diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/replication/regionserver/ReplicationSource.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/replication/regionserver/ReplicationSource.java
index 27fb9d62fdd..fb15ce43668 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/replication/regionserver/ReplicationSource.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/replication/regionserver/ReplicationSource.java
@@ -170,9 +170,9 @@ public class ReplicationSource extends Thread
     for (int i = 0; i < this.replicationQueueNbCapacity; i++) {
       this.entriesArray[i] = new HLog.Entry();
     }
-    this.maxRetriesMultiplier =
-        this.conf.getInt("replication.source.maxretriesmultiplier", 10);
-    this.socketTimeoutMultiplier = maxRetriesMultiplier * maxRetriesMultiplier;
+    this.maxRetriesMultiplier = this.conf.getInt("replication.source.maxretriesmultiplier", 10);
+    this.socketTimeoutMultiplier = this.conf.getInt("replication.source.socketTimeoutMultiplier",
+        maxRetriesMultiplier * maxRetriesMultiplier);
     this.queue =
         new PriorityBlockingQueue<Path>(
             conf.getInt("hbase.regionserver.maxlogs", 32),
@@ -452,14 +452,16 @@ public class ReplicationSource extends Thread
   }
 
   private void connectToPeers() {
+    int sleepMultiplier = 1;
+
     // Connect to peer cluster first, unless we have to stop
     while (this.isActive() && this.currentPeers.size() == 0) {
 
-      try {
-        chooseSinks();
-        Thread.sleep(this.sleepForRetries);
-      } catch (InterruptedException e) {
-        LOG.error("Interrupted while trying to connect to sinks", e);
+      chooseSinks();
+      if (this.isActive() && this.currentPeers.size() == 0) {
+        if (sleepForRetries("Waiting for peers", sleepMultiplier)) {
+          sleepMultiplier++;
+        }
       }
     }
   }