diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index af039d7a1..21096d4ff 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 /resources/lang/la
 /resources/lang/sp
 /vendor
+/data
 .env
 .env.backup
 .phpunit.result.cache
diff --git a/config/database.php b/config/database.php
index bcf1632e4..89a1355bb 100644
--- a/config/database.php
+++ b/config/database.php
@@ -90,18 +90,6 @@
             'prefix' => '',
             'prefix_indexes' => true,
         ],
-
-        'testing' => [
-            'driver' => 'mysql',
-            'host' => env('DB_TEST_HOST', 'localhost'),
-            'database' => env('DB_TEST_DATABASE', 'homestead'),
-            'username' => env('DB_TEST_USERNAME', 'homestead'),
-            'password' => env('DB_TEST_PASSWORD', 'secret'),
-            'charset' => 'utf8',
-            'collation' => 'utf8_unicode_ci',
-            'prefix' => '',
-            'strict' => false,
-          ],
     ],
 
     /*
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index eb723dbd2..2c2378e6a 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -1,56 +1,28 @@
-# For more information: https://laravel.com/docs/sail
+#  DB_CONNECTION=mysql
+#  DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
+#  DB_PORT=3306 (overriden by 8011 for tests)
+
 version: '3'
 services:
-    laravel.test:
-        build:
-            context: ./vendor/laravel/sail/runtimes/8.2
-            dockerfile: Dockerfile
-            args:
-                WWWGROUP: '${WWWGROUP}'
-        image: sail-8.2/app
-        extra_hosts:
-            - 'host.docker.internal:host-gateway'
-        ports:
-            - '${APP_PORT:-80}:80'
-            - '${VITE_PORT:-5173}:${VITE_PORT:-5173}'
+    mars_mysql:
+        container_name: mars_mysql
+        image: 'mysql:8.3'
         environment:
-            WWWUSER: '${WWWUSER}'
-            LARAVEL_SAIL: 1
-            XDEBUG_MODE: '${SAIL_XDEBUG_MODE:-off}'
-            XDEBUG_CONFIG: '${SAIL_XDEBUG_CONFIG:-client_host=host.docker.internal}'
-        volumes:
-            - '.:/var/www/html'
-        networks:
-            - sail
-        depends_on:
-            - mysql
-    mysql:
-        image: 'mysql/mysql-server:8.0'
+            MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: '${DB_PASSWORD}'
+            MYSQL_DATABASE: '${DB_DATABASE}'
+            MYSQL_USER: '${DB_USERNAME}'
+            MYSQL_PASSWORD: '${DB_PASSWORD}'
         ports:
-            - '${FORWARD_DB_PORT:-3306}:3306'
+            - '127.0.0.1:3306:3306'
+        volumes:
+            - './data/mysql:/var/lib/mysql'
+    mars_mysql_test:
+        container_name: mars_mysql_test
+        image: 'mysql:8.3'
         environment:
             MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: '${DB_PASSWORD}'
-            MYSQL_ROOT_HOST: '%'
             MYSQL_DATABASE: '${DB_DATABASE}'
             MYSQL_USER: '${DB_USERNAME}'
             MYSQL_PASSWORD: '${DB_PASSWORD}'
-            MYSQL_ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD: 1
-        volumes:
-            - 'sail-mysql:/var/lib/mysql'
-            - './vendor/laravel/sail/database/mysql/create-testing-database.sh:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/10-create-testing-database.sh'
-        networks:
-            - sail
-        healthcheck:
-            test:
-                - CMD
-                - mysqladmin
-                - ping
-                - '-p${DB_PASSWORD}'
-            retries: 3
-            timeout: 5s
-networks:
-    sail:
-        driver: bridge
-volumes:
-    sail-mysql:
-        driver: local
+        ports:
+            - '127.0.0.1:8011:3306'
diff --git a/phpunit.xml b/phpunit.xml
index c8b8b7652..250c7bc31 100644
--- a/phpunit.xml
+++ b/phpunit.xml
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
     <server name="MAIL_DRIVER" value="array"/>
     <server name="QUEUE_CONNECTION" value="sync"/>
     <server name="SESSION_DRIVER" value="array"/>
+    <server name="DB_PORT" value="8011"/> <!-- overriding default database port -->
   </php>
   <source>
     <include>