diff --git a/bin/tests/system/legacy/tests.sh b/bin/tests/system/legacy/tests.sh
index 69afd94806..effc236628 100755
--- a/bin/tests/system/legacy/tests.sh
+++ b/bin/tests/system/legacy/tests.sh
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 SYSTEMTESTTOP=..
 . $SYSTEMTESTTOP/conf.sh
 
-DIGOPTS="-p ${PORT}"
+DIGOPTS="-p ${PORT} +tries=3 +time=5"
 
 status=0
 n=0
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/resolver/tests.sh b/bin/tests/system/resolver/tests.sh
index 7b3c27531b..3d32e31ad6 100755
--- a/bin/tests/system/resolver/tests.sh
+++ b/bin/tests/system/resolver/tests.sh
@@ -770,7 +770,7 @@ status=`expr $status + $ret`
 n=`expr $n + 1`
 echo_i "check that the resolver accepts a reply with empty question section with TC=1 and retries over TCP ($n)"
 ret=0
-$DIG $DIGOPTS @10.53.0.5 truncated.no-questions. a > dig.ns5.out.${n} || ret=1
+$DIG $DIGOPTS @10.53.0.5 truncated.no-questions. a +tries=3 +time=5 > dig.ns5.out.${n} || ret=1
 grep "status: NOERROR" dig.ns5.out.${n} > /dev/null || ret=1
 grep "ANSWER: 1," dig.ns5.out.${n} > /dev/null || ret=1
 grep "1\.2\.3\.4" dig.ns5.out.${n} > /dev/null || ret=1
@@ -780,7 +780,7 @@ status=`expr $status + $ret`
 n=`expr $n + 1`
 echo_i "check that the resolver rejects a reply with empty question section with TC=0 ($n)"
 ret=0
-$DIG $DIGOPTS @10.53.0.5 not-truncated.no-questions. a > dig.ns5.out.${n} || ret=1
+$DIG $DIGOPTS @10.53.0.5 not-truncated.no-questions. a +tries=3 +time=5 > dig.ns5.out.${n} || ret=1
 grep "status: NOERROR" dig.ns5.out.${n} > /dev/null && ret=1
 grep "ANSWER: 1," dig.ns5.out.${n} > /dev/null && ret=1
 grep "1\.2\.3\.4" dig.ns5.out.${n} > /dev/null && ret=1
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/rpzrecurse/tests.sh b/bin/tests/system/rpzrecurse/tests.sh
index 3c37535626..763cc2b5f8 100644
--- a/bin/tests/system/rpzrecurse/tests.sh
+++ b/bin/tests/system/rpzrecurse/tests.sh
@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ for mode in native dnsrps; do
     t=`expr $t + 1`
     echo_i "running dig to follow CNAME (blocks, so runs in the background) (${t})"
     add_test_marker 10.53.0.2
-    $DIG $DIGOPTS @10.53.0.2 -p ${PORT} www.test.example.org A > dig.out.${t} &
+    $DIG $DIGOPTS @10.53.0.2 -p ${PORT} www.test.example.org A +time=5 > dig.out.${t} &
     sleep 1
     echo_i "removing the NSDNAME policy"
     cp ns2/db.6c.00.policy.local ns2/db.6a.00.policy.local
@@ -316,7 +316,7 @@ for mode in native dnsrps; do
     t=`expr $t + 1`
     echo_i "running dig to follow CNAME (blocks, so runs in the background) (${t})"
     add_test_marker 10.53.0.2
-    $DIG $DIGOPTS @10.53.0.2 -p ${PORT} www.test.example.org A > dig.out.${t} &
+    $DIG $DIGOPTS @10.53.0.2 -p ${PORT} www.test.example.org A +time=5 > dig.out.${t} &
     sleep 1
     echo_i "removing the policy zone"
     cp ns2/named.default.conf ns2/named.conf