diff --git a/library/cpp/sandesh_session.cc b/library/cpp/sandesh_session.cc
index b6ab3c21..6977ebda 100644
--- a/library/cpp/sandesh_session.cc
+++ b/library/cpp/sandesh_session.cc
@@ -287,6 +287,7 @@ SandeshSession::SandeshSession(TcpServer *client, Socket *socket,
     keepalive_idle_time_(kSessionKeepaliveIdleTime),
     keepalive_interval_(kSessionKeepaliveInterval),
     keepalive_probes_(kSessionKeepaliveProbes),
+    tcp_user_timeout_(kSessionTcpUserTimeout),
     reader_task_id_(reader_task_id) {
     if (Sandesh::role() == Sandesh::SandeshRole::Collector) {
         send_buffer_queue_.reset(new Sandesh::SandeshBufferQueue(writer_task_id,
@@ -340,7 +341,7 @@ boost::system::error_code SandeshSession::SetSocketOptions() {
         return ec;
     }
     return SetSocketKeepaliveOptions(keepalive_idle_time_, keepalive_interval_,
-            keepalive_probes_);
+            keepalive_probes_, tcp_user_timeout_);
 }
 
 void SandeshSession::OnRead(Buffer buffer) {
diff --git a/library/cpp/sandesh_session.h b/library/cpp/sandesh_session.h
index 57644d27..3faaceb9 100644
--- a/library/cpp/sandesh_session.h
+++ b/library/cpp/sandesh_session.h
@@ -219,9 +219,10 @@ class SandeshSession : public TcpSession {
     friend class SandeshSessionTest;
 
     // 60 seconds - 45s + (3*5)s
-    static const int kSessionKeepaliveIdleTime = 45; // in seconds
+    static const int kSessionKeepaliveIdleTime = 15; // in seconds
     static const int kSessionKeepaliveInterval = 3; // in seconds
     static const int kSessionKeepaliveProbes = 5; // count
+    static const int kSessionTcpUserTimeout = 30000; // ms
 
     bool SendMsg(Sandesh *sandesh);
     bool SendBuffer(boost::shared_ptr<TMemoryBuffer> sbuffer);
@@ -238,6 +239,7 @@ class SandeshSession : public TcpSession {
     int keepalive_idle_time_;
     int keepalive_interval_;
     int keepalive_probes_;
+    int tcp_user_timeout_;
     int reader_task_id_;
 
     // Session statistics
diff --git a/library/python/pysandesh/sandesh_session.py b/library/python/pysandesh/sandesh_session.py
index d1595122..100fe8d7 100644
--- a/library/python/pysandesh/sandesh_session.py
+++ b/library/python/pysandesh/sandesh_session.py
@@ -228,9 +228,11 @@ def _send(self, send_buf):
 
 
 class SandeshSession(TcpSession):
-    _KEEPALIVE_IDLE_TIME = 45  # in secs
+    _KEEPALIVE_IDLE_TIME = 15  # in secs
     _KEEPALIVE_INTERVAL = 3  # in secs
     _KEEPALIVE_PROBES = 5
+    _TCP_USER_TIMEOUT_OPT = 18
+    _TCP_USER_TIMEOUT_VAL = 30000 # ms
 
     def __init__(self, sandesh_instance, server, event_handler,
                  sandesh_msg_handler):
@@ -299,6 +301,12 @@ def _set_socket_options(self):
         if hasattr(socket, 'TCP_KEEPCNT'):
             self._socket.setsockopt(
                 socket.IPPROTO_TCP, socket.TCP_KEEPCNT, self._KEEPALIVE_PROBES)
+        try:
+            self._socket.setsockopt(socket.IPPROTO_TCP,
+                self._TCP_USER_TIMEOUT_OPT, self._TCP_USER_TIMEOUT_VAL)
+        except:
+            self._logger.error('setsockopt failed: option %d, value %d' %
+                (self._TCP_USER_TIMEOUT_OPT, self._TCP_USER_TIMEOUT_VAL))
     # end _set_socket_options
 
     # Private functions