diff --git a/bin/tests/system/conf.sh.common b/bin/tests/system/conf.sh.common
index 3d8d988a8e..3809d74aa8 100644
--- a/bin/tests/system/conf.sh.common
+++ b/bin/tests/system/conf.sh.common
@@ -578,23 +578,28 @@ _repeat() (
     return 0
 )
 
+_times() {
+	awk "BEGIN{ for(i = 1; i <= $1; i++) print i}";
+}
+
 rndc_reload() {
     $RNDC -c ../common/rndc.conf -s $2 -p ${CONTROLPORT} reload $3 2>&1 | sed 's/^/'"I:$SYSTESTDIR:$1"' /'
     # reloading single zone is synchronous, if we're reloading whole server
     # we need to wait for reload to finish
     if [ -z "$3" ]; then
-	for __try in 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9; do
-	    $RNDC -c ../common/rndc.conf -s $2 -p ${CONTROLPORT} status | grep "reload/reconfig in progress" > /dev/null || break
-	    sleep 1
-	done
+        for _ in $(_times 10); do
+            $RNDC -c ../common/rndc.conf -s $2 -p ${CONTROLPORT} status | grep "reload/reconfig in progress" > /dev/null || break
+            sleep 1
+        done
     fi
 }
 
 rndc_reconfig() {
-    $RNDC -c ../common/rndc.conf -s $2 -p ${CONTROLPORT} reconfig 2>&1 | sed 's/^/'"I:$SYSTESTDIR:$1"' /'
-    for __try in 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9; do
-	$RNDC -c ../common/rndc.conf -s $2 -p ${CONTROLPORT} status | grep "reload/reconfig in progress" > /dev/null || break
-	sleep 1
+    seconds=${3:-10}
+    $RNDC -c ../common/rndc.conf -s "$2" -p "${CONTROLPORT}" reconfig 2>&1 | sed 's/^/'"I:$SYSTESTDIR:$1"' /'
+    for _ in $(_times "$seconds"); do
+        "$RNDC" -c ../common/rndc.conf -s "$2" -p "${CONTROLPORT}" status | grep "reload/reconfig in progress" > /dev/null || break
+        sleep 1
     done
 }
 
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/doth/tests.sh b/bin/tests/system/doth/tests.sh
index 119085a253..a69e2e57b3 100644
--- a/bin/tests/system/doth/tests.sh
+++ b/bin/tests/system/doth/tests.sh
@@ -37,10 +37,6 @@ dig_with_opts() {
 	"$DIG" $common_dig_options -p "${PORT}" "$@"
 }
 
-rndccmd() (
-	"$RNDC" -c ../common/rndc.conf -p "${CONTROLPORT}" -s "$@"
-)
-
 wait_for_tls_xfer() (
 	srv_number="$1"
 	shift
@@ -458,7 +454,7 @@ status=$((status + ret))
 n=$((n + 1))
 echo_i "doing rndc reconfig to see that queries keep being served after that ($n)"
 ret=0
-rndccmd 10.53.0.4 reconfig
+rndc_reconfig ns4 10.53.0.4 60
 if [ $ret != 0 ]; then echo_i "failed"; fi
 status=$((status + ret))