rados.Rados.open_ioctx.called)
         self.assertIsInstance(ret[0], self.mock_rados.Rados)
         self.assertEqual(self.mock_rados.Rados.ioctx, ret[1])
diff --git a/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py b/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py
index 05e759516e61..57328604ff0a 100644
--- a/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py
+++ b/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py
@@ -1262,7 +1262,8 @@ class LibvirtDriver(driver.ComputeDriver):
         return rbd_utils.RBDDriver(
                 pool=CONF.libvirt.images_rbd_pool,
                 ceph_conf=CONF.libvirt.images_rbd_ceph_conf,
-                rbd_user=CONF.libvirt.rbd_user)
+                rbd_user=CONF.libvirt.rbd_user,
+                rbd_connect_timeout=CONF.libvirt.rbd_connect_timeout)
 
     def _cleanup_rbd(self, instance):
         # NOTE(nic): On revert_resize, the cleanup steps for the root
diff --git a/nova/virt/libvirt/imagebackend.py b/nova/virt/libvirt/imagebackend.py
index 4da0c6568c1b..66f2ce3196a4 100644
--- a/nova/virt/libvirt/imagebackend.py
+++ b/nova/virt/libvirt/imagebackend.py
@@ -847,6 +847,7 @@ class Rbd(Image):
 
         self.pool = CONF.libvirt.images_rbd_pool
         self.rbd_user = CONF.libvirt.rbd_user
+        self.rbd_connect_timeout = CONF.libvirt.rbd_connect_timeout
         self.ceph_conf = CONF.libvirt.images_rbd_ceph_conf
 
         path = 'rbd:%s/%s' % (self.pool, self.rbd_name)
@@ -860,7 +861,8 @@ class Rbd(Image):
         self.driver = rbd_utils.RBDDriver(
             pool=self.pool,
             ceph_conf=self.ceph_conf,
-            rbd_user=self.rbd_user)
+            rbd_user=self.rbd_user,
+            rbd_connect_timeout=self.rbd_connect_timeout)
 
         self.discard_mode = CONF.libvirt.hw_disk_discard
 
diff --git a/nova/virt/libvirt/storage/rbd_utils.py b/nova/virt/libvirt/storage/rbd_utils.py
index 133f72f410ec..f78dfd228f6c 100644
--- a/nova/virt/libvirt/storage/rbd_utils.py
+++ b/nova/virt/libvirt/storage/rbd_utils.py
@@ -118,12 +118,13 @@ class RADOSClient(object):
 
 class RBDDriver(object):
 
-    def __init__(self, pool, ceph_conf, rbd_user):
+    def __init__(self, pool, ceph_conf, rbd_user, rbd_connect_timeout):
         self.pool = pool
         # NOTE(angdraug): rados.Rados fails to connect if ceph_conf is None:
         # https://github.com/ceph/ceph/pull/1787
         self.ceph_conf = ceph_conf or ''
         self.rbd_user = rbd_user or None
+        self.rbd_connect_timeout = rbd_connect_timeout
         if rbd is None:
             raise RuntimeError(_('rbd python libraries not found'))
 
@@ -131,7 +132,7 @@ class RBDDriver(object):
         client = rados.Rados(rados_id=self.rbd_user,
                                   conffile=self.ceph_conf)
         try:
-            client.connect()
+            client.connect(timeout=self.rbd_connect_timeout)
             pool_to_open = pool or self.pool
             # NOTE(luogangyi): open_ioctx >= 10.1.0 could handle unicode
             # arguments perfectly as part of Python 3 support.
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/bug-1834048-8b19ae1c5048b801.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/bug-1834048-8b19ae1c5048b801.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..1bae7903dea9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/bug-1834048-8b19ae1c5048b801.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+---
+other:
+  - |
+    A new ``[libvirt]/rbd_connect_timeout`` configuration option has been
+    introduced to limit the time spent waiting when connecting to a RBD cluster
+    via the RADOS API. This timeout currently defaults to 5 seconds.
+
+    This aims to address issues reported in `bug 1834048`_ where failures to
+    initially connect to a RBD cluster left the nova-compute service inoperable
+    due to constant RPC timeouts being hit.
+
+    .. _bug 1834048: https://bugs.launchpad.net/nova/+bug/1834048