diff --git a/devstack-vm-gate-wrap.sh b/devstack-vm-gate-wrap.sh
index 1cb11c93..04d1eb2e 100755
--- a/devstack-vm-gate-wrap.sh
+++ b/devstack-vm-gate-wrap.sh
@@ -404,10 +404,6 @@ export DEVSTACK_GATE_REMOVE_STACK_SUDO=${DEVSTACK_GATE_REMOVE_STACK_SUDO:-1}
 # dependency-only installation.
 export DEVSTACK_GATE_UNSTACK=${DEVSTACK_GATE_UNSTACK:-0}
 
-# Set Ceilometer backend to override the default one. It could be mysql,
-# postgresql, mongodb.
-export DEVSTACK_GATE_CEILOMETER_BACKEND=${DEVSTACK_GATE_CEILOMETER_BACKEND:-mysql}
-
 # The topology of the system determinates the service distribution
 # among the nodes.
 # aio: `all in one` just only one node used
diff --git a/devstack-vm-gate.sh b/devstack-vm-gate.sh
index 1170e94f..06e8a64a 100755
--- a/devstack-vm-gate.sh
+++ b/devstack-vm-gate.sh
@@ -402,7 +402,6 @@ function setup_localrc {
     localrc_set "$localrc_file" "CINDER_PERIODIC_INTERVAL" "10"
     # TODO(mriedem): Remove OS_NO_CACHE after newton-eol for devstack.
     localrc_set "$localrc_file" "export OS_NO_CACHE" "True"
-    localrc_set "$localrc_file" "CEILOMETER_BACKEND" "$DEVSTACK_GATE_CEILOMETER_BACKEND"
     localrc_set "$localrc_file" "LIBS_FROM_GIT" "$DEVSTACK_PROJECT_FROM_GIT"
 
     # etcd 3.x is not available in debian/ubuntu etc. As a stop gap measure, devstack uses wget to download