diff --git a/client/common_lib/hosts/base_classes.py b/client/common_lib/hosts/base_classes.py
index b267e79..0f3a840 100644
--- a/client/common_lib/hosts/base_classes.py
+++ b/client/common_lib/hosts/base_classes.py
@@ -50,10 +50,14 @@
     """
 
     job = None
-    DEFAULT_REBOOT_TIMEOUT = 1800
-    WAIT_DOWN_REBOOT_TIMEOUT = 840
-    WAIT_DOWN_REBOOT_WARNING = 540
-    HOURS_TO_WAIT_FOR_RECOVERY = 2.5
+    DEFAULT_REBOOT_TIMEOUT = global_config.global_config.get_config_value(
+        "HOSTS", "default_reboot_timeout", type=int, default=1800)
+    WAIT_DOWN_REBOOT_TIMEOUT = global_config.global_config.get_config_value(
+        "HOSTS", "wait_down_reboot_timeout", type=int, default=840)
+    WAIT_DOWN_REBOOT_WARNING = global_config.global_config.get_config_value(
+        "HOSTS", "wait_down_reboot_warning", type=int, default=540)
+    HOURS_TO_WAIT_FOR_RECOVERY = global_config.global_config.get_config_value(
+        "HOSTS", "hours_to_wait_for_recovery", type=float, default=2.5)
     # the number of hardware repair requests that need to happen before we
     # actually send machines to hardware repair
     HARDWARE_REPAIR_REQUEST_THRESHOLD = 4
@@ -198,8 +202,6 @@
                 self.record("ABORT", None, "reboot.verify", "shut down failed")
             raise error.AutoservShutdownError("Host did not shut down")
 
-        self.wait_up(timeout)
-        time.sleep(2)    # this is needed for complete reliability
         if self.wait_up(timeout):
             self.record("GOOD", None, "reboot.verify")
             self.reboot_followup(**dargs)
@@ -238,12 +240,12 @@
 
         @raises AutoservDiskFullHostError if path has less than gb GB free.
         """
-        one_mb = 10**6  # Bytes (SI unit).
+        one_mb = 10 ** 6  # Bytes (SI unit).
         mb_per_gb = 1000.0
         logging.info('Checking for >= %s GB of space under %s on machine %s',
                      gb, path, self.hostname)
         df = self.run('df -PB %d %s | tail -1' % (one_mb, path)).stdout.split()
-        free_space_gb = int(df[3])/mb_per_gb
+        free_space_gb = int(df[3]) / mb_per_gb
         if free_space_gb < gb:
             raise error.AutoservDiskFullHostError(path, gb, free_space_gb)
         else:
diff --git a/global_config.ini b/global_config.ini
index f794cb1..77b1d62 100644
--- a/global_config.ini
+++ b/global_config.ini
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@
 # 3 months
 execution_engine_timeout: 2160
 
-
 [CLIENT]
 drop_caches: True
 drop_caches_between_iterations: True
@@ -54,6 +53,10 @@
 smtp_port:
 smtp_user:
 smtp_password:
+# Time in hours to wait before giving up on crash collection. A timeout of 0
+# means crash collection is skipped unless the host is already available. If a
+# host is unavailable it likely needs manual recovery.
+crash_collection_hours_to_wait: 0
 
 [SCHEDULER]
 die_on_orphans: False
@@ -85,6 +88,15 @@
 [HOSTS]
 wait_up_processes:
 default_protection: NO_PROTECTION
+# Time in seconds to wait for a machine to come back after reboot.
+default_reboot_timeout: 30
+# Time in seconds to wait for a machine to go down prior to reboot.
+wait_down_reboot_timeout: 30
+# Time in seconds to wait before generating a warning if a host has not gone
+# down for reboot.
+wait_down_reboot_warning: 30
+# Time in hours to wait for a host to recover after a down state.
+hours_to_wait_for_recovery: 0.01
 
 [AUTOSERV]
 # Autotest has 2 implementations of SSH based hosts, the default (raw_ssh), and
diff --git a/server/autotest.py b/server/autotest.py
index 8591efd..726d043 100644
--- a/server/autotest.py
+++ b/server/autotest.py
@@ -7,14 +7,9 @@
 from autotest_lib.client.common_lib import global_config, packages
 from autotest_lib.client.common_lib import utils as client_utils
 
-AUTOTEST_SVN  = 'svn://test.kernel.org/autotest/trunk/client'
+AUTOTEST_SVN = 'svn://test.kernel.org/autotest/trunk/client'
 AUTOTEST_HTTP = 'http://test.kernel.org/svn/autotest/trunk/client'
 
-# Timeouts for powering down and up respectively
-HALT_TIME = 300
-BOOT_TIME = 1800
-CRASH_RECOVERY_TIME = 9000
-
 
 get_value = global_config.global_config.get_config_value
 autoserv_prebuild = get_value('AUTOSERV', 'enable_server_prebuild',
@@ -37,7 +32,7 @@
     implement the unimplemented methods in parent classes.
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, host = None):
+    def __init__(self, host=None):
         self.host = host
         self.got = False
         self.installed = False
@@ -223,7 +218,7 @@
             except (error.PackageInstallError, error.AutoservRunError,
                     global_config.ConfigError), e:
                 logging.info("Could not install autotest using the packaging "
-                             "system: %s. Trying other methods",  e)
+                             "system: %s. Trying other methods", e)
 
         # try to install from file or directory
         if self.source_material:
@@ -272,7 +267,7 @@
         self.installed = False
 
 
-    def get(self, location = None):
+    def get(self, location=None):
         if not location:
             location = os.path.join(self.serverdir, '../client')
             location = os.path.abspath(location)
@@ -290,7 +285,7 @@
 
     def run(self, control_file, results_dir='.', host=None, timeout=None,
             tag=None, parallel_flag=False, background=False,
-            client_disconnect_timeout=1800):
+            client_disconnect_timeout=None):
         """
         Run an autotest job on the remote machine.
 
@@ -307,7 +302,8 @@
                 a background job; the code calling run will be responsible
                 for monitoring the client and collecting the results.
         @param client_disconnect_timeout: Seconds to wait for the remote host
-                to come back after a reboot.  [default: 30 minutes]
+                to come back after a reboot. Defaults to the host setting for
+                DEFAULT_REBOOT_TIMEOUT.
 
         @raises AutotestRunError: If there is a problem executing
                 the control file.
@@ -315,6 +311,9 @@
         host = self._get_host_and_setup(host)
         results_dir = os.path.abspath(results_dir)
 
+        if client_disconnect_timeout is None:
+            client_disconnect_timeout = host.DEFAULT_REBOOT_TIMEOUT
+
         if tag:
             results_dir = os.path.join(results_dir, tag)
 
@@ -700,12 +699,13 @@
     def _wait_for_reboot(self, old_boot_id):
         logging.info("Client is rebooting")
         logging.info("Waiting for client to halt")
-        if not self.host.wait_down(HALT_TIME, old_boot_id=old_boot_id):
+        if not self.host.wait_down(self.host.WAIT_DOWN_REBOOT_TIMEOUT,
+                                   old_boot_id=old_boot_id):
             err = "%s failed to shutdown after %d"
-            err %= (self.host.hostname, HALT_TIME)
+            err %= (self.host.hostname, self.host.WAIT_DOWN_REBOOT_TIMEOUT)
             raise error.AutotestRunError(err)
         logging.info("Client down, waiting for restart")
-        if not self.host.wait_up(BOOT_TIME):
+        if not self.host.wait_up(self.host.DEFAULT_REBOOT_TIMEOUT):
             # since reboot failed
             # hardreset the machine once if possible
             # before failing this control file
@@ -719,7 +719,8 @@
                 warning %= self.host.hostname
                 logging.warning(warning)
             raise error.AutotestRunError("%s failed to boot after %ds" %
-                                         (self.host.hostname, BOOT_TIME))
+                                         (self.host.hostname,
+                                          self.host.DEFAULT_REBOOT_TIMEOUT))
         self.host.reboot_followup()
 
 
@@ -765,7 +766,7 @@
                 self.log_unexpected_abort(logger)
 
                 # give the client machine a chance to recover from a crash
-                self.host.wait_up(CRASH_RECOVERY_TIME)
+                self.host.wait_up(self.host.HOURS_TO_WAIT_FOR_RECOVERY * 3600)
                 msg = ("Aborting - unexpected final status message from "
                        "client on %s: %s\n") % (self.host.hostname, last)
                 raise error.AutotestRunError(msg)
diff --git a/server/crashcollect.py b/server/crashcollect.py
index 6e1de7f..dc582ac 100644
--- a/server/crashcollect.py
+++ b/server/crashcollect.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import os, time, pickle, logging, shutil
 
+from autotest_lib.client.common_lib import global_config
 from autotest_lib.server import utils
 
 
@@ -33,7 +34,12 @@
         collect_uncollected_logs(host)
 
 
-def wait_for_machine_to_recover(host, hours_to_wait=4.0):
+# Load default for number of hours to wait before giving up on crash collection.
+HOURS_TO_WAIT = global_config.global_config.get_config_value(
+    'SERVER', 'crash_collection_hours_to_wait', type=float, default=4.0)
+
+
+def wait_for_machine_to_recover(host, hours_to_wait=HOURS_TO_WAIT):
     """Wait for a machine (possibly down) to become accessible again.
 
     @param host: A RemoteHost instance to wait on
diff --git a/server/hosts/abstract_ssh.py b/server/hosts/abstract_ssh.py
index 3723c46..0f61391 100644
--- a/server/hosts/abstract_ssh.py
+++ b/server/hosts/abstract_ssh.py
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@
                               default=False)
 
 
-def make_ssh_command(user="root", port=22, opts='', hosts_file='/dev/null',
-                     connect_timeout=30, alive_interval=300):
+def _make_ssh_cmd_default(user="root", port=22, opts='', hosts_file='/dev/null',
+                          connect_timeout=30, alive_interval=300):
     base_command = ("/usr/bin/ssh -a -x %s -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no "
                     "-o UserKnownHostsFile=%s -o BatchMode=yes "
                     "-o ConnectTimeout=%d -o ServerAliveInterval=%d "
@@ -22,6 +22,11 @@
                            alive_interval, user, port)
 
 
+make_ssh_command = utils.import_site_function(
+    __file__, "autotest_lib.server.hosts.site_host", "make_ssh_command",
+    _make_ssh_cmd_default)
+
+
 # import site specific Host class
 SiteHost = utils.import_site_class(
     __file__, "autotest_lib.server.hosts.site_host", "SiteHost",
diff --git a/server/hosts/site_host.py b/server/hosts/site_host.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..afe6342
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/hosts/site_host.py
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+def make_ssh_command(user='root', port=22, opts='', hosts_file=None,
+                     connect_timeout=None, alive_interval=None):
+    """Override default make_ssh_command to use options tuned for Chrome OS.
+
+    Tuning changes:
+      - ConnectTimeout=10; maximum of 10 seconds allowed for an SSH connection
+      failure.
+
+      - ServerAliveInterval=60; which causes SSH to ping connection every
+      60 seconds. In conjunction with ServerAliveCountMax ensures that if the
+      connection dies, Autotest will bail out quickly.
+
+      - ServerAliveCountMax=1; only allow a single keep alive failure.
+
+      - UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null; we don't care about the keys. Host keys
+      change with every new installation, don't waste memory/space saving them.
+    """
+    base_command = ('/usr/bin/ssh -a -x %s -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no'
+                    ' -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o BatchMode=yes'
+                    ' -o ConnectTimeout=10 -o ServerAliveInterval=60'
+                    ' -o ServerAliveCountMax=1 -l %s -p %d')
+    return base_command % (opts, user, port)