diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index 405e821110e..c1caf5f76d4 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -615,6 +615,9 @@ Release 2.7.0 - UNRELEASED
 
     HADOOP-11522. Update S3A Documentation. (Thomas Demoor via stevel)
 
+    HADOOP-11521. Make connection timeout configurable in s3a.
+    (Thomas Demoor via stevel)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
     HADOOP-11323. WritableComparator#compare keeps reference to byte array.
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/resources/core-default.xml b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/resources/core-default.xml
index 5eb301a244b..41121f18f80 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/resources/core-default.xml
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/resources/core-default.xml
@@ -757,6 +757,12 @@ for ldap providers in the same way as above does.
   <description>How many times we should retry commands on transient errors.</description>
 </property>
 
+<property>
+  <name>fs.s3a.connection.establish.timeout</name>
+  <value>5000</value>
+  <description>Socket connection setup timeout in seconds.</description>
+</property>
+
 <property>
   <name>fs.s3a.connection.timeout</name>
   <value>50000</value>
diff --git a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-aws/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/s3a/Constants.java b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-aws/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/s3a/Constants.java
index b6863bb162f..1d4f67b837c 100644
--- a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-aws/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/s3a/Constants.java
+++ b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-aws/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/s3a/Constants.java
@@ -42,6 +42,10 @@ public class Constants {
   // number of times we should retry errors
   public static final String MAX_ERROR_RETRIES = "fs.s3a.attempts.maximum";
   public static final int DEFAULT_MAX_ERROR_RETRIES = 10;
+
+  // seconds until we give up trying to establish a connection to s3
+  public static final String ESTABLISH_TIMEOUT = "fs.s3a.connection.establish.timeout";
+  public static final int DEFAULT_ESTABLISH_TIMEOUT = 50000;
   
   // seconds until we give up on a connection to s3
   public static final String SOCKET_TIMEOUT = "fs.s3a.connection.timeout";
diff --git a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-aws/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/s3a/S3AFileSystem.java b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-aws/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/s3a/S3AFileSystem.java
index 22350bc40c2..4de5c13b703 100644
--- a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-aws/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/s3a/S3AFileSystem.java
+++ b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-aws/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/s3a/S3AFileSystem.java
@@ -174,6 +174,8 @@ public class S3AFileSystem extends FileSystem {
     awsConf.setProtocol(secureConnections ?  Protocol.HTTPS : Protocol.HTTP);
     awsConf.setMaxErrorRetry(conf.getInt(MAX_ERROR_RETRIES, 
       DEFAULT_MAX_ERROR_RETRIES));
+    awsConf.setConnectionTimeout(conf.getInt(ESTABLISH_TIMEOUT,
+        DEFAULT_ESTABLISH_TIMEOUT));
     awsConf.setSocketTimeout(conf.getInt(SOCKET_TIMEOUT, 
       DEFAULT_SOCKET_TIMEOUT));
 
diff --git a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-aws/src/site/markdown/tools/hadoop-aws/index.md b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-aws/src/site/markdown/tools/hadoop-aws/index.md
index 8f511dd276c..1e44864a203 100644
--- a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-aws/src/site/markdown/tools/hadoop-aws/index.md
+++ b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-aws/src/site/markdown/tools/hadoop-aws/index.md
@@ -210,6 +210,12 @@ If you do any of these: change your credentials immediately!
       <description>How many times we should retry commands on transient errors.</description>
     </property>
 
+    <property>
+      <name>fs.s3a.connection.establish.timeout</name>
+      <value>5000</value>
+      <description>Socket connection setup timeout in seconds.</description>
+    </property>
+
     <property>
       <name>fs.s3a.connection.timeout</name>
       <value>50000</value>