diff --git a/.coveragerc b/.coveragerc
index 4e0b29007..595e00616 100644
--- a/.coveragerc
+++ b/.coveragerc
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 [run]
 branch = True
-source = monasca
-omit = monasca/tests/*
+source = monasca_api
+omit = monasca_api/tests/*
 
 [report]
 ignore_errors = True
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 957d4e2b7..693bd2a9f 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 docs/build/*
 dist
 build
-cover
+cover*
 .coverage
 *.egg
 *.egg-info
diff --git a/.testr.conf b/.testr.conf
index 1414396c9..f875b61aa 100644
--- a/.testr.conf
+++ b/.testr.conf
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 [DEFAULT]
 test_command=OS_STDOUT_CAPTURE=${OS_STDOUT_CAPTURE:-1} \
              OS_STDERR_CAPTURE=${OS_STDERR_CAPTURE:-1} \
-             OS_TEST_TIMEOUT=${OS_TEST_TIMEOUT:-60} \
-             ${PYTHON:-python} -m subunit.run discover -t . ./monasca_api/tests $LISTOPT $IDOPTION
+             OS_TEST_TIMEOUT=${OS_TEST_TIMEOUT:-160} \
+             ${PYTHON:-python} -m subunit.run discover -t ./ $OS_TEST_PATH $LISTOPT $IDOPTION
 
 test_id_option=--load-list $IDFILE
 test_list_option=--list
+group_regex=monasca_api\.tests(?:\.|_)([^_]+)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test-requirements.txt b/test-requirements.txt
index b953f6e45..fb15356f6 100644
--- a/test-requirements.txt
+++ b/test-requirements.txt
@@ -2,18 +2,16 @@
 # of appearance. Changing the order has an impact on the overall integration
 # process, which may cause wedges in the gate later.
 # Hacking already pins down pep8, pyflakes and flake8
-hacking<0.11,>=0.10.0
+hacking>=0.12.0,!=0.13.0,<0.14  # Apache-2.0
 Babel>=2.3.4 # BSD
 coverage>=4.0 # Apache-2.0
 fixtures>=3.0.0 # Apache-2.0/BSD
-flake8<2.6.0,>=2.5.4 # MIT
-pep8==1.5.7 # MIT
 httplib2>=0.7.5 # MIT
 mock>=2.0 # BSD
 funcsigs>=0.4;python_version=='2.7' or python_version=='2.6' # Apache-2.0
 mox>=0.5.3 # Apache-2.0
-nose # LGPL
 oslotest>=1.10.0 # Apache-2.0
+os-testr>=0.8.0 # Apache-2.0
 python-subunit>=0.0.18 # Apache-2.0/BSD
 testrepository>=0.0.18 # Apache-2.0/BSD
 testscenarios>=0.4 # Apache-2.0/BSD
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 391684c39..ae30d74ab 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -1,40 +1,75 @@
 [tox]
-minversion = 2.0
-skipsdist = True
 envlist = py27,pep8
+minversion = 2.1
+skipsdist = True
 
 [testenv]
-setenv = VIRTUAL_ENV={envdir}
+setenv =
+    VIRTUAL_ENV={envdir}
+    OS_TEST_PATH=monasca_api/tests
+    CLIENT_NAME=monasca-api
+passenv = http_proxy
+          HTTP_PROXY
+          https_proxy
+          HTTPS_PROXY
+          no_proxy
+          NO_PROXY
 usedevelop = True
 install_command =
     {toxinidir}/tools/tox_install.sh {env:UPPER_CONSTRAINTS_FILE:https://git.openstack.org/cgit/openstack/requirements/plain/upper-constraints.txt} {opts} {packages}
 deps = -r{toxinidir}/requirements.txt
        -r{toxinidir}/test-requirements.txt
-whitelist_externals = find
+whitelist_externals = bash
+                      find
+                      rm
 commands =
-  pip install influxdb==2.8.0
-  pip install cassandra-driver>=2.1.4,!=3.6.0
   find . -type f -name "*.pyc" -delete
-  python setup.py testr --testr-args='{posargs}'
+
+[testenv:py27]
+basepython = python2.7
+deps = {[testenv:unit_deps]deps}
+commands =
+  {[testenv]commands}
+  ostestr {posargs}
+
+[testenv:py35]
+basepython = python3.5
+deps = {[testenv:unit_deps]deps}
+commands =
+  {[testenv]commands}
+  ostestr {posargs}
 
 [testenv:cover]
-setenv = NOSE_WITH_COVERAGE=1
+basepython = python2.7
+deps = {[testenv:unit_deps]deps}
 commands =
-  python setup.py testr --coverage \
-    --testr-args='^(?!.*test.*coverage).*$'
+  {[testenv]commands}
+  coverage erase
+  python setup.py test --coverage --testr-args='{posargs}' --coverage-package-name=monasca_api
+  coverage report
+
+[testenv:debug]
+deps = {[testenv:unit_deps]deps}
+commands =
+  {[testenv]commands}
+  oslo_debug_helper -t ./monasca_api/tests {posargs}
 
 [testenv:pep8]
 commands =
     flake8 monasca_api
 
-[testenv:genconfig]
-
-[testenv:docs]
-commands = python setup.py build_sphinx
-
 [testenv:venv]
 commands = {posargs}
 
+# note(trebskit): this is just placeholder to wrap all common dependencies
+# needed to run tests, those dependencies won't likely
+# be needed for every possible -e here, so extracted them here
+[testenv:unit_deps]
+deps =
+  {[testenv]deps}
+  influxdb==2.8.0
+  cassandra-driver>=2.1.4,!=3.6.0
+
 [flake8]
 # TODO: ignored checks should be enabled in the future
 # H201  no 'except:' at least use 'except Exception:'