diff --git a/drainer/config.go b/drainer/config.go
index 3e9d69223..52c78f224 100644
--- a/drainer/config.go
+++ b/drainer/config.go
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ func (rc RelayConfig) IsEnabled() bool {
 
 // Config holds the configuration of drainer
 type Config struct {
-	*flag.FlagSet   `json:"-"`
+	*flag.FlagSet   `toml:"-" json:"-"`
 	LogLevel        string          `toml:"log-level" json:"log-level"`
 	NodeID          string          `toml:"node-id" json:"node-id"`
 	ListenAddr      string          `toml:"addr" json:"addr"`
@@ -515,6 +515,15 @@ func (cfg *Config) adjustConfig() error {
 		} else if len(cfg.SyncerCfg.To.Password) == 0 {
 			cfg.SyncerCfg.To.Password = os.Getenv("MYSQL_PSWD")
 		}
+		if cfg.SyncerCfg.To.ReadTimeoutStr == "" {
+			cfg.SyncerCfg.To.ReadTimeout = time.Minute
+		} else {
+			var err error
+			cfg.SyncerCfg.To.ReadTimeout, err = cfg.SyncerCfg.To.ReadTimeoutStr.ParseDuration()
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		}
 	}
 
 	if len(cfg.SyncerCfg.To.Checkpoint.EncryptedPassword) > 0 {
diff --git a/drainer/config_test.go b/drainer/config_test.go
index 62438a038..4729549cb 100644
--- a/drainer/config_test.go
+++ b/drainer/config_test.go
@@ -71,6 +71,22 @@ func (t *testDrainerSuite) TestConfig(c *C) {
 	var strSQLMode *string
 	c.Assert(cfg.SyncerCfg.StrSQLMode, Equals, strSQLMode)
 	c.Assert(cfg.SyncerCfg.SQLMode, Equals, mysql.SQLMode(0))
+	c.Assert(cfg.SyncerCfg.To.ReadTimeout, Equals, time.Minute)
+
+	dstFile := path.Join(c.MkDir(), "drainer.toml")
+	err = os.WriteFile(dstFile, []byte(`[syncer.to]
+read-timeout = "10m"
+`), 0644)
+	c.Assert(err, IsNil)
+	cfg2 := NewConfig()
+	args = []string{
+		"-data-dir", "data.drainer",
+		"-dest-db-type", "mysql",
+		"-config", dstFile,
+	}
+	err = cfg2.Parse(args)
+	c.Assert(err, IsNil)
+	c.Assert(cfg2.SyncerCfg.To.ReadTimeout, check.Equals, time.Minute*10)
 }
 
 func (t *testDrainerSuite) TestValidateFilter(c *C) {
@@ -238,6 +254,7 @@ func (t *testDrainerSuite) TestAdjustConfig(c *C) {
 	c.Assert(err, IsNil)
 	c.Assert(cfg.SyncerCfg.To.Password, check.Equals, "origin")
 	c.Assert(cfg.SyncerCfg.To.Checkpoint.Password, check.Equals, "origin")
+	c.Assert(cfg.SyncerCfg.To.ReadTimeout, check.Equals, time.Minute)
 
 	// test false positive
 	cfg.SyncerCfg.To = &dsync.DBConfig{
diff --git a/drainer/relay.go b/drainer/relay.go
index 48a2f37f4..a10a8110b 100644
--- a/drainer/relay.go
+++ b/drainer/relay.go
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ func feedByRelayLogIfNeed(cfg *Config) error {
 		return errors.Annotate(err, "failed to create reader")
 	}
 
-	db, err := loader.CreateDBWithSQLMode(scfg.To.User, scfg.To.Password, scfg.To.Host, scfg.To.Port, scfg.To.TLS, scfg.StrSQLMode, scfg.To.Params)
+	db, err := loader.CreateDBWithSQLMode(scfg.To.User, scfg.To.Password, scfg.To.Host, scfg.To.Port, scfg.To.TLS, scfg.StrSQLMode, scfg.To.Params, scfg.To.ReadTimeout)
 	if err != nil {
 		return errors.Annotate(err, "failed to create SQL db")
 	}
diff --git a/drainer/sync/mysql.go b/drainer/sync/mysql.go
index 41ae28219..a91f6f1f0 100644
--- a/drainer/sync/mysql.go
+++ b/drainer/sync/mysql.go
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ func NewMysqlSyncer(
 		log.Info("enable TLS to connect downstream MySQL/TiDB")
 	}
 
-	db, err := createDB(cfg.User, cfg.Password, cfg.Host, cfg.Port, cfg.TLS, sqlMode, cfg.Params)
+	db, err := createDB(cfg.User, cfg.Password, cfg.Host, cfg.Port, cfg.TLS, sqlMode, cfg.Params, cfg.ReadTimeout)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.Trace(err)
 	}
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ func NewMysqlSyncer(
 
 		if newMode != oldMode {
 			db.Close()
-			db, err = createDB(cfg.User, cfg.Password, cfg.Host, cfg.Port, cfg.TLS, &newMode, cfg.Params)
+			db, err = createDB(cfg.User, cfg.Password, cfg.Host, cfg.Port, cfg.TLS, &newMode, cfg.Params, cfg.ReadTimeout)
 			if err != nil {
 				return nil, errors.Trace(err)
 			}
diff --git a/drainer/sync/syncer_test.go b/drainer/sync/syncer_test.go
index 8c51dede2..3acd6278c 100644
--- a/drainer/sync/syncer_test.go
+++ b/drainer/sync/syncer_test.go
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ func (s *syncerSuite) SetUpTest(c *check.C) {
 		Port:          3306,
 		KafkaVersion:  "0.8.2.0",
 		BinlogFileDir: c.MkDir(),
+		ReadTimeout:   time.Minute,
 	}
 
 	// create pb syncer
@@ -59,7 +60,7 @@ func (s *syncerSuite) SetUpTest(c *check.C) {
 
 	// create mysql syncer
 	oldCreateDB := createDB
-	createDB = func(string, string, string, int, *tls.Config, *string, map[string]string) (db *sql.DB, err error) {
+	createDB = func(string, string, string, int, *tls.Config, *string, map[string]string, time.Duration) (db *sql.DB, err error) {
 		db, s.mysqlMock, err = sqlmock.New()
 		return
 	}
diff --git a/drainer/sync/util.go b/drainer/sync/util.go
index 9c2fcaaf3..3cfce3762 100644
--- a/drainer/sync/util.go
+++ b/drainer/sync/util.go
@@ -15,10 +15,13 @@ package sync
 
 import (
 	"crypto/tls"
+	"time"
 
 	// mysql driver
 	_ "github.com/go-sql-driver/mysql"
+
 	"github.com/pingcap/tidb-binlog/pkg/security"
+	"github.com/pingcap/tidb-binlog/pkg/util"
 )
 
 // DBConfig is the DB configuration.
@@ -37,6 +40,9 @@ type DBConfig struct {
 	BinlogFileRetentionTime int               `toml:"retention-time" json:"retention-time"`
 	Params                  map[string]string `toml:"params" json:"params"`
 
+	ReadTimeout    time.Duration `toml:"-" json:"-"`
+	ReadTimeoutStr util.Duration `toml:"read-timeout" json:"read-timeout"`
+
 	Merge bool `toml:"merge" json:"merge"`
 
 	ZKAddrs             string `toml:"zookeeper-addrs" json:"zookeeper-addrs"`
diff --git a/pkg/loader/util.go b/pkg/loader/util.go
index dea714466..75aa672d1 100644
--- a/pkg/loader/util.go
+++ b/pkg/loader/util.go
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import (
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"sync/atomic"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/go-sql-driver/mysql"
 	"github.com/pingcap/errors"
@@ -145,8 +146,8 @@ func createDBWitSessions(dsn string, params map[string]string) (db *gosql.DB, er
 }
 
 // CreateDBWithSQLMode return sql.DB
-func CreateDBWithSQLMode(user string, password string, host string, port int, tlsConfig *tls.Config, sqlMode *string, params map[string]string) (db *gosql.DB, err error) {
-	dsn := fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s@tcp(%s:%d)/?charset=utf8mb4,utf8&interpolateParams=true&readTimeout=1m&multiStatements=true", user, password, host, port)
+func CreateDBWithSQLMode(user string, password string, host string, port int, tlsConfig *tls.Config, sqlMode *string, params map[string]string, readTimeout time.Duration) (db *gosql.DB, err error) {
+	dsn := fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s@tcp(%s:%d)/?charset=utf8mb4,utf8&interpolateParams=true&readTimeout=%s&multiStatements=true", user, password, host, port, readTimeout)
 	if sqlMode != nil {
 		// same as "set sql_mode = '<sqlMode>'"
 		dsn += "&sql_mode='" + url.QueryEscape(*sqlMode) + "'"
@@ -166,7 +167,7 @@ func CreateDBWithSQLMode(user string, password string, host string, port int, tl
 
 // CreateDB return sql.DB
 func CreateDB(user string, password string, host string, port int, tls *tls.Config) (db *gosql.DB, err error) {
-	return CreateDBWithSQLMode(user, password, host, port, tls, nil, nil)
+	return CreateDBWithSQLMode(user, password, host, port, tls, nil, nil, time.Minute)
 }
 
 func quoteSchema(schema string, table string) string {
diff --git a/pkg/util/duration.go b/pkg/util/duration.go
index 20141c1c4..04e8f2624 100644
--- a/pkg/util/duration.go
+++ b/pkg/util/duration.go
@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@ var _ json.Marshaler = Duration(empty)
 var _ json.Unmarshaler = (*Duration)(&empty)
 
 // Duration is a wrapper of time.Duration for TOML and JSON.
+// it can be parsed to both integer and string
+// integer 7 will be parsed to 7*24h
+// string 10m will be parsed to 10m
 type Duration string
 
 // NewDuration creates a Duration from time.Duration.