diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/nodes/NodesOperationRequest.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/nodes/NodesOperationRequest.java
index cca607a3ada..a4b38d7e29c 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/nodes/NodesOperationRequest.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/nodes/NodesOperationRequest.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.action.ActionRequestValidationException;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamInput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 
@@ -38,6 +39,8 @@ public abstract class NodesOperationRequest implements ActionRequest {
 
     private boolean listenerThreaded = false;
 
+    private TimeValue timeout;
+
     protected NodesOperationRequest() {
 
     }
@@ -64,6 +67,15 @@ public abstract class NodesOperationRequest implements ActionRequest {
         return this;
     }
 
+    public TimeValue timeout() {
+        return this.timeout;
+    }
+
+    public NodesOperationRequest timeout(TimeValue timeout) {
+        this.timeout = timeout;
+        return this;
+    }
+
     @Override public ActionRequestValidationException validate() {
         return null;
     }
@@ -73,6 +85,9 @@ public abstract class NodesOperationRequest implements ActionRequest {
         for (int i = 0; i < nodesIds.length; i++) {
             nodesIds[i] = in.readUTF();
         }
+        if (in.readBoolean()) {
+            timeout = TimeValue.readTimeValue(in);
+        }
     }
 
     @Override public void writeTo(StreamOutput out) throws IOException {
@@ -84,5 +99,11 @@ public abstract class NodesOperationRequest implements ActionRequest {
                 out.writeUTF(nodeId);
             }
         }
+        if (timeout == null) {
+            out.writeBoolean(false);
+        } else {
+            out.writeBoolean(true);
+            timeout.writeTo(out);
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/nodes/TransportNodesOperationAction.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/nodes/TransportNodesOperationAction.java
index 731b6406309..359887cc458 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/nodes/TransportNodesOperationAction.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/nodes/TransportNodesOperationAction.java
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReferenceArray;
 
 /**
- * @author kimchy (Shay Banon)
+ * @author kimchy (shay.banon)
  */
 public abstract class TransportNodesOperationAction<Request extends NodesOperationRequest, Response extends NodesOperationResponse, NodeRequest extends NodeOperationRequest, NodeResponse extends NodeOperationResponse> extends BaseAction<Request, Response> {
 
@@ -124,6 +124,10 @@ public abstract class TransportNodesOperationAction<Request extends NodesOperati
                 });
                 return;
             }
+            TransportRequestOptions transportRequestOptions = TransportRequestOptions.options();
+            if (request.timeout() != null) {
+                transportRequestOptions.withTimeout(request.timeout());
+            }
             for (final String nodeId : nodesIds) {
                 final DiscoveryNode node = clusterState.nodes().nodes().get(nodeId);
                 if (nodeId.equals("_local") || nodeId.equals(clusterState.nodes().localNodeId())) {
@@ -151,7 +155,7 @@ public abstract class TransportNodesOperationAction<Request extends NodesOperati
                         onFailure(nodeId, new NoSuchNodeException(nodeId));
                     } else {
                         NodeRequest nodeRequest = newNodeRequest(nodeId, request);
-                        transportService.sendRequest(node, transportNodeAction(), nodeRequest, new BaseTransportResponseHandler<NodeResponse>() {
+                        transportService.sendRequest(node, transportNodeAction(), nodeRequest, transportRequestOptions, new BaseTransportResponseHandler<NodeResponse>() {
                             @Override public NodeResponse newInstance() {
                                 return newNodeResponse();
                             }
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/blobstore/BlobReuseExistingNodeAllocation.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/blobstore/BlobReuseExistingNodeAllocation.java
index fe4d44092dc..ce37aa09eac 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/blobstore/BlobReuseExistingNodeAllocation.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/blobstore/BlobReuseExistingNodeAllocation.java
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.component.AbstractComponent;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Inject;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.ByteSizeValue;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.gateway.CommitPoint;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.gateway.blobstore.BlobStoreIndexGateway;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.service.InternalIndexService;
@@ -52,11 +53,15 @@ public class BlobReuseExistingNodeAllocation extends AbstractComponent implement
 
     private final TransportNodesListShardStoreMetaData transportNodesListShardStoreMetaData;
 
+    private final TimeValue listTimeout;
+
     @Inject public BlobReuseExistingNodeAllocation(Settings settings, IndicesService indicesService,
                                                    TransportNodesListShardStoreMetaData transportNodesListShardStoreMetaData) {
         super(settings);
         this.indicesService = indicesService;
         this.transportNodesListShardStoreMetaData = transportNodesListShardStoreMetaData;
+
+        this.listTimeout = componentSettings.getAsTime("list_timeout", TimeValue.timeValueMillis(500));
     }
 
     @Override public boolean allocate(NodeAllocations nodeAllocations, RoutingNodes routingNodes, DiscoveryNodes nodes) {
@@ -78,7 +83,7 @@ public class BlobReuseExistingNodeAllocation extends AbstractComponent implement
                 continue;
             }
 
-            TransportNodesListShardStoreMetaData.NodesStoreFilesMetaData nodesStoreFilesMetaData = transportNodesListShardStoreMetaData.list(shard.shardId(), false, nodes.dataNodes().keySet()).actionGet();
+            TransportNodesListShardStoreMetaData.NodesStoreFilesMetaData nodesStoreFilesMetaData = transportNodesListShardStoreMetaData.list(shard.shardId(), false, nodes.dataNodes().keySet(), listTimeout).actionGet();
 
             if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
                 if (nodesStoreFilesMetaData.failures().length > 0) {
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/store/TransportNodesListShardStoreMetaData.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/store/TransportNodesListShardStoreMetaData.java
index b6032a33e89..5d4f19ff997 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/store/TransportNodesListShardStoreMetaData.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/store/TransportNodesListShardStoreMetaData.java
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ package org.elasticsearch.indices.store;
 
 import org.elasticsearch.ElasticSearchException;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.ActionFuture;
-import org.elasticsearch.action.ActionListener;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.FailedNodeException;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.support.nodes.*;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterName;
@@ -33,6 +32,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Inject;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamInput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.service.InternalIndexService;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.ShardId;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.store.IndexStore;
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.indices.IndicesService;
 import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
 import org.elasticsearch.transport.TransportService;
 
+import javax.annotation.Nullable;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Set;
@@ -58,12 +59,8 @@ public class TransportNodesListShardStoreMetaData extends TransportNodesOperatio
         this.indicesService = indicesService;
     }
 
-    public ActionFuture<NodesStoreFilesMetaData> list(ShardId shardId, boolean onlyUnallocated, Set<String> nodesIds) {
-        return execute(new Request(shardId, onlyUnallocated, nodesIds));
-    }
-
-    public void list(ShardId shardId, boolean onlyUnallocated, Set<String> nodesIds, ActionListener<NodesStoreFilesMetaData> listener) {
-        execute(new Request(shardId, onlyUnallocated, nodesIds), listener);
+    public ActionFuture<NodesStoreFilesMetaData> list(ShardId shardId, boolean onlyUnallocated, Set<String> nodesIds, @Nullable TimeValue timeout) {
+        return execute(new Request(shardId, onlyUnallocated, nodesIds).timeout(timeout));
     }
 
     @Override protected String transportAction() {
@@ -155,6 +152,11 @@ public class TransportNodesListShardStoreMetaData extends TransportNodesOperatio
             this.unallocated = unallocated;
         }
 
+        @Override public Request timeout(TimeValue timeout) {
+            super.timeout(timeout);
+            return this;
+        }
+
         @Override public void readFrom(StreamInput in) throws IOException {
             super.readFrom(in);
             shardId = ShardId.readShardId(in);