diff --git a/manila/tests/db/migrations/alembic/test_migration.py b/manila/tests/db/migrations/alembic/test_migration.py
index f45a0ed233..9eae6b47a5 100644
--- a/manila/tests/db/migrations/alembic/test_migration.py
+++ b/manila/tests/db/migrations/alembic/test_migration.py
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ from sqlalchemy.sql import text
 
 from manila.db.migrations.alembic import migration
 from manila.tests.db.migrations.alembic import migrations_data_checks
+from manila.tests import utils as test_utils
 
 LOG = log.getLogger('manila.tests.test_migrations')
 
@@ -138,6 +139,13 @@ class ManilaMigrationsCheckers(test_migrations.WalkVersionsMixin,
                                         'exception': e})
             raise
 
+    # NOTE(vponomaryov): set 5 minutes timeout for case of running it on
+    # very slow nodes/VMs. Note, that this test becomes slower with each
+    # addition of new DB migration. On fast nodes it can take about 5-10 secs
+    # having Mitaka set of migrations.
+    # 'pymysql' works much slower on slow nodes than 'psycopg2'. And such
+    # timeout mostly required for testing of 'mysql' backend.
+    @test_utils.set_timeout(300)
     def test_walk_versions(self):
         """Walks all version scripts for each tested database.
 
@@ -163,6 +171,7 @@ class TestManilaMigrationsMySQL(ManilaMigrationsCheckers,
                                 test_base.MySQLOpportunisticTestCase):
     """Run migration tests on MySQL backend."""
 
+    @test_utils.set_timeout(300)
     def test_mysql_innodb(self):
         """Test that table creation on mysql only builds InnoDB tables."""
         with mock.patch('manila.db.sqlalchemy.api.get_engine',
diff --git a/manila/tests/utils.py b/manila/tests/utils.py
index dfd6398c21..83e0ca9507 100644
--- a/manila/tests/utils.py
+++ b/manila/tests/utils.py
@@ -14,9 +14,11 @@
 #    License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
 #    under the License.
 
+import fixtures
 import os
 
 from oslo_config import cfg
+import six
 
 from manila import context
 from manila import utils
@@ -35,6 +37,26 @@ def is_manila_installed():
         return False
 
 
+def set_timeout(timeout):
+    """Timeout decorator for unit test methods.
+
+    Use this decorator for tests that are expected to pass in very specific
+    amount of time, not common for all other tests.
+    It can have either big or small value.
+    """
+
+    def _decorator(f):
+
+        @six.wraps(f)
+        def _wrapper(self, *args, **kwargs):
+            self.useFixture(fixtures.Timeout(timeout, gentle=True))
+            return f(self, *args, **kwargs)
+
+        return _wrapper
+
+    return _decorator
+
+
 class create_temp_config_with_opts(object):
     """Creates temporary config file with provided opts and values.