diff --git a/etc/ord.conf b/etc/ord.conf
index 14372bc..1f25bed 100755
--- a/etc/ord.conf
+++ b/etc/ord.conf
@@ -30,7 +30,8 @@ openstack_client_http_timeout = 360
 https_insecure = False
 
 [database]
-db_connection = mysql://root:devstack@127.0.0.1/ord?charset=utf8
+connection = mysql+pymysql://root:devstack@127.0.0.1:3306/ord
+max_retries = -1
 
 [oslo_messaging_rabbit]
 rabbit_userid = stackrabbit
diff --git a/ord/db/sqlalchemy/api.py b/ord/db/sqlalchemy/api.py
index 12509ae..38100a2 100644
--- a/ord/db/sqlalchemy/api.py
+++ b/ord/db/sqlalchemy/api.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ from oslo_log import log as logging
 CONF = cfg.CONF
 
 api_db_opts = [
-    cfg.StrOpt('db_connection',
+    cfg.StrOpt('connection',
                help='The SQLAlchemy connection string to use to connect to '
                     'the ORD database.',
                secret=True),
@@ -46,7 +46,6 @@ opt_group = cfg.OptGroup(name='database',
                          title='Options for the database service')
 CONF.register_group(opt_group)
 CONF.register_opts(oslo_db_options.database_opts, opt_group)
-CONF.register_opts(api_db_opts, opt_group)
 
 LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -58,7 +57,7 @@ _LOCK = threading.Lock()
 def _create_facade(conf_group):
 
     return db_session.EngineFacade(
-        sql_connection=conf_group.db_connection,
+        sql_connection=conf_group.connection,
         autocommit=True,
         expire_on_commit=False,
         mysql_sql_mode=conf_group.mysql_sql_mode,
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 2cb9383..52a0f0a 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ werkzeug>=0.11.5
 eventlet!=0.18.3,>=0.18.2
 SQLAlchemy>=1.0.10,<1.1.0
 sqlalchemy-migrate>=0.9.6
+PyMySQL>=0.6.2,!=0.7.7
 lxml>=2.3
 PasteDeploy>=1.5.0
 enum34;python_version=='2.7' or python_version=='2.6' or python_version=='3.3'