diff --git a/ansible/roles/grafana/defaults/main.yml b/ansible/roles/grafana/defaults/main.yml
index 05593064bb..0fba0e43e2 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/grafana/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/grafana/defaults/main.yml
@@ -81,6 +81,9 @@ grafana_default_volumes:
   - "kolla_logs:/var/log/kolla/"
 grafana_extra_volumes: "{{ default_extra_volumes }}"
 
+grafana_start_first_node_delay: 10
+grafana_start_first_node_retries: 12
+
 ############
 # Prometheus
 ############
diff --git a/ansible/roles/grafana/handlers/main.yml b/ansible/roles/grafana/handlers/main.yml
index 2e13a056a3..30042ef684 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/grafana/handlers/main.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/grafana/handlers/main.yml
@@ -29,8 +29,8 @@
       status_code: 200
   register: result
   until: result.get('status') == 200
-  retries: 10
-  delay: 2
+  retries: "{{ grafana_start_first_node_retries }}"
+  delay: "{{ grafana_start_first_node_delay }}"
   when:
     - kolla_action != "config"
     - inventory_hostname == groups[service.group]|first
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/grafana-start-first-node-timeout-f9a6149cc68153a5.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/grafana-start-first-node-timeout-f9a6149cc68153a5.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d381661882
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/grafana-start-first-node-timeout-f9a6149cc68153a5.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    On slower nodes, the initial grafana startup could experience a
+    timeout failure when the migrations for setting up the database
+    took longer than expected. This has been fixed by increasing the
+    default timeout. The timeout settings can be changed via new
+    parameters ``grafana_start_first_node_delay`` and
+    ``grafana_start_first_node_retries`` for the ``grafana`` role.
+    `LP#1769962 <https://launchpad.net/bugs/1769962>`__