diff --git a/ironic/conf/ipmi.py b/ironic/conf/ipmi.py
index 1ac007c61a..0ef39b7b29 100644
--- a/ironic/conf/ipmi.py
+++ b/ironic/conf/ipmi.py
@@ -38,13 +38,13 @@ opts = [
                       'that setting this too low may cause the BMC to crash. '
                       'Recommended setting is 5 seconds.')),
     cfg.BoolOpt('use_ipmitool_retries',
-                default=True,
+                default=False,
                 help=_('When set to True and the parameters are supported by '
                        'ipmitool, the number of retries and the retry '
                        'interval are passed to ipmitool as parameters, and '
                        'ipmitool will do the retries.  When set to False, '
                        'ironic will retry the ipmitool commands. '
-                       'Recommended setting is True')),
+                       'Recommended setting is False')),
     cfg.BoolOpt('kill_on_timeout',
                 default=True,
                 mutable=True,
diff --git a/ironic/tests/unit/drivers/modules/test_ipmitool.py b/ironic/tests/unit/drivers/modules/test_ipmitool.py
index c7dd502a49..ad41d0ba16 100644
--- a/ironic/tests/unit/drivers/modules/test_ipmitool.py
+++ b/ironic/tests/unit/drivers/modules/test_ipmitool.py
@@ -1037,6 +1037,8 @@ class IPMIToolPrivateMethodTestCase(
         mock_support.return_value = True
         mock_exec.return_value = (None, None)
 
+        self.config(use_ipmitool_retries=True, group='ipmi')
+
         ipmi._exec_ipmitool(self.info, 'A B C')
 
         mock_support.assert_called_once_with('timing')
@@ -1301,6 +1303,8 @@ class IPMIToolPrivateMethodTestCase(
             'A', 'B', 'C',
         ]
 
+        self.config(use_ipmitool_retries=True, group='ipmi')
+
         mock_support.return_value = False
         mock_exec.side_effect = processutils.ProcessExecutionError("x")
         self.assertRaises(processutils.ProcessExecutionError,
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/change_default_use_ipmitool_retries-2529ce032eae7d1b.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/change_default_use_ipmitool_retries-2529ce032eae7d1b.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..04ca61cf61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/change_default_use_ipmitool_retries-2529ce032eae7d1b.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    Change the default for ``use_ipmitool_retries`` to ``False`` so that
+    Ironic will do the retries by default.  This is needed for certain BMCs
+    that don't support the Cipher Suites command and ipmitool retries take an
+    excessively long time.  See `story 2007632
+    <https://storyboard.openstack.org/#!/story/2007632>`_ for additional
+    information.