diff --git a/README.org b/README.org
index 5d21f54..d9cc3d5 100644
--- a/README.org
+++ b/README.org
@@ -611,6 +611,12 @@ munet>
         description
           "Shell command[s] to execute to determine if the node is ready";
       }
+      leaf ready-timeout {
+        type uint32;
+        default 30;
+        description
+          "Maximum time in seconds to wait for the node to become ready.";
+      }
       leaf image {
         type string;
         must "not(../hostnet) and not(../qemu) and not(../server)" {
diff --git a/munet/munet-schema.json b/munet/munet-schema.json
index b61ce5c..ca3a004 100644
--- a/munet/munet-schema.json
+++ b/munet/munet-schema.json
@@ -105,6 +105,9 @@
           "ready-cmd": {
             "type": "string"
           },
+          "ready-timeout": {
+            "type": "integer"
+          },
           "image": {
             "type": "string"
           },
@@ -593,6 +596,9 @@
               "ready-cmd": {
                 "type": "string"
               },
+              "ready-timeout": {
+                "type": "integer"
+              },
               "image": {
                 "type": "string"
               },
diff --git a/munet/native.py b/munet/native.py
index bf1bfae..acc5d0e 100644
--- a/munet/native.py
+++ b/munet/native.py
@@ -3586,7 +3586,18 @@ async def wait_until_ready(x):
             tasks = [asyncio.create_task(wait_until_ready(x)) for x in ready_nodes]
 
             logging.debug("Waiting for ready on nodes: %s", ready_nodes)
-            _, pending = await asyncio.wait(tasks, timeout=30)
+
+            # setable via "ready-timeout: 600" in kinds.yaml.
+            ready_timeout = max(
+                node.config.get("ready-timeout", 30) for node in ready_nodes
+            )
+            self.logger.info(
+                "waiting up to %ss for ready-cmd on %s ready nodes",
+                ready_timeout,
+                len(ready_nodes),
+            )
+
+            _, pending = await asyncio.wait(tasks, timeout=ready_timeout)
             if pending:
                 logging.warning("Timeout waiting for ready: %s", pending)
                 for nr in pending: