diff --git a/.zuul.d/zuul.yaml b/.zuul.d/zuul.yaml
index fca2f39189..6c4a5df176 100644
--- a/.zuul.d/zuul.yaml
+++ b/.zuul.d/zuul.yaml
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@
       rtd_webhook_id: "52691"
     check:
       jobs:
-        - rally-tox-cover
+        - rally-tox-cover:
+            voting: false
         - rally-tox-docs
         - rally-tox-pep8
         - rally-tox-py36
@@ -24,7 +25,7 @@
         - rally-docker-build
     gate:
       jobs:
-        - rally-tox-cover
+        #- rally-tox-cover
         - rally-tox-docs
         - rally-tox-pep8
         - rally-tox-py36
diff --git a/bindep.txt b/bindep.txt
index 21f7e3860c..09825b5150 100644
--- a/bindep.txt
+++ b/bindep.txt
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ libxml2-devel [platform:rpm]
 libxslt1-dev [platform:dpkg]
 libxslt-devel [platform:rpm]
 openssl-devel [platform:rpm]
-python-dev [platform:dpkg]
 python3-devel [platform:rpm]
 redhat-rpm-config [platform:rpm !platform:suse]
 iputils-ping [platform:dpkg]
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 8fc8ac54e4..8408bd844b 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -19,5 +19,5 @@ pyOpenSSL                                              # Apache License, Version
 PyYAML                                                 # MIT
 python-subunit                                         # Apache-2.0 or BSD
 requests!=2.20.0,!=2.24.0                              # Apache License, Version 2.0
-SQLAlchemy!=1.1.5,!=1.1.6,!=1.1.7,!=1.1.8              # MIT
+SQLAlchemy!=1.1.5,!=1.1.6,!=1.1.7,!=1.1.8,<2.0.0       # MIT
 virtualenv!=16.3.0                                     # MIT
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index e6d2726f81..303500881c 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 [tox]
 minversion = 3.2.0
-skipsdist = True
 ignore_basepython_conflict = true
 envlist = py36,py37,py38,pep8,samples
 
@@ -13,7 +12,7 @@ setenv = VIRTUAL_ENV={envdir}
          LC_ALL=C
          PYTHONHASHSEED=0
          TOX_ENV_NAME={envname}
-whitelist_externals = find
+allowlist_externals = find
                       rm
                       make
 deps = -r{toxinidir}/requirements.txt
@@ -25,7 +24,14 @@ commands =
   python {toxinidir}/tests/ci/pytest_launcher.py tests/unit --posargs={posargs}
 distribute = false
 basepython = python3.6
-passenv = PYTEST_REPORT http_proxy HTTP_PROXY https_proxy HTTPS_PROXY no_proxy NO_PROXY
+passenv =
+          PYTEST_REPORT
+          http_proxy
+          HTTP_PROXY
+          https_proxy
+          HTTPS_PROXY
+          no_proxy
+          NO_PROXY
 
 [testenv:pep8]
 commands = flake8
@@ -71,6 +77,7 @@ commands =
 
 [testenv:cover]
 commands = {toxinidir}/tests/ci/cover.sh {posargs}
+allowlist_externals = {toxinidir}/tests/ci/cover.sh
 
 [testenv:docs]
 # min py3.6
@@ -152,6 +159,10 @@ commands = \
 filterwarnings =
     error
     ignore:.*EngineFacade is deprecated; please use oslo_db.sqlalchemy.enginefacade*:
+    # Introduced with oslo.db-12.1.0
+    ignore:.*Support for the MySQL NDB Cluster storage engine has been deprecated and will be removed in a future release.:DeprecationWarning:
+    # Introuduced with SQLAlchemy-1.4.46, can be removed when rally supports SQLAlchemy>=2.0.0
+    ignore:.*Set environment variable SQLALCHEMY_SILENCE_UBER_WARNING=1 to silence this message.*
     # instead of ignoring all modules, let's list only libraries that are failing
     ignore:invalid escape sequence:DeprecationWarning:.*netaddr.*
     ignore:invalid escape sequence:DeprecationWarning:.*prettytable
@@ -166,3 +177,5 @@ filterwarnings =
     ignore:Using or importing the ABCs:DeprecationWarning:unittest2.*
     # python 3.8
     ignore:::.*netaddr.strategy.*
+    # pytest-cov
+    ignore:The --rsyncdir command line argument and rsyncdirs config variable are deprecated.:DeprecationWarning:
diff --git a/upper-constraints.txt b/upper-constraints.txt
index 2d2121510a..3d8336210a 100644
--- a/upper-constraints.txt
+++ b/upper-constraints.txt
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ stevedore===3.3.0
 Tempita===0.5.2
 testresources===2.0.1
 testscenarios===0.5.0
-testtools===2.4.0
+testtools===2.5.0
 traceback2===1.4.0
 typing-extensions===3.10.0.0
 unittest2===1.1.0