diff --git a/HACKING.rst b/HACKING.rst
index 03c51a2925..854e563a72 100644
--- a/HACKING.rst
+++ b/HACKING.rst
@@ -41,6 +41,9 @@ run --parallel` will run it in parallel (this is the default incantation tox
 uses.) More information about testr can be found at:
 http://wiki.openstack.org/testr
 
+Note that unit tests use a database if available. See
+``tools/test-setup.sh`` on how to set up the databases the same way as
+done in the OpenStack CI systems.
 
 Heat Specific Commandments
 --------------------------
diff --git a/tools/test-setup.sh b/tools/test-setup.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..07a078547b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/test-setup.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+#!/bin/bash -xe
+
+# This script will be run by OpenStack CI before unit tests are run,
+# it sets up the test system as needed.
+# Developers should setup their test systems in a similar way.
+
+# This setup needs to be run as a user that can run sudo.
+
+# The root password for the MySQL database; pass it in via
+# MYSQL_ROOT_PW.
+DB_ROOT_PW=${MYSQL_ROOT_PW:-insecure_slave}
+
+# This user and its password are used by the tests, if you change it,
+# your tests might fail.
+DB_USER=openstack_citest
+DB_PW=openstack_citest
+
+sudo -H mysqladmin -u root password $DB_ROOT_PW
+
+# It's best practice to remove anonymous users from the database.  If
+# a anonymous user exists, then it matches first for connections and
+# other connections from that host will not work.
+sudo -H mysql -u root -p$DB_ROOT_PW -h localhost -e "
+    DELETE FROM mysql.user WHERE User='';
+    FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
+    GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.*
+        TO '$DB_USER'@'%' identified by '$DB_PW' WITH GRANT OPTION;"
+
+# Now create our database.
+mysql -u $DB_USER -p$DB_PW -h 127.0.0.1 -e "
+    SET default_storage_engine=MYISAM;
+    DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS openstack_citest;
+    CREATE DATABASE openstack_citest CHARACTER SET utf8;"
+
+# Same for PostgreSQL
+# The root password for the PostgreSQL database; pass it in via
+# POSTGRES_ROOT_PW.
+DB_ROOT_PW=${POSTGRES_ROOT_PW:-insecure_slave}
+
+# Setup user
+root_roles=$(sudo -H -u postgres psql -t -c "
+   SELECT 'HERE' from pg_roles where rolname='$DB_USER'")
+if [[ ${root_roles} == *HERE ]];then
+    sudo -H -u postgres psql -c "ALTER ROLE $DB_USER WITH SUPERUSER LOGIN PASSWORD '$DB_PW'"
+else
+    sudo -H -u postgres psql -c "CREATE ROLE $DB_USER WITH SUPERUSER LOGIN PASSWORD '$DB_PW'"
+fi
+
+# Store password for tests
+cat << EOF > $HOME/.pgpass
+*:*:*:$DB_USER:$DB_PW
+EOF
+chmod 0600 $HOME/.pgpass
+
+# Now create our database
+psql -h 127.0.0.1 -U $DB_USER -d template1 -c "DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS openstack_citest"
+createdb -h 127.0.0.1 -U $DB_USER -l C -T template0 -E utf8 openstack_citest