diff --git a/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/SpannerImpl.java b/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/SpannerImpl.java
index 36ecbc8863ad..b6575aa3e62b 100644
--- a/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/SpannerImpl.java
+++ b/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/SpannerImpl.java
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 import com.google.api.gax.longrunning.OperationFutureImpl;
 import com.google.api.gax.longrunning.OperationSnapshot;
 import com.google.api.gax.paging.Page;
+import com.google.api.gax.retrying.RetrySettings;
 import com.google.api.gax.rpc.ServerStream;
 import com.google.api.pathtemplate.PathTemplate;
 import com.google.cloud.BaseService;
@@ -112,11 +113,15 @@
 import java.util.logging.Logger;
 import javax.annotation.Nullable;
 import javax.annotation.concurrent.GuardedBy;
+import org.threeten.bp.Duration;
+import org.threeten.bp.Instant;
 
 /** Default implementation of the Cloud Spanner interface. */
 class SpannerImpl extends BaseService<SpannerOptions> implements Spanner {
   private static final int MIN_BACKOFF_MS = 1000;
   private static final int MAX_BACKOFF_MS = 32000;
+  private static final int DEFAULT_MAX_ATTEMPT = 6;
+  private static final Duration DEFAULT_TOTAL_TIMEOUT = Duration.ofSeconds(50);
   private static final PathTemplate OP_NAME_TEMPLATE =
       PathTemplate.create(
           "projects/{project}/instances/{instance}/databases/{database}/operations/{operation}");
@@ -237,13 +242,36 @@ public void cancelled(Context context) {
    * <p>TODO: Consider replacing with RetryHelper from gcloud-core.
    */
   static <T> T runWithRetries(Callable<T> callable) {
+    return runWithRetries(callable, null);
+  }
+
+  static <T> T runWithRetries(Callable<T> callable, RetrySettings retrySettings) {
+    Instant start = Instant.now();
+    Instant end;
+
     // Use same backoff setting as abort, somewhat arbitrarily.
     Span span = tracer.getCurrentSpan();
     ExponentialBackOff backOff = newBackOff();
     Context context = Context.current();
     int attempt = 0;
+    int maxAttempt = DEFAULT_MAX_ATTEMPT;
+    Duration retryDuration;
+    Duration totalTimeout = DEFAULT_TOTAL_TIMEOUT;
+    if (retrySettings != null) {
+      maxAttempt = retrySettings.getMaxAttempts();
+      totalTimeout = retrySettings.getTotalTimeout();
+    }
     while (true) {
       attempt++;
+      if (attempt >= maxAttempt) {
+        throw newSpannerException(ErrorCode.INTERNAL, "Exceeded maxAttempt " + maxAttempt);
+      }
+      end = Instant.now();
+      retryDuration = Duration.between(start, end);
+      if (retryDuration.compareTo(totalTimeout) > 0) {
+        throw newSpannerException(
+            ErrorCode.INTERNAL, "Exceeded totalTimeout " + totalTimeout.toMillis());
+      }
       try {
         span.addAnnotation(
             "Starting operation",
@@ -282,7 +310,8 @@ public com.google.spanner.v1.Session call() throws Exception {
                   return gapicRpc.createSession(
                       db.getName(), getOptions().getSessionLabels(), options);
                 }
-              });
+              },
+              getOptions().getRetrySettings());
       span.end();
       return new SessionImpl(session.getName(), options);
     } catch (RuntimeException e) {
diff --git a/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/SpannerImplTest.java b/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/SpannerImplTest.java
index 8dffda872401..9d81cd3ced18 100644
--- a/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/SpannerImplTest.java
+++ b/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/SpannerImplTest.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 import static com.google.common.truth.Truth.assertThat;
 import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
 
+import com.google.api.gax.retrying.RetrySettings;
 import com.google.cloud.grpc.GrpcTransportOptions;
 import com.google.cloud.spanner.spi.v1.SpannerRpc;
 import java.util.HashMap;
@@ -33,6 +34,7 @@
 import org.mockito.Mock;
 import org.mockito.Mockito;
 import org.mockito.MockitoAnnotations;
+import org.threeten.bp.Duration;
 
 /** Unit tests for {@link SpannerImpl}. */
 @RunWith(JUnit4.class)
@@ -130,7 +132,62 @@ public Void call() throws Exception {
           });
     } catch (SpannerException e) {
       assertThat(e.getErrorCode()).isEqualTo(ErrorCode.INTERNAL);
-      assertThat(e.getMessage().contains("Unexpected exception thrown"));
+      assertThat(e.getMessage()).contains("Unexpected exception thrown");
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testConnectionMaxAttempt() {
+    Map<String, String> labels = new HashMap<>();
+    labels.put("env", "dev");
+    Mockito.when(spannerOptions.getSessionLabels()).thenReturn(labels);
+    String dbName = "projects/p1/instances/i1/databases/d1";
+    DatabaseId db = DatabaseId.of(dbName);
+
+    Mockito.when(spannerOptions.getTransportOptions())
+        .thenReturn(GrpcTransportOptions.newBuilder().build());
+    Mockito.when(spannerOptions.getSessionPoolOptions())
+        .thenReturn(SessionPoolOptions.newBuilder().build());
+    Mockito.when(rpc.createSession(Mockito.eq(dbName), Mockito.eq(labels), options.capture()))
+        .thenThrow(
+            SpannerExceptionFactory.newSpannerException(
+                ErrorCode.UNAVAILABLE, "Unable to resolve host spanner.googleapis.com"));
+    try {
+      impl.getDatabaseClient(db).singleUse();
+    } catch (SpannerException e) {
+      assertThat(e.getErrorCode()).isEqualTo(ErrorCode.INTERNAL);
+      assertThat(e.getMessage()).contains("Exceeded maxAttempt");
+      impl.close();
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testConnectionTotalTimeout() {
+    Map<String, String> labels = new HashMap<>();
+    labels.put("env", "dev");
+    String dbName = "projects/p1/instances/i1/databases/d1";
+    DatabaseId db = DatabaseId.of(dbName);
+    RetrySettings retrySettings =
+        RetrySettings.newBuilder()
+            .setTotalTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(4))
+            .setMaxAttempts(10)
+            .build();
+    Mockito.when(spannerOptions.getRetrySettings()).thenReturn(retrySettings);
+    Mockito.when(spannerOptions.getSessionLabels()).thenReturn(labels);
+    Mockito.when(spannerOptions.getTransportOptions())
+        .thenReturn(GrpcTransportOptions.newBuilder().build());
+    Mockito.when(spannerOptions.getSessionPoolOptions())
+        .thenReturn(SessionPoolOptions.newBuilder().build());
+    Mockito.when(rpc.createSession(Mockito.eq(dbName), Mockito.eq(labels), options.capture()))
+        .thenThrow(
+            SpannerExceptionFactory.newSpannerException(
+                ErrorCode.UNAVAILABLE, "Unable to resolve host spanner.googleapis.com"));
+    try {
+      impl.getDatabaseClient(db).singleUse();
+    } catch (SpannerException e) {
+      assertThat(e.getErrorCode()).isEqualTo(ErrorCode.INTERNAL);
+      assertThat(e.getMessage()).contains("Exceeded totalTimeout");
+      impl.close();
     }
   }
 }