diff --git a/src/main/java/org/redisson/client/RedisClient.java b/src/main/java/org/redisson/client/RedisClient.java
index 82722f9cf..70fb61b3b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/redisson/client/RedisClient.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/redisson/client/RedisClient.java
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 package org.redisson.client;
 
 import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 
 import org.redisson.client.handler.RedisCommandsQueue;
 import org.redisson.client.handler.RedisDecoder;
@@ -27,22 +28,25 @@ import io.netty.bootstrap.Bootstrap;
 import io.netty.channel.Channel;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelFuture;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelInitializer;
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelOption;
 import io.netty.channel.EventLoopGroup;
 import io.netty.channel.nio.NioEventLoopGroup;
 import io.netty.channel.socket.SocketChannel;
 import io.netty.channel.socket.nio.NioSocketChannel;
-import io.netty.util.concurrent.Future;
-import io.netty.util.concurrent.FutureListener;
 
 public class RedisClient {
 
-    private Class<? extends SocketChannel> socketChannelClass = NioSocketChannel.class;
     private Bootstrap bootstrap;
-    private EventLoopGroup group = new NioEventLoopGroup();
     private InetSocketAddress addr;
-    private Channel channel;
+
+    private long timeout;
+    private TimeUnit timeoutUnit;
 
     public RedisClient(String host, int port) {
+        this(new NioEventLoopGroup(), NioSocketChannel.class, host, port, 60*1000);
+    }
+
+    public RedisClient(EventLoopGroup group, Class<? extends SocketChannel> socketChannelClass, String host, int port, int timeout) {
         addr = new InetSocketAddress(host, port);
         bootstrap = new Bootstrap().channel(socketChannelClass).group(group).remoteAddress(addr);
         bootstrap.handler(new ChannelInitializer<Channel>() {
@@ -56,13 +60,40 @@ public class RedisClient {
             }
 
         });
+
+        setTimeout(timeout, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Set the default timeout for {@link RedisConnection connections} created by
+     * this client. The timeout applies to connection attempts and non-blocking
+     * commands.
+     *
+     * @param timeout   Сonnection timeout.
+     * @param unit      Unit of time for the timeout.
+     */
+    public void setTimeout(long timeout, TimeUnit unit) {
+        this.timeout = timeout;
+        this.timeoutUnit = unit;
+        bootstrap.option(ChannelOption.CONNECT_TIMEOUT_MILLIS, (int) unit.toMillis(timeout));
+    }
+
+    long getTimeout() {
+        return timeout;
+    }
+
+    TimeUnit getTimeoutUnit() {
+        return timeoutUnit;
+    }
+
+    Bootstrap getBootstrap() {
+        return bootstrap;
     }
 
     public RedisConnection connect() {
         ChannelFuture future = bootstrap.connect();
-        channel = future.channel();
         future.syncUninterruptibly();
-        return new RedisConnection(bootstrap, channel);
+        return new RedisConnection(this, future.channel());
     }
 
     public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/redisson/client/RedisConnection.java b/src/main/java/org/redisson/client/RedisConnection.java
index 9ee3f99c7..1a2f07fc5 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/redisson/client/RedisConnection.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/redisson/client/RedisConnection.java
@@ -4,22 +4,37 @@ import org.redisson.client.handler.RedisData;
 import org.redisson.client.protocol.Codec;
 import org.redisson.client.protocol.RedisCommand;
 
-import io.netty.bootstrap.Bootstrap;
 import io.netty.channel.Channel;
 import io.netty.util.concurrent.Future;
 import io.netty.util.concurrent.Promise;
 
 public class RedisConnection {
 
-    final Bootstrap bootstrap;
     final Channel channel;
+    final RedisClient redisClient;
 
-    public RedisConnection(Bootstrap bootstrap, Channel channel) {
+    public RedisConnection(RedisClient redisClient, Channel channel) {
         super();
-        this.bootstrap = bootstrap;
+        this.redisClient = redisClient;
         this.channel = channel;
     }
 
+    public <R> R await(Future<R> cmd) {
+        if (!cmd.awaitUninterruptibly(redisClient.getTimeout(), redisClient.getTimeoutUnit())) {
+            Promise<R> promise = (Promise<R>)cmd;
+            RedisTimeoutException ex = new RedisTimeoutException();
+            promise.setFailure(ex);
+            throw ex;
+        }
+        if (!cmd.isSuccess()) {
+            if (cmd.cause() instanceof RedisException) {
+                throw (RedisException) cmd.cause();
+            }
+            throw new RedisException("Unexpected exception while processing command", cmd.cause());
+        }
+        return cmd.getNow();
+    }
+
     public <V> V get(Future<V> future) {
         future.awaitUninterruptibly();
         if (future.isSuccess()) {
@@ -34,11 +49,11 @@ public class RedisConnection {
 
     public <T, R> R sync(Codec encoder, RedisCommand<T> command, Object ... params) {
         Future<R> r = async(encoder, command, params);
-        return get(r);
+        return await(r);
     }
 
     public <T, R> Future<R> async(Codec encoder, RedisCommand<T> command, Object ... params) {
-        Promise<R> promise = bootstrap.group().next().<R>newPromise();
+        Promise<R> promise = redisClient.getBootstrap().group().next().<R>newPromise();
         channel.writeAndFlush(new RedisData<T, R>(promise, encoder, command, params));
         return promise;
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/redisson/client/RedisException.java b/src/main/java/org/redisson/client/RedisException.java
index f5bb25971..63fce633b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/redisson/client/RedisException.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/redisson/client/RedisException.java
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ public class RedisException extends RuntimeException {
 
     private static final long serialVersionUID = 3389820652701696154L;
 
+    public RedisException() {
+    }
+
     public RedisException(String message, Throwable cause) {
         super(message, cause);
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/redisson/client/RedisTimeoutException.java b/src/main/java/org/redisson/client/RedisTimeoutException.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6cfdb8ad7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/org/redisson/client/RedisTimeoutException.java
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+package org.redisson.client;
+
+public class RedisTimeoutException extends RedisException {
+
+    private static final long serialVersionUID = -8418769175260962404L;
+
+}