diff --git a/.zuul.yaml b/.zuul.yaml
index ecd32ddabb..7cab7c091e 100644
--- a/.zuul.yaml
+++ b/.zuul.yaml
@@ -691,7 +691,10 @@
             irrelevant-files:
               - ^.*\.rst$
               - ^doc/.*$
+        # TODO(gmann): make it voting once it is fixed, currently it is failing
+        # for <=stable/xena https://zuul.openstack.org/builds?job_name=openstacksdk-functional-devstack&branch=stable%2Fxena&branch=stable%2Fwallaby&skip=0
         - openstacksdk-functional-devstack:
+            voting: false
             irrelevant-files:
               - ^.*\.rst$
               - ^doc/.*$
@@ -722,10 +725,11 @@
             irrelevant-files:
               - ^.*\.rst$
               - ^doc/.*$
-        - openstacksdk-functional-devstack:
-            irrelevant-files:
-              - ^.*\.rst$
-              - ^doc/.*$
+        # - openstacksdk-functional-devstack:
+        #    voting: false
+        #    irrelevant-files:
+        #      - ^.*\.rst$
+        #      - ^doc/.*$
         - tempest-ipv6-only:
             irrelevant-files:
               - ^.*\.rst$
diff --git a/stackrc b/stackrc
index 3ebdda9b38..9728d6192f 100644
--- a/stackrc
+++ b/stackrc
@@ -297,8 +297,8 @@ REQUIREMENTS_BRANCH=${REQUIREMENTS_BRANCH:-$TARGET_BRANCH}
 
 # Tempest test suite
 TEMPEST_REPO=${TEMPEST_REPO:-${GIT_BASE}/openstack/tempest.git}
-TEMPEST_BRANCH=${TEMPEST_BRANCH:-$BRANCHLESS_TARGET_BRANCH}
-TEMPEST_VENV_UPPER_CONSTRAINTS=${TEMPEST_VENV_UPPER_CONSTRAINTS:-master}
+TEMPEST_BRANCH=${TEMPEST_BRANCH:-29.0.0}
+TEMPEST_VENV_UPPER_CONSTRAINTS=${TEMPEST_VENV_UPPER_CONSTRAINTS:-$REQUIREMENTS_DIR/upper-constraints.txt}
 
 
 ##############
diff --git a/tests/test_refs.sh b/tests/test_refs.sh
index 0f9aa4a5ca..d9b328294a 100755
--- a/tests/test_refs.sh
+++ b/tests/test_refs.sh
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 
 echo "Ensuring we don't have crazy refs"
 
-REFS=`grep BRANCH stackrc | grep -v 'TARGET_BRANCH' | grep -v 'NOVNC_BRANCH'`
+REFS=`grep BRANCH stackrc | grep -v 'TARGET_BRANCH' | grep -v 'NOVNC_BRANCH' | grep -v 'TEMPEST_BRANCH'`
 rc=$?
 if [[ $rc -eq 0 ]]; then
     echo "Branch defaults must be one of the *TARGET_BRANCH values. Found:"