diff --git a/nova/tests/functional/integrated_helpers.py b/nova/tests/functional/integrated_helpers.py
index cde46629178e..62cfb30de2ba 100644
--- a/nova/tests/functional/integrated_helpers.py
+++ b/nova/tests/functional/integrated_helpers.py
@@ -74,7 +74,6 @@ class _IntegratedTestBase(test.TestCase):
 
         # TODO(mriedem): Fix the functional tests to work with Neutron.
         self.flags(use_neutron=self.USE_NEUTRON)
-        self.flags(keep_alive=False, group="wsgi")
 
         nova.tests.unit.image.fake.stub_out_image_service(self)
         self._setup_services()
diff --git a/nova/tests/unit/conf_fixture.py b/nova/tests/unit/conf_fixture.py
index 63758cd10ed2..c037754362be 100644
--- a/nova/tests/unit/conf_fixture.py
+++ b/nova/tests/unit/conf_fixture.py
@@ -74,6 +74,11 @@ class ConfFixture(config_fixture.Config):
         self.conf.set_default('api_paste_config',
                               paths.state_path_def('etc/nova/api-paste.ini'),
                               group='wsgi')
+        # The functional tests run wsgi API services using fixtures and
+        # eventlet and we want one connection per request so things don't
+        # leak between requests from separate services in concurrently running
+        # tests.
+        self.conf.set_default('keep_alive', False, group="wsgi")
 
         # placement group
         self.conf.set_default('os_region_name', 'RegionOne',