diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index cc590837..0c8f4548 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -3,13 +3,13 @@
 doc/build/*
 dist
 build
-cover
-.coverage
+cover/
+.coverage.*
 *.egg
 *.egg-info
 .eggs/
-.testrepository
-.tox
+.testrepository/
+.tox/
 ChangeLog
 MANIFEST
 AUTHORS
diff --git a/monasca_log_api/app/main.py b/monasca_log_api/app/main.py
index 0c50480f..16e7a8c7 100644
--- a/monasca_log_api/app/main.py
+++ b/monasca_log_api/app/main.py
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ def get_wsgi_app():
 
     return deploy.loadapp(
         'config:%s/log-api-paste.ini' % config_dir,
-        relative_to='../../',
+        relative_to='./',
         name='main'
     )
 
diff --git a/monasca_log_api/config.py b/monasca_log_api/config.py
index a5a53c48..9bd9d656 100644
--- a/monasca_log_api/config.py
+++ b/monasca_log_api/config.py
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
 # License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
 # under the License.
 
+import sys
+
 from oslo_log import log
 
 from monasca_log_api import conf
@@ -21,9 +23,17 @@ CONF = conf.CONF
 LOG = log.getLogger(__name__)
 
 _CONF_LOADED = False
+_GUNICORN_MARKER = 'gunicorn'
 
 
-def parse_args():
+def _is_running_under_gunicorn():
+    """Evaluates if api runs under gunicorn"""
+    content = filter(lambda x: x != sys.executable and _GUNICORN_MARKER in x,
+                     sys.argv or [])
+    return len(list(content) if not isinstance(content, list) else content) > 0
+
+
+def parse_args(argv=None):
     global _CONF_LOADED
     if _CONF_LOADED:
         LOG.debug('Configuration has been already loaded')
@@ -32,11 +42,10 @@ def parse_args():
     log.set_defaults()
     log.register_options(CONF)
 
-    CONF(args=[],
-         # NOTE(trebskit) this disables any oslo.cfg CLI
-         # opts as gunicorn has some trouble with them
-         # i.e. gunicorn's argparse clashes with the one
-         # defined inside oslo.cfg
+    argv = (argv if argv is not None else sys.argv[1:])
+    args = ([] if _is_running_under_gunicorn() else argv or [])
+
+    CONF(args=args,
          prog='log-api',
          project='monasca',
          version=version.version_str,
diff --git a/monasca_log_api/tests/base.py b/monasca_log_api/tests/base.py
index 63264ddd..716bc7cc 100644
--- a/monasca_log_api/tests/base.py
+++ b/monasca_log_api/tests/base.py
@@ -20,23 +20,16 @@ import string
 
 import falcon
 from falcon import testing
+import fixtures
 import mock
 from oslo_config import fixture as oo_cfg
 from oslo_context import fixture as oo_ctx
-from oslotest import base as os_test
+from oslotest import base as oslotest_base
 import six
 
 from monasca_log_api.api.core import request
 from monasca_log_api import conf
-
-
-def mock_config(test):
-    conf.register_opts()
-    return test.useFixture(oo_cfg.Config(conf=conf.CONF))
-
-
-def mock_context(test):
-    return test.useFixture(oo_ctx.ClearRequestContext())
+from monasca_log_api import config
 
 
 class MockedAPI(falcon.API):
@@ -125,19 +118,59 @@ UNICODE_MESSAGES = [
 ]
 
 
-class DisableStatsdMixin(object):
+class DisableStatsdFixture(fixtures.Fixture):
+
     def setUp(self):
-        super(DisableStatsdMixin, self).setUp()
-        self.statsd_patch = mock.patch('monascastatsd.Connection')
-        self.statsd_check = self.statsd_patch.start()
+        super(DisableStatsdFixture, self).setUp()
+        statsd_patch = mock.patch('monascastatsd.Connection')
+        statsd_patch.start()
+        self.addCleanup(statsd_patch.stop)
 
 
-class BaseTestCase(DisableStatsdMixin, os_test.BaseTestCase):
-    pass
+class ConfigFixture(oo_cfg.Config):
+    """Mocks configuration"""
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        super(ConfigFixture, self).__init__(config.CONF)
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        super(ConfigFixture, self).setUp()
+        self.addCleanup(self._clean_config_loaded_flag)
+        conf.register_opts()
+        self._set_defaults()
+        config.parse_args(argv=[])  # prevent oslo from parsing test args
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def _clean_config_loaded_flag():
+        config._CONF_LOADED = False
+
+    def _set_defaults(self):
+        self.conf.set_default('kafka_url', '127.0.0.1', 'kafka_healthcheck')
+        self.conf.set_default('kafka_url', '127.0.0.1', 'log_publisher')
+
+
+class BaseTestCase(oslotest_base.BaseTestCase):
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        super(BaseTestCase, self).setUp()
+        self.useFixture(ConfigFixture())
+        self.useFixture(DisableStatsdFixture())
+        self.useFixture(oo_ctx.ClearRequestContext())
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def conf_override(**kw):
+        """Override flag variables for a test."""
+        group = kw.pop('group', None)
+        for k, v in kw.items():
+            config.CONF.set_override(k, v, group)
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def conf_default(**kw):
+        """Override flag variables for a test."""
+        group = kw.pop('group', None)
+        for k, v in kw.items():
+            config.CONF.set_default(k, v, group)
 
 
 class BaseApiTestCase(BaseTestCase, testing.TestBase):
     api_class = MockedAPI
-
-    def before(self):
-        self.conf = mock_config(self)
diff --git a/monasca_log_api/tests/test_config.py b/monasca_log_api/tests/test_config.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..20f16fe6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/monasca_log_api/tests/test_config.py
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+# Copyright 2017 FUJITSU LIMITED
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+# not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain
+# a copy of the License at
+#
+#      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+# WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+# License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+# under the License.
+
+import mock
+
+from monasca_log_api import config
+from monasca_log_api.tests import base
+
+
+class TestConfig(base.BaseTestCase):
+
+    @mock.patch('monasca_log_api.config.sys')
+    def test_should_return_true_if_runs_under_gunicorn(self, sys_patch):
+        sys_patch.argv = [
+            '/bin/gunicorn',
+            '--capture-output',
+            '--paste',
+            'etc/monasca/log-api-paste.ini',
+            '--workers',
+            '1'
+        ]
+        sys_patch.executable = '/bin/python'
+        self.assertTrue(config._is_running_under_gunicorn())
+
+    @mock.patch('monasca_log_api.config.sys')
+    def test_should_return_false_if_runs_without_gunicorn(self, sys_patch):
+        sys_patch.argv = ['/bin/monasca-log-api']
+        sys_patch.executable = '/bin/python'
+        self.assertFalse(config._is_running_under_gunicorn())
diff --git a/monasca_log_api/tests/test_healthchecks.py b/monasca_log_api/tests/test_healthchecks.py
index f8c33f96..50432cf1 100644
--- a/monasca_log_api/tests/test_healthchecks.py
+++ b/monasca_log_api/tests/test_healthchecks.py
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@ ENDPOINT = '/healthcheck'
 
 
 class TestApiHealthChecks(base.BaseApiTestCase):
+
     def before(self):
-        super(TestApiHealthChecks, self).before()
         self.resource = healthchecks.HealthChecks()
         self.api.add_route(
             ENDPOINT,
diff --git a/monasca_log_api/tests/test_kafka_check.py b/monasca_log_api/tests/test_kafka_check.py
index 2067774d..21f7dbe1 100644
--- a/monasca_log_api/tests/test_kafka_check.py
+++ b/monasca_log_api/tests/test_kafka_check.py
@@ -29,14 +29,9 @@ class KafkaCheckLogicTest(base.BaseTestCase):
         'kafka_topics': mocked_topics
     }
 
-    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
-        super(KafkaCheckLogicTest, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
-        self._conf = None
-
     def setUp(self):
         super(KafkaCheckLogicTest, self).setUp()
-        self._conf = base.mock_config(self)
-        self._conf.config(group='kafka_healthcheck', **self.mock_config)
+        self.conf_default(group='kafka_healthcheck', **self.mock_config)
 
     @mock.patch('monasca_log_api.healthcheck.kafka_check.client.KafkaClient')
     def test_should_fail_kafka_unavailable(self, kafka_client):
diff --git a/monasca_log_api/tests/test_log_publisher.py b/monasca_log_api/tests/test_log_publisher.py
index d588b29a..af3499d9 100644
--- a/monasca_log_api/tests/test_log_publisher.py
+++ b/monasca_log_api/tests/test_log_publisher.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import ujson
 import unittest
 
 import mock
+from oslo_config import cfg
 from oslo_log import log
 import six
 
@@ -33,10 +34,6 @@ EPOCH_START = datetime.datetime(1970, 1, 1)
 
 class TestSendMessage(base.BaseTestCase):
 
-    def setUp(self):
-        self.conf = base.mock_config(self)
-        return super(TestSendMessage, self).setUp()
-
     @mock.patch('monasca_log_api.reference.common.log_publisher.producer'
                 '.KafkaProducer')
     def test_should_not_send_empty_message(self, _):
@@ -133,16 +130,16 @@ class TestSendMessage(base.BaseTestCase):
         instance.send_message(msg)
 
         instance._kafka_publisher.publish.assert_called_once_with(
-            self.conf.conf.log_publisher.topics[0],
+            cfg.CONF.log_publisher.topics[0],
             [ujson.dumps(msg, ensure_ascii=False).encode('utf-8')])
 
     @mock.patch('monasca_log_api.reference.common.log_publisher.producer'
                 '.KafkaProducer')
     def test_should_send_message_multiple_topics(self, _):
         topics = ['logs', 'analyzer', 'tester']
-        self.conf.config(topics=topics,
-                         max_message_size=5000,
-                         group='log_publisher')
+        self.conf_override(topics=topics,
+                           max_message_size=5000,
+                           group='log_publisher')
 
         instance = log_publisher.LogPublisher()
         instance._kafka_publisher = mock.Mock()
@@ -210,7 +207,7 @@ class TestSendMessage(base.BaseTestCase):
                     expected_message = expected_message.encode('utf-8')
 
                 instance._kafka_publisher.publish.assert_called_with(
-                    self.conf.conf.log_publisher.topics[0],
+                    cfg.CONF.log_publisher.topics[0],
                     [expected_message]
                 )
             except Exception:
@@ -228,14 +225,6 @@ class TestTruncation(base.BaseTestCase):
         }
     }), 'utf8')) - 2
 
-    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
-        super(TestTruncation, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
-        self._conf = None
-
-    def setUp(self):
-        super(TestTruncation, self).setUp()
-        self._conf = base.mock_config(self)
-
     def test_should_not_truncate_message_if_size_is_smaller(self, _):
         diff_size = random.randint(1, 100)
         self._run_truncate_test(log_size_factor=-diff_size,
@@ -269,7 +258,7 @@ class TestTruncation(base.BaseTestCase):
 
         expected_log_message_size = log_size - truncate_by
 
-        self._conf.config(
+        self.conf_override(
             group='log_publisher',
             max_message_size=max_message_size
         )
diff --git a/monasca_log_api/tests/test_logs.py b/monasca_log_api/tests/test_logs.py
index f68be3f9..95fb9576 100644
--- a/monasca_log_api/tests/test_logs.py
+++ b/monasca_log_api/tests/test_logs.py
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ class TestApiLogs(base.BaseApiTestCase):
 
         max_log_size = 1000
         content_length = max_log_size - 100
-        self.conf.config(max_log_size=max_log_size, group='service')
+        self.conf_override(max_log_size=max_log_size, group='service')
 
         self.simulate_request(
             '/log/single',
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ class TestApiLogs(base.BaseApiTestCase):
 
         max_log_size = 1000
         content_length = max_log_size + 100
-        self.conf.config(max_log_size=max_log_size, group='service')
+        self.conf_override(max_log_size=max_log_size, group='service')
 
         self.simulate_request(
             '/log/single',
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ class TestApiLogs(base.BaseApiTestCase):
 
         max_log_size = 1000
         content_length = max_log_size
-        self.conf.config(max_log_size=max_log_size, group='service')
+        self.conf_override(max_log_size=max_log_size, group='service')
 
         self.simulate_request(
             '/log/single',
diff --git a/monasca_log_api/tests/test_logs_v3.py b/monasca_log_api/tests/test_logs_v3.py
index a6e9add6..b45e62ce 100644
--- a/monasca_log_api/tests/test_logs_v3.py
+++ b/monasca_log_api/tests/test_logs_v3.py
@@ -203,9 +203,6 @@ class TestApiLogsMonitoring(base.BaseApiTestCase):
 
 class TestApiLogs(base.BaseApiTestCase):
 
-    def before(self):
-        self.conf = base.mock_config(self)
-
     @mock.patch('monasca_log_api.reference.v3.common.bulk_processor.'
                 'BulkProcessor')
     def test_should_pass_cross_tenant_id(self, bulk_processor):
diff --git a/monasca_log_api/tests/test_monitoring.py b/monasca_log_api/tests/test_monitoring.py
index 055b6cba..1048216c 100644
--- a/monasca_log_api/tests/test_monitoring.py
+++ b/monasca_log_api/tests/test_monitoring.py
@@ -20,10 +20,6 @@ from monasca_log_api.tests import base
 
 class TestMonitoring(base.BaseTestCase):
 
-    def setUp(self):
-        super(TestMonitoring, self).setUp()
-        base.mock_config(self)
-
     @mock.patch('monasca_log_api.monitoring.client.monascastatsd')
     def test_should_use_default_dimensions_if_none_specified(self,
                                                              monascastatsd):
diff --git a/monasca_log_api/tests/test_request.py b/monasca_log_api/tests/test_request.py
index d969da25..ee97c26e 100644
--- a/monasca_log_api/tests/test_request.py
+++ b/monasca_log_api/tests/test_request.py
@@ -22,11 +22,6 @@ from monasca_log_api.tests import base
 
 class TestRequest(base.BaseTestCase):
 
-    def setUp(self):
-        super(TestRequest, self).setUp()
-        base.mock_config(self)
-        base.mock_context(self)
-
     def test_use_context_from_request(self):
         req = request.Request(
             testing.create_environ(
diff --git a/monasca_log_api/tests/test_service.py b/monasca_log_api/tests/test_service.py
index 08f7b9e6..fc04fb61 100644
--- a/monasca_log_api/tests/test_service.py
+++ b/monasca_log_api/tests/test_service.py
@@ -30,13 +30,8 @@ class IsDelegate(base.BaseTestCase):
 
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
         super(IsDelegate, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
-        self._conf = None
         self._roles = ['admin']
 
-    def setUp(self):
-        super(IsDelegate, self).setUp()
-        self._conf = base.mock_config(self)
-
     def test_is_delegate_ok_role(self):
         self.assertTrue(validation.validate_is_delegate(self._roles))
 
@@ -277,9 +272,6 @@ class ContentTypeValidations(base.BaseTestCase):
 
 
 class PayloadSizeValidations(base.BaseTestCase):
-    def setUp(self):
-        super(PayloadSizeValidations, self).setUp()
-        self.conf = base.mock_config(self)
 
     def test_should_fail_missing_header(self):
         content_length = None
@@ -294,8 +286,8 @@ class PayloadSizeValidations(base.BaseTestCase):
     def test_should_pass_limit_not_exceeded(self):
         content_length = 120
         max_log_size = 240
-        self.conf.config(max_log_size=max_log_size,
-                         group='service')
+        self.conf_override(max_log_size=max_log_size,
+                           group='service')
 
         req = mock.Mock()
         req.content_length = content_length
@@ -305,8 +297,8 @@ class PayloadSizeValidations(base.BaseTestCase):
     def test_should_fail_limit_exceeded(self):
         content_length = 120
         max_log_size = 60
-        self.conf.config(max_log_size=max_log_size,
-                         group='service')
+        self.conf_override(max_log_size=max_log_size,
+                           group='service')
 
         req = mock.Mock()
         req.content_length = content_length
@@ -320,8 +312,8 @@ class PayloadSizeValidations(base.BaseTestCase):
     def test_should_fail_limit_equal(self):
         content_length = 120
         max_log_size = 120
-        self.conf.config(max_log_size=max_log_size,
-                         group='service')
+        self.conf_override(max_log_size=max_log_size,
+                           group='service')
 
         req = mock.Mock()
         req.content_length = content_length
diff --git a/monasca_log_api/tests/test_versions.py b/monasca_log_api/tests/test_versions.py
index aace7e0b..07b172b9 100644
--- a/monasca_log_api/tests/test_versions.py
+++ b/monasca_log_api/tests/test_versions.py
@@ -24,12 +24,8 @@ def _get_versioned_url(version_id):
 
 
 class TestApiVersions(base.BaseApiTestCase):
-    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
-        self.versions = None
-        super(TestApiVersions, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
 
     def before(self):
-        super(TestApiVersions, self).before()
         self.versions = versions.Versions()
         self.api.add_route("/version/", self.versions)
         self.api.add_route("/version/{version_id}", self.versions)
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/cli_args-6dc5e2d13337b871.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/cli_args-6dc5e2d13337b871.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b25af046
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/cli_args-6dc5e2d13337b871.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+other:
+  - |
+    Enabled possibility of specifying the CLI arguments, when launching
+    monasca-log-api, for cases where API is not deployed using Gunicorn
+    server.