diff --git a/doc/source/devref/alembic_migrations.rst b/doc/source/devref/alembic_migrations.rst
index 8762b689e69..fbdba620c28 100644
--- a/doc/source/devref/alembic_migrations.rst
+++ b/doc/source/devref/alembic_migrations.rst
@@ -161,10 +161,109 @@ complete. The operations in the template are those supported by the Alembic
 migration library.
 
 
+.. _neutron-db-manage-without-devstack:
+
+Running neutron-db-manage without devstack
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+When, as a developer, you want to work with the Neutron DB schema and alembic
+migrations only, it can be rather tedious to rely on devstack just to get an
+up-to-date neutron-db-manage installed. This section describes how to work on
+the schema and migration scripts with just the unit test virtualenv and
+mysql. You can also operate on a separate test database so you don't mess up
+the installed Neutron database.
+
+Setting up the environment
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+
+Install mysql service
+'''''''''''''''''''''
+
+This only needs to be done once since it is a system install. If you have run
+devstack on your system before, then the mysql service is already installed and
+you can skip this step.
+
+Mysql must be configured as installed by devstack, and the following script
+accomplishes this without actually running devstack::
+
+ INSTALL_MYSQL_ONLY=True ./tools/configure_for_func_testing.sh ../devstack
+
+Run this from the root of the neutron repo. It assumes an up-to-date clone of
+the devstack repo is in ``../devstack``.
+
+Note that you must know the mysql root password. It is derived from (in order
+of precedence):
+
+- ``$MYSQL_PASSWORD`` in your environment
+- ``$MYSQL_PASSWORD`` in ``../devstack/local.conf``
+- ``$MYSQL_PASSWORD`` in ``../devstack/localrc``
+- default of 'secretmysql' from ``tools/configure_for_func_testing.sh``
+
+Work on a test database
+'''''''''''''''''''''''
+
+Rather than using the neutron database when working on schema and alembic
+migration script changes, we can work on a test database. In the examples
+below, we use a database named ``testdb``.
+
+To create the database::
+
+ mysql -e "create database testdb;"
+
+You will often need to clear it to re-run operations from a blank database::
+
+ mysql -e "drop database testdb; create database testdb;"
+
+To work on the test database instead of the neutron database, point to it with
+the ``--database-connection`` option::
+
+ neutron-db-manage --database-connection mysql+pymysql://root:secretmysql@127.0.0.1/testdb?charset=utf8
+
+You may find it convenient to set up an alias (in your .bashrc) for this::
+
+ alias test-db-manage='neutron-db-manage --database-connection mysql+pymysql://root:secretmysql@127.0.0.1/testdb?charset=utf8'
+
+Create and activate the virtualenv
+''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
+
+From the root of the neutron (or sub-project) repo directory, run::
+
+ tox --notest -r -e py27
+ source .tox/py27/bin/activate
+
+Now you can use the ``test-db-manage`` alias in place of ``neutron-db-manage``
+in the script auto-generation instructions below.
+
+When you are done, exit the virtualenv::
+
+ deactivate
+
+
 Script Auto-generation
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
-::
+This section describes how to auto-generate an alembic migration script for a
+model change. You may either use the system installed devstack environment, or
+a virtualenv + testdb environment as described in
+:ref:`neutron-db-manage-without-devstack`.
+
+Stop the neutron service. Work from the base directory of the neutron (or
+sub-project) repo. Check out the master branch and and do ``git pull`` to
+ensure it is fully up to date. Check out your development branch and rebase to
+master.
+
+**NOTE:** Make sure you have not updated the ``CONTRACT_HEAD`` or
+``EXPAND_HEAD`` yet at this point.
+
+Start with an empty database and upgrade to heads::
+
+ mysql -e "drop database neutron; create database neutron;"
+ neutron-db-manage upgrade heads
+
+The database schema is now created without your model changes. The alembic
+``revision --autogenerate`` command will look for differences between the
+schema generated by the upgrade command and the schema defined by the models,
+including your model updates::
 
  neutron-db-manage revision -m "description of revision" --autogenerate
 
@@ -195,6 +294,12 @@ blank file for a branch via::
 in a directory that is named as current release. If not, please raise the issue
 with the development team (IRC, mailing list, launchpad bug).
 
+**NOTE:** The "description of revision" text should be a simple English
+sentence. The first 30 characters of the description will be used in the file
+name for the script, with underscores substituted for spaces. If the truncation
+occurs at an awkward point in the description, you can modify the script file
+name manually before committing.
+
 The timeline on each alembic branch should remain linear and not interleave
 with other branches, so that there is a clear path when upgrading. To verify
 that alembic branches maintain linear timelines, you can run this command::
diff --git a/neutron/tests/functional/requirements.txt b/neutron/tests/functional/requirements.txt
index 2f9131d0bfb..62285e9e900 100644
--- a/neutron/tests/functional/requirements.txt
+++ b/neutron/tests/functional/requirements.txt
@@ -6,4 +6,3 @@
 
 psutil>=1.1.1,<2.0.0
 psycopg2
-PyMySQL>=0.6.2  # MIT License
diff --git a/test-requirements.txt b/test-requirements.txt
index 51324262390..d3b06369cc9 100644
--- a/test-requirements.txt
+++ b/test-requirements.txt
@@ -22,3 +22,5 @@ tempest-lib>=0.10.0
 ddt>=0.7.0
 pylint==1.4.4 # GNU GPL v2
 reno>=0.1.1 # Apache2
+# Needed to run DB commands in virtualenvs
+PyMySQL>=0.6.2  # MIT License
diff --git a/tools/configure_for_func_testing.sh b/tools/configure_for_func_testing.sh
index 1a0842dd6ea..5235dc3be63 100755
--- a/tools/configure_for_func_testing.sh
+++ b/tools/configure_for_func_testing.sh
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ VENV=${VENV:-dsvm-functional}
 DEVSTACK_PATH=${DEVSTACK_PATH:-$1}
 PROJECT_NAME=${PROJECT_NAME:-neutron}
 REPO_BASE=${GATE_DEST:-$(cd $(dirname "$0")/../.. && pwd)}
+INSTALL_MYSQL_ONLY=${INSTALL_MYSQL_ONLY:-False}
 # The gate should automatically install dependencies.
 INSTALL_BASE_DEPENDENCIES=${INSTALL_BASE_DEPENDENCIES:-$IS_GATE}
 
@@ -109,7 +110,10 @@ function _install_rpc_backend {
 }
 
 
+# _install_databases [install_pg]
 function _install_databases {
+    local install_pg=${1:-True}
+
     echo_summary "Installing databases"
 
     # Avoid attempting to configure the db if it appears to already
@@ -129,10 +133,12 @@ function _install_databases {
     install_database
     configure_database_mysql
 
-    enable_service postgresql
-    initialize_database_backends
-    install_database
-    configure_database_postgresql
+    if [[ "$install_pg" == "True" ]]; then
+        enable_service postgresql
+        initialize_database_backends
+        install_database
+        configure_database_postgresql
+    fi
 
     # Set up the 'openstack_citest' user and database in each backend
     tmp_dir=$(mktemp -d)
@@ -148,14 +154,16 @@ FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
 EOF
     /usr/bin/mysql -u root < $tmp_dir/mysql.sql
 
-    cat << EOF > $tmp_dir/postgresql.sql
+    if [[ "$install_pg" == "True" ]]; then
+        cat << EOF > $tmp_dir/postgresql.sql
 CREATE USER openstack_citest WITH CREATEDB LOGIN PASSWORD 'openstack_citest';
 CREATE DATABASE openstack_citest WITH OWNER openstack_citest;
 EOF
 
-    # User/group postgres needs to be given access to tmp_dir
-    setfacl -m g:postgres:rwx $tmp_dir
-    sudo -u postgres /usr/bin/psql --file=$tmp_dir/postgresql.sql
+        # User/group postgres needs to be given access to tmp_dir
+        setfacl -m g:postgres:rwx $tmp_dir
+        sudo -u postgres /usr/bin/psql --file=$tmp_dir/postgresql.sql
+    fi
 }
 
 
@@ -250,5 +258,9 @@ _init
 
 
 if [[ "$IS_GATE" != "True" ]]; then
-    configure_host_for_func_testing
+    if [[ "$INSTALL_MYSQL_ONLY" == "True" ]]; then
+        _install_databases nopg
+    else
+        configure_host_for_func_testing
+    fi
 fi