diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index da2f6b2c..dab1f60f 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
 sudo: false
 language: python
+cache: pip
 install:
-    - pip install tox six
+    - pip install tox
 
-before_script: mysql -e 'create database mysqldb_test charset utf8;'
+before_script:
+    - "mysql --help"
+    - "mysql --print-defaults"
+    - "mysql -e 'create database mysqldb_test charset utf8mb4;'"
 script: TESTDB=travis.cnf tox
diff --git a/tests/travis.cnf b/tests/travis.cnf
index eb37c29a..483b76f2 100644
--- a/tests/travis.cnf
+++ b/tests/travis.cnf
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 [MySQLdb-tests]
 host = 127.0.0.1
+port = 3306
 user = root
 database = mysqldb_test
 #password =
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index af33458e..708221fb 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 envlist = py26, py27, pypy, py33, py34
 
 [testenv]
+passenv = TESTDB
 commands =
     py.test --cov {envsitepackagesdir}/MySQLdb
 deps =