diff --git a/plugins/xenserver/xenapi/etc/xapi.d/plugins/glance b/plugins/xenserver/xenapi/etc/xapi.d/plugins/glance
index a281c5c7d7..8f3c16ff18 100755
--- a/plugins/xenserver/xenapi/etc/xapi.d/plugins/glance
+++ b/plugins/xenserver/xenapi/etc/xapi.d/plugins/glance
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ pluginlib_nova.configure_logging('glance')
 logging = pluginlib_nova.logging
 PluginError = pluginlib_nova.PluginError
 
-DEFAULT_SOCKET_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 60
+SOCKET_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 90
 
 
 class RetryableError(Exception):
@@ -42,10 +42,12 @@ class RetryableError(Exception):
 
 
 def _download_tarball_and_verify(request, staging_path):
-    # NOTE(johngarbutt) to ensure the script does not hang
-    # if we lose connection to glance we add a default socket
-    # The default is to never timeout.
-    socket.setdefaulttimeout(DEFAULT_SOCKET_TIMEOUT_SECONDS)
+    # NOTE(johngarbutt) By default, there is no timeout.
+    # To ensure the script does not hang if we lose connection
+    # to glance, we add this socket timeout.
+    # This is here so there is no chance the timeout out has
+    # been adjusted by other library calls.
+    socket.setdefaulttimeout(SOCKET_TIMEOUT_SECONDS)
 
     try:
         response = urllib2.urlopen(request)
@@ -124,6 +126,13 @@ def _upload_tarball(staging_path, image_id, glance_host, glance_port,
     Create a tarball of the image and then stream that into Glance
     using chunked-transfer-encoded HTTP.
     """
+    # NOTE(johngarbutt) By default, there is no timeout.
+    # To ensure the script does not hang if we lose connection
+    # to glance, we add this socket timeout.
+    # This is here so there is no chance the timeout out has
+    # been adjusted by other library calls.
+    socket.setdefaulttimeout(SOCKET_TIMEOUT_SECONDS)
+
     if glance_use_ssl:
         scheme = 'https'
     else:
diff --git a/plugins/xenserver/xenapi/etc/xapi.d/plugins/utils.py b/plugins/xenserver/xenapi/etc/xapi.d/plugins/utils.py
index 55b6dece99..349201f8c2 100644
--- a/plugins/xenserver/xenapi/etc/xapi.d/plugins/utils.py
+++ b/plugins/xenserver/xenapi/etc/xapi.d/plugins/utils.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import errno
 import logging
 import os
 import shutil
+import signal
 import subprocess
 import tempfile
 
@@ -117,6 +118,16 @@ def run_command(cmd, cmd_input=None, ok_exit_codes=None):
                              ok_exit_codes=ok_exit_codes)
 
 
+def try_kill_process(proc):
+    """Sends the given process the SIGKILL signal."""
+    pid = proc.pid
+    LOG.info("Killing process %s" % pid)
+    try:
+        os.kill(pid, signal.SIGKILL)
+    except Exception:
+        LOG.exception("Failed to kill %s" % pid)
+
+
 def make_staging_area(sr_path):
     """The staging area is a place where we can temporarily store and
     manipulate VHDs. The use of the staging area is different for upload and
@@ -378,16 +389,20 @@ def create_tarball(fileobj, path, callback=None, compression_level=None):
         env["GZIP"] = "-%d" % compression_level
     tar_proc = make_subprocess(tar_cmd, stdout=True, stderr=True, env=env)
 
-    while True:
-        chunk = tar_proc.stdout.read(CHUNK_SIZE)
-        if chunk == '':
-            break
+    try:
+        while True:
+            chunk = tar_proc.stdout.read(CHUNK_SIZE)
+            if chunk == '':
+                break
 
-        if callback:
-            callback(chunk)
+            if callback:
+                callback(chunk)
 
-        if fileobj:
-            fileobj.write(chunk)
+            if fileobj:
+                fileobj.write(chunk)
+    except Exception:
+        try_kill_process(tar_proc)
+        raise
 
     finish_subprocess(tar_proc, tar_cmd)
 
@@ -402,15 +417,19 @@ def extract_tarball(fileobj, path, callback=None):
     tar_cmd = ["tar", "-zx", "--directory=%s" % path]
     tar_proc = make_subprocess(tar_cmd, stderr=True, stdin=True)
 
-    while True:
-        chunk = fileobj.read(CHUNK_SIZE)
-        if chunk == '':
-            break
+    try:
+        while True:
+            chunk = fileobj.read(CHUNK_SIZE)
+            if chunk == '':
+                break
 
-        if callback:
-            callback(chunk)
+            if callback:
+                callback(chunk)
 
-        tar_proc.stdin.write(chunk)
+            tar_proc.stdin.write(chunk)
+    except Exception:
+        try_kill_process(tar_proc)
+        raise
 
     finish_subprocess(tar_proc, tar_cmd)