diff --git a/docs/reference/modules/discovery/discovery-settings.asciidoc b/docs/reference/modules/discovery/discovery-settings.asciidoc
index e97ff503d1ef..9aa11163225c 100644
--- a/docs/reference/modules/discovery/discovery-settings.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/reference/modules/discovery/discovery-settings.asciidoc
@@ -73,12 +73,12 @@ Defaults to `1s`.
 `discovery.probe.connect_timeout`::
 (<<static-cluster-setting,Static>>)
 Sets how long to wait when attempting to connect to each address. Defaults to
-`3s`.
+`30s`.
 
 `discovery.probe.handshake_timeout`::
 (<<static-cluster-setting,Static>>)
 Sets how long to wait when attempting to identify the remote node via a
-handshake. Defaults to `1s`.
+handshake. Defaults to `30s`.
 
 `discovery.request_peers_timeout`::
 (<<static-cluster-setting,Static>>)
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/HandshakingTransportAddressConnector.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/HandshakingTransportAddressConnector.java
index 24004cb00b22..86a52b3519b7 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/HandshakingTransportAddressConnector.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/HandshakingTransportAddressConnector.java
@@ -51,11 +51,11 @@ public class HandshakingTransportAddressConnector implements TransportAddressCon
     // connection timeout for probes
     public static final Setting<TimeValue> PROBE_CONNECT_TIMEOUT_SETTING =
         Setting.timeSetting("discovery.probe.connect_timeout",
-            TimeValue.timeValueMillis(3000), TimeValue.timeValueMillis(1), Setting.Property.NodeScope);
+            TimeValue.timeValueSeconds(30), TimeValue.timeValueMillis(1), Setting.Property.NodeScope);
     // handshake timeout for probes
     public static final Setting<TimeValue> PROBE_HANDSHAKE_TIMEOUT_SETTING =
         Setting.timeSetting("discovery.probe.handshake_timeout",
-            TimeValue.timeValueMillis(1000), TimeValue.timeValueMillis(1), Setting.Property.NodeScope);
+            TimeValue.timeValueSeconds(30), TimeValue.timeValueMillis(1), Setting.Property.NodeScope);
 
     private final TransportService transportService;
     private final TimeValue probeConnectTimeout;
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/HandshakingTransportAddressConnectorTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/HandshakingTransportAddressConnectorTests.java
index e5b6fb596303..66b6e14c1b38 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/HandshakingTransportAddressConnectorTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/HandshakingTransportAddressConnectorTests.java
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.Nullable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.Loggers;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.transport.TransportAddress;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.MockLogAppender;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.junit.annotations.TestLogging;
@@ -53,6 +54,7 @@ import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import static java.util.Collections.emptyMap;
 import static java.util.Collections.emptySet;
 import static org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterName.CLUSTER_NAME_SETTING;
+import static org.elasticsearch.discovery.HandshakingTransportAddressConnector.PROBE_CONNECT_TIMEOUT_SETTING;
 import static org.elasticsearch.discovery.HandshakingTransportAddressConnector.PROBE_HANDSHAKE_TIMEOUT_SETTING;
 import static org.elasticsearch.node.Node.NODE_NAME_SETTING;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
@@ -79,6 +81,7 @@ public class HandshakingTransportAddressConnectorTests extends ESTestCase {
         final Settings settings = Settings.builder()
             .put(NODE_NAME_SETTING.getKey(), "node")
             .put(CLUSTER_NAME_SETTING.getKey(), "local-cluster")
+            .put(PROBE_HANDSHAKE_TIMEOUT_SETTING.getKey(), "1s") // shorter than default for the sake of test speed
             .build();
         threadPool = new TestThreadPool("node", settings);
 
@@ -211,6 +214,11 @@ public class HandshakingTransportAddressConnectorTests extends ESTestCase {
         failureListener.assertFailure();
     }
 
+    public void testTimeoutDefaults() {
+        assertThat(PROBE_HANDSHAKE_TIMEOUT_SETTING.get(Settings.EMPTY), equalTo(TimeValue.timeValueSeconds(30)));
+        assertThat(PROBE_CONNECT_TIMEOUT_SETTING.get(Settings.EMPTY), equalTo(TimeValue.timeValueSeconds(30)));
+    }
+
     public void testHandshakeTimesOut() throws InterruptedException {
         remoteNode = new DiscoveryNode("remote-node", buildNewFakeTransportAddress(), Version.CURRENT);
         discoveryAddress = getDiscoveryAddress();
@@ -219,7 +227,6 @@ public class HandshakingTransportAddressConnectorTests extends ESTestCase {
 
         FailureListener failureListener = new FailureListener();
         handshakingTransportAddressConnector.connectToRemoteMasterNode(discoveryAddress, failureListener);
-        Thread.sleep(PROBE_HANDSHAKE_TIMEOUT_SETTING.get(Settings.EMPTY).millis());
         failureListener.assertFailure();
     }
 
@@ -227,7 +234,7 @@ public class HandshakingTransportAddressConnectorTests extends ESTestCase {
         return randomBoolean() ? remoteNode.getAddress() : buildNewFakeTransportAddress();
     }
 
-    private class FailureListener implements ActionListener<DiscoveryNode> {
+    private static class FailureListener implements ActionListener<DiscoveryNode> {
         final CountDownLatch completionLatch = new CountDownLatch(1);
 
         @Override
@@ -241,7 +248,7 @@ public class HandshakingTransportAddressConnectorTests extends ESTestCase {
         }
 
         void assertFailure() throws InterruptedException {
-            assertTrue(completionLatch.await(30, TimeUnit.SECONDS));
+            assertTrue(completionLatch.await(15, TimeUnit.SECONDS));
         }
     }
 }