diff --git a/cluster/aws/util.sh b/cluster/aws/util.sh
index 96882dbd59c..13639fa56fb 100755
--- a/cluster/aws/util.sh
+++ b/cluster/aws/util.sh
@@ -1511,10 +1511,12 @@ function ssh-to-node {
   fi
 
   for try in $(seq 1 5); do
-    if ssh -oLogLevel=quiet -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -i "${AWS_SSH_KEY}" ${SSH_USER}@${ip} "${cmd}"; then
+    if ssh -oLogLevel=quiet -oConnectTimeout=30 -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -i "${AWS_SSH_KEY}" ${SSH_USER}@${ip} "echo test > /dev/null"; then
       break
     fi
+    sleep 5
   done
+  ssh -oLogLevel=quiet -oConnectTimeout=30 -oStrictHostKeyChecking=no -i "${AWS_SSH_KEY}" ${SSH_USER}@${ip} "${cmd}"
 }
 
 # Restart the kube-proxy on a node ($1)
diff --git a/cluster/gce/util.sh b/cluster/gce/util.sh
index 724834d9d03..78c8a7aba55 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/util.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/util.sh
@@ -1319,13 +1319,13 @@ function ssh-to-node {
   local cmd="$2"
   # Loop until we can successfully ssh into the box
   for try in $(seq 1 5); do
-    if gcloud compute ssh --ssh-flag="-o LogLevel=quiet" --project "${PROJECT}" --zone="${ZONE}" "${node}" --command "echo test > /dev/null"; then
+    if gcloud compute ssh --ssh-flag="-o LogLevel=quiet" --ssh-flag="-o ConnectTimeout=30" --project "${PROJECT}" --zone="${ZONE}" "${node}" --command "echo test > /dev/null"; then
       break
     fi
     sleep 5
   done
   # Then actually try the command.
-  gcloud compute ssh --ssh-flag="-o LogLevel=quiet" --project "${PROJECT}" --zone="${ZONE}" "${node}" --command "${cmd}"
+  gcloud compute ssh --ssh-flag="-o LogLevel=quiet" --ssh-flag="-o ConnectTimeout=30" --project "${PROJECT}" --zone="${ZONE}" "${node}" --command "${cmd}"
 }
 
 # Restart the kube-proxy on a node ($1)
diff --git a/cluster/gke/util.sh b/cluster/gke/util.sh
index cc1931bffb7..e2a6e112965 100755
--- a/cluster/gke/util.sh
+++ b/cluster/gke/util.sh
@@ -263,13 +263,13 @@ function ssh-to-node() {
   local cmd="$2"
   # Loop until we can successfully ssh into the box
   for try in $(seq 1 5); do
-    if gcloud compute ssh --ssh-flag="-o LogLevel=quiet" --project "${PROJECT}" --zone="${ZONE}" "${node}" --command "echo test > /dev/null"; then
+    if gcloud compute ssh --ssh-flag="-o LogLevel=quiet" --ssh-flag="-o ConnectTimeout=30" --project "${PROJECT}" --zone="${ZONE}" "${node}" --command "echo test > /dev/null"; then
       break
     fi
     sleep 5
   done
   # Then actually try the command.
-  gcloud compute ssh --ssh-flag="-o LogLevel=quiet" --project "${PROJECT}" --zone="${ZONE}" "${node}" --command "${cmd}"
+  gcloud compute ssh --ssh-flag="-o LogLevel=quiet" --ssh-flag="-o ConnectTimeout=30" --project "${PROJECT}" --zone="${ZONE}" "${node}" --command "${cmd}"
 }
 
 # Restart the kube-proxy on a node ($1)
diff --git a/cluster/libvirt-coreos/util.sh b/cluster/libvirt-coreos/util.sh
index f70d202e769..f10ccfddb90 100644
--- a/cluster/libvirt-coreos/util.sh
+++ b/cluster/libvirt-coreos/util.sh
@@ -345,7 +345,7 @@ function ssh-to-node {
   if [[ -z "$machine" ]]; then
       echo "$node is an unknown machine to ssh to" >&2
   fi
-  ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o ControlMaster=no "core@$machine" "$cmd"
+  ssh -o ConnectTimeout=30 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o ControlMaster=no "core@$machine" "$cmd"
 }
 
 # Restart the kube-proxy on a node ($1)
diff --git a/cluster/log-dump.sh b/cluster/log-dump.sh
index 630bd3f4895..523f71fab46 100755
--- a/cluster/log-dump.sh
+++ b/cluster/log-dump.sh
@@ -30,6 +30,13 @@ source "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/kube-util.sh"
 readonly report_dir="${1:-_artifacts}"
 echo "Dumping master and node logs to ${report_dir}"
 
+# Attempts to SSH to a node ($1) and run a simple command. Returns 0 on
+# success and 1 on error.
+function test-ssh() {
+    local -r node_name="${1}"
+    return $(ssh-to-node "${node_name}" "echo test > /dev/null" &> /dev/null)
+}
+
 # Saves a single output of running a given command ($2) on a given node ($1)
 # into a given local file ($3). Does not fail if the ssh command fails for any
 # reason, just prints an error to stderr.
@@ -70,6 +77,8 @@ if [[ ! "${master_ssh_supported_providers}" =~ "${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}" ]]; then
     echo "Master SSH not supported for ${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}"
 elif ! $(detect-master &> /dev/null); then
     echo "Master not detected. Is the cluster up?"
+elif ! test-ssh "${MASTER_NAME}"; then
+    echo "Could not SSH to ${MASTER_NAME}" >&2
 else
     echo "Master Name: ${MASTER_NAME}"
     readonly master_prefix="${report_dir}/${MASTER_NAME}"
@@ -88,6 +97,10 @@ elif [[ "${#NODE_NAMES[@]}" -eq 0 ]]; then
 else
     echo "Node Names: ${NODE_NAMES[*]}"
     for node_name in "${NODE_NAMES[@]}"; do
+        if ! test-ssh "${node_name}"; then
+            echo "Could not SSH to ${node_name}" >&2
+            continue
+        fi
         node_prefix="${report_dir}/${node_name}"
         save-log "${node_name}" "cat /var/log/kube-proxy.log" "${node_prefix}-kube-proxy.log"
         save-common-logs "${node_name}" "${node_prefix}"