diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.rst b/CONTRIBUTING.rst
index b269857a3..a0922afba 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.rst
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.rst
@@ -56,7 +56,9 @@ interpreter of one of supported versions (currently 2.7 and 3.4), use
     This command also runs tests for database migrations. By default the sqlite
     backend is used. For testing with mysql or postgresql, you need to set up
     a db named 'openstack_citest' with user 'openstack_citest' and password
-    'openstack_citest' on localhost.
+    'openstack_citest' on localhost. Use the script
+    ``tools/test_setup.sh`` to set the database up the same way as
+    done in the OpenStack CI environment.
 
 .. note::
     Users of Fedora <= 23 will need to run "sudo dnf --releasever=24 update
diff --git a/tools/test-setup.sh b/tools/test-setup.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..07a078547
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/test-setup.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+#!/bin/bash -xe
+
+# This script will be run by OpenStack CI before unit tests are run,
+# it sets up the test system as needed.
+# Developers should setup their test systems in a similar way.
+
+# This setup needs to be run as a user that can run sudo.
+
+# The root password for the MySQL database; pass it in via
+# MYSQL_ROOT_PW.
+DB_ROOT_PW=${MYSQL_ROOT_PW:-insecure_slave}
+
+# This user and its password are used by the tests, if you change it,
+# your tests might fail.
+DB_USER=openstack_citest
+DB_PW=openstack_citest
+
+sudo -H mysqladmin -u root password $DB_ROOT_PW
+
+# It's best practice to remove anonymous users from the database.  If
+# a anonymous user exists, then it matches first for connections and
+# other connections from that host will not work.
+sudo -H mysql -u root -p$DB_ROOT_PW -h localhost -e "
+    DELETE FROM mysql.user WHERE User='';
+    FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
+    GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.*
+        TO '$DB_USER'@'%' identified by '$DB_PW' WITH GRANT OPTION;"
+
+# Now create our database.
+mysql -u $DB_USER -p$DB_PW -h 127.0.0.1 -e "
+    SET default_storage_engine=MYISAM;
+    DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS openstack_citest;
+    CREATE DATABASE openstack_citest CHARACTER SET utf8;"
+
+# Same for PostgreSQL
+# The root password for the PostgreSQL database; pass it in via
+# POSTGRES_ROOT_PW.
+DB_ROOT_PW=${POSTGRES_ROOT_PW:-insecure_slave}
+
+# Setup user
+root_roles=$(sudo -H -u postgres psql -t -c "
+   SELECT 'HERE' from pg_roles where rolname='$DB_USER'")
+if [[ ${root_roles} == *HERE ]];then
+    sudo -H -u postgres psql -c "ALTER ROLE $DB_USER WITH SUPERUSER LOGIN PASSWORD '$DB_PW'"
+else
+    sudo -H -u postgres psql -c "CREATE ROLE $DB_USER WITH SUPERUSER LOGIN PASSWORD '$DB_PW'"
+fi
+
+# Store password for tests
+cat << EOF > $HOME/.pgpass
+*:*:*:$DB_USER:$DB_PW
+EOF
+chmod 0600 $HOME/.pgpass
+
+# Now create our database
+psql -h 127.0.0.1 -U $DB_USER -d template1 -c "DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS openstack_citest"
+createdb -h 127.0.0.1 -U $DB_USER -l C -T template0 -E utf8 openstack_citest