diff --git a/xCAT-server/lib/perl/xCAT/IPMI.pm b/xCAT-server/lib/perl/xCAT/IPMI.pm
index 60bef36fa..2055eafa7 100644
--- a/xCAT-server/lib/perl/xCAT/IPMI.pm
+++ b/xCAT-server/lib/perl/xCAT/IPMI.pm
@@ -360,7 +360,7 @@ sub subcmd {
     if ($self->{confalgo}) {
         $type = $type | 0b10000000; #add secrecy
     }
-    $self->sendpayload(payload=>\@payload,type=>$type);
+    $self->sendpayload(payload=>\@payload,type=>$type,delayxmit=>$args{delayxmit});
 }
 
 sub waitforrsp {
@@ -739,10 +739,18 @@ sub sendpayload {
     my @msg = (0x6,0x0,0xff,0x07); #RMCP header is constant in IPMI
     my $type = $args{type} & 0b00111111;
     $sessions_waiting{$self}={};
-    $sessions_waiting{$self}->{timeout}=time()+$self->{timeout};
     $sessions_waiting{$self}->{ipmisession}=$self;
     my @payload = @{$args{payload}};
     $self->{pendingargs} = \%args;
+    if ($args{delayxmit}) {
+	$sessions_waiting{$self}->{timeout}=time()+$args{delayxmit};
+	$self->{timeout}=1; #since we are burning one of the retry attempts, start the backoff algorithm faster to make it come out even
+	undef $args{delayxmit};
+        return; #don't actually transmit packet, use retry timer to start us off
+    } else {
+    	$sessions_waiting{$self}->{timeout}=time()+$self->{timeout};
+    }
+    
     push @msg,$self->{'authtype'}; # add authtype byte (will support 0 only for session establishment, 2 for ipmi 1.5, 6 for ipmi2
     if ($self->{'ipmiversion'} eq '2.0') { #TODO: revisit this to see if assembly makes sense
         push @msg, $args{type};
diff --git a/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/ipmi.pm b/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/ipmi.pm
index 5d5400eba..124e78966 100644
--- a/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/ipmi.pm
+++ b/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/ipmi.pm
@@ -1247,6 +1247,21 @@ sub power_with_context {
 			return;
 		}
 	} elsif ($subcommand eq "suspend") {
+		my $waitforsuspend;
+		if (@{$sessdata->{extraargs}} > 1) {
+    			@ARGV=@{$sessdata->{extraargs}};
+    			use Getopt::Long;
+			    unless(GetOptions(
+			        'w:i' => \$waitforsuspend
+		        )) {
+		        xCAT::SvrUtils::sendmsg([1,"Error parsing arguments"],$callback,$sessdata->{node},%allerrornodes);
+		        return;
+		    }
+		}
+		if (defined $waitforsuspend) {
+			if ($waitforsuspend == 0) { $waitforsuspend=30; }
+			$sessdata->{waitforsuspend}=time()+$waitforsuspend;
+		}
 		$sessdata->{ipmisession}->subcmd(netfn=>0x3a,command=>0x1d,data=>[0,3],callback=>\&power_response,callback_args=>$sessdata);
 		return;
 	} elsif ($subcommand eq "wake") {
@@ -1271,9 +1286,34 @@ sub power_response {
 		unless ($text) { $text = sprintf("Unknown response %02xh",$rsp->{code}); }
 		xCAT::SvrUtils::sendmsg([1,$text],$callback,$sessdata->{node},%allerrornodes);
 	}
+	if ($sessdata->{waitforsuspend}) { #have to repeatedly power stat until happy or timeout exceeded
+		$sessdata->{ipmisession}->subcmd(netfn=>0x3a,command=>0x1d,data=>[1],callback=>\&power_wait_for_suspend,callback_args=>$sessdata);
+		return;
+	}
 	xCAT::SvrUtils::sendmsg($sessdata->{subcommand},$callback,$sessdata->{node},%allerrornodes);
 }
 
+sub power_wait_for_suspend {
+	my $rsp = shift;
+	my $sessdata = shift;
+	if ($rsp->{error}) {
+		xCAT::SvrUtils::sendmsg([1,$rsp->{error}],$callback,$sessdata->{node},%allerrornodes);
+		return;
+	}
+	if ($rsp->{code} == 0) {
+		if ($rsp->{data}->[0] == 3) {
+			$sessdata->{acpistate} = "suspend";
+		}
+	}
+	if ($sessdata->{acpistate} eq "suspend") {
+		xCAT::SvrUtils::sendmsg("suspend",$callback,$sessdata->{node},%allerrornodes);
+	} elsif ($sessdata->{waitforsuspend} <= time()) {
+		xCAT::SvrUtils::sendmsg([1,"Failed to enter suspend state"],$callback,$sessdata->{node},%allerrornodes);
+	} else {
+		$sessdata->{ipmisession}->subcmd(netfn=>0x3a,command=>0x1d,delayxmit=>5,data=>[1],callback=>\&power_wait_for_suspend,callback_args=>$sessdata);
+	}
+}
+
 sub generic {
 	my $subcommand = shift;
 	my $netfun;