diff --git a/server/opts.go b/server/opts.go
index 950c4bfd..6ece7476 100644
--- a/server/opts.go
+++ b/server/opts.go
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ func ProcessConfigFile(configFile string) (*Options, error) {
 		case "max_connections", "max_conn":
 			opts.MaxConn = int(v.(int64))
 		case "ping_interval":
-			opts.PingInterval = time.Duration(int(v.(int64)))
+			opts.PingInterval = time.Duration(int(v.(int64))) * time.Second
 		case "ping_max":
 			opts.MaxPingsOut = int(v.(int64))
 		case "tls":
diff --git a/server/opts_test.go b/server/opts_test.go
index 082f30f0..39dcf6eb 100644
--- a/server/opts_test.go
+++ b/server/opts_test.go
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ func TestConfigFile(t *testing.T) {
 		MaxPayload:     65536,
 		MaxConn:        100,
 		MaxPending:     10000000,
-		PingInterval:   60,
+		PingInterval:   60 * time.Second,
 		MaxPingsOut:    3,
 	}
 
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ func TestMergeOverrides(t *testing.T) {
 		MaxPayload:         65536,
 		MaxConn:            100,
 		MaxPending:         10000000,
-		PingInterval:       60,
+		PingInterval:       60 * time.Second,
 		MaxPingsOut:        3,
 		ClusterNoAdvertise: true,
 	}