diff --git a/glance/registry/db/api.py b/glance/registry/db/api.py
index e13bd64781..7ee8155a48 100644
--- a/glance/registry/db/api.py
+++ b/glance/registry/db/api.py
@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@ from sqlalchemy.sql import or_, and_
 from glance.common import config
 from glance.common import exception
 from glance.common import utils
-from glance.registry.db import migration
 from glance.registry.db import models
 
 _ENGINE = None
@@ -77,7 +76,7 @@ def configure_db(options):
         elif verbose:
             logger.setLevel(logging.INFO)
 
-        migration.db_sync(options)
+        models.register_models(_ENGINE)
 
 
 def get_session(autocommit=True, expire_on_commit=False):
diff --git a/glance/registry/db/models.py b/glance/registry/db/models.py
index 972854044a..8507d16082 100644
--- a/glance/registry/db/models.py
+++ b/glance/registry/db/models.py
@@ -118,3 +118,12 @@ class ImageProperty(BASE, ModelBase):
 
     name = Column(String(255), index=True, nullable=False)
     value = Column(Text)
+
+
+def register_models(engine):
+    """
+    Creates database tables for all models with the given engine
+    """
+    models = (Image, ImageProperty)
+    for model in models:
+        model.metadata.create_all(engine)
diff --git a/tests/functional/__init__.py b/tests/functional/__init__.py
index 36e315a6f6..7490cc580d 100644
--- a/tests/functional/__init__.py
+++ b/tests/functional/__init__.py
@@ -175,11 +175,7 @@ class RegistryServer(Server):
         super(RegistryServer, self).__init__(test_dir, port)
         self.server_name = 'registry'
 
-        # NOTE(sirp): in-memory DBs don't play well with sqlalchemy migrate
-        # (see http://code.google.com/p/sqlalchemy-migrate/
-        #            issues/detail?id=72)
-        self.db_file = os.path.join(self.test_dir, 'test_glance_api.sqlite')
-        default_sql_connection = 'sqlite:///%s' % self.db_file
+        default_sql_connection = 'sqlite:///'
         self.sql_connection = os.environ.get('GLANCE_TEST_SQL_CONNECTION',
                                              default_sql_connection)