diff --git a/etc/neutron/plugins/vmware/nsx.ini b/etc/neutron/plugins/vmware/nsx.ini
index baca73b869..a9bf5c5e00 100644
--- a/etc/neutron/plugins/vmware/nsx.ini
+++ b/etc/neutron/plugins/vmware/nsx.ini
@@ -41,6 +41,9 @@
 # interface name was not specified
 # default_interface_name = breth0
 
+# Reconnect connection to nsx if not used within this amount of time.
+# conn_idle_timeout = 900
+
 [quotas]
 # number of network gateways allowed per tenant, -1 means unlimited
 # quota_network_gateway = 5
diff --git a/neutron/plugins/vmware/api_client/base.py b/neutron/plugins/vmware/api_client/base.py
index e8998b5cdc..c1c5da3c84 100644
--- a/neutron/plugins/vmware/api_client/base.py
+++ b/neutron/plugins/vmware/api_client/base.py
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ import httplib
 import six
 import time
 
+from oslo.config import cfg
+
 from neutron.openstack.common import log as logging
 from neutron.plugins.vmware import api_client
 
@@ -33,8 +35,6 @@ DEFAULT_CONNECT_TIMEOUT = 5
 class ApiClientBase(object):
     """An abstract baseclass for all API client implementations."""
 
-    CONN_IDLE_TIMEOUT = 60 * 15
-
     def _create_connection(self, host, port, is_ssl):
         if is_ssl:
             return httplib.HTTPSConnection(host, port,
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ class ApiClientBase(object):
             LOG.debug(_("[%d] Waiting to acquire API client connection."), rid)
         priority, conn = self._conn_pool.get()
         now = time.time()
-        if getattr(conn, 'last_used', now) < now - self.CONN_IDLE_TIMEOUT:
+        if getattr(conn, 'last_used', now) < now - cfg.CONF.conn_idle_timeout:
             LOG.info(_("[%(rid)d] Connection %(conn)s idle for %(sec)0.2f "
                        "seconds; reconnecting."),
                      {'rid': rid, 'conn': api_client.ctrl_conn_to_str(conn),
diff --git a/neutron/plugins/vmware/common/config.py b/neutron/plugins/vmware/common/config.py
index 6fde0b402a..01735ae101 100644
--- a/neutron/plugins/vmware/common/config.py
+++ b/neutron/plugins/vmware/common/config.py
@@ -124,6 +124,10 @@ connection_opts = [
     cfg.ListOpt('nsx_controllers',
                 deprecated_name='nvp_controllers',
                 help=_("Lists the NSX controllers in this cluster")),
+    cfg.IntOpt('conn_idle_timeout',
+               default=900,
+               help=_('Reconnect connection to nsx if not used within this '
+                      'amount of time.')),
 ]
 
 cluster_opts = [
diff --git a/neutron/tests/unit/vmware/test_nsx_opts.py b/neutron/tests/unit/vmware/test_nsx_opts.py
index 2b15373845..2f0e65d4ad 100644
--- a/neutron/tests/unit/vmware/test_nsx_opts.py
+++ b/neutron/tests/unit/vmware/test_nsx_opts.py
@@ -129,6 +129,7 @@ class ConfigurationTest(base.BaseTestCase):
         self.assertIsNone(cfg.CONF.default_l3_gw_service_uuid)
         self.assertIsNone(cfg.CONF.default_l2_gw_service_uuid)
         self.assertEqual('breth0', cfg.CONF.default_interface_name)
+        self.assertEqual(900, cfg.CONF.conn_idle_timeout)
 
     def test_load_api_extensions(self):
         self.config_parse(args=['--config-file', BASE_CONF_PATH,