diff --git a/BUILD/install_test_build_deps.sh b/BUILD/install_test_build_deps.sh
index 029f03968..43758146b 100755
--- a/BUILD/install_test_build_deps.sh
+++ b/BUILD/install_test_build_deps.sh
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ then
                  coreutils libjansson-dev zlib1g-dev \
                  mariadb-test python python-pip cmake libpam0g-dev
   sudo apt-get install -y --force-yes openjdk-8-jdk
+  sudo apt-get install -y --force-yes php-mysql
   if [ $? != 0 ]
   then
     sudo apt-get install -y --force-yes openjdk-7-jdk
@@ -52,6 +53,7 @@ EOL
                  php perl coreutils libjansson-devel python python-pip \
                  cmake pam-devel openssl-devel python-devel libjansson-devel
     sudo zypper -n install java-1_8_0-openjdk
+    sudo zypper -n install php-mysql
   else
   # YUM!
     cat >mariadb.repo <<'EOL'
@@ -72,6 +74,7 @@ EOL
     sudo yum install -y --nogpgcheck java-1.8.0-openjdk
     sudo yum install -y --nogpgcheck centos-release-scl
     sudo yum install -y --nogpgcheck devtoolset-7-gcc*
+    sudo yum install -y --nogpgcheck php-mysql
     echo "please run 'scl enable devtoolset-7 bash' to enable new gcc!!"
   fi
   sudo pip install --upgrade pip
diff --git a/maxscale-system-test/CMakeLists.txt b/maxscale-system-test/CMakeLists.txt
index b30908f12..dcb623a42 100644
--- a/maxscale-system-test/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/maxscale-system-test/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ add_test_executable(mxs2355_wrong_auth.cpp mxs2355_wrong_auth maxctrl LABELS REP
 ############################################
 
 # Configures 'keepalived' on two Maxscale machines and tried failover
-add_test_executable(keepalived_masterdown.cpp keepalived_masterdown keepalived_masterdown LABELS REPL_BACKEND TWO_MAXSCALES)
+#add_test_executable(keepalived_masterdown.cpp keepalived_masterdown keepalived_masterdown LABELS REPL_BACKEND TWO_MAXSCALES)
 
 # MySQL Monitor with Multi-master configurations
 add_test_executable(mysqlmon_multimaster.cpp mysqlmon_multimaster mysqlmon_multimaster LABELS mysqlmon REPL_BACKEND BREAKS_REPL)
@@ -852,7 +852,7 @@ add_test_executable(kerberos_setup.cpp kerberos_setup kerberos LABELS HEAVY gssa
 add_test_derived(kerberos_setup_ssl kerberos_setup kerberos_ssl LABELS HEAVY gssapi REPL_BACKEND)
 
 # Configures 'keepalived' on two Maxscale machines and tried failover
-add_test_executable(keepalived.cpp keepalived keepalived LABELS REPL_BACKEND TWO_MAXSCALES)
+#add_test_executable(keepalived.cpp keepalived keepalived LABELS REPL_BACKEND TWO_MAXSCALES)
 
 # a tool to delete RDS Aurora cluster
 add_test_executable_notest(delete_rds.cpp delete_rds replication LABELS EXTERN_BACKEND)
diff --git a/maxscale-system-test/cache_basic.sh b/maxscale-system-test/cache_basic.sh
index 234585938..97e522cdb 100755
--- a/maxscale-system-test/cache_basic.sh
+++ b/maxscale-system-test/cache_basic.sh
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ target=${maxscale_000_whoami}@${maxscale_000_network}:/home/${maxscale_000_whoam
 
 if [ ${maxscale_000_network} != "127.0.0.1" ] ; then
    scp -i ${maxscale_000_keyfile} -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null $source $target
+   ssh -i $maxscale_000_keyfile -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null ${maxscale_000_whoami}@${maxscale_000_network} chmod a+r /home/${maxscale_000_whoami}/cache_rules.json
 else
    cp $source /home/${maxscale_000_whoami}/cache_rules.json
 fi
diff --git a/maxscale-system-test/fw_copy_rules.cpp b/maxscale-system-test/fw_copy_rules.cpp
index ccc237e93..37d076840 100644
--- a/maxscale-system-test/fw_copy_rules.cpp
+++ b/maxscale-system-test/fw_copy_rules.cpp
@@ -21,5 +21,9 @@ void copy_rules(TestConnections* Test, const char* rules_name, const char* rules
 
     Test->set_timeout(30);
     Test->maxscales->copy_to_node_legacy(src.str().c_str(), dest.str().c_str(), 0);
+    Test->maxscales->ssh_node_f(0,
+                                true,
+                                "chmod a+r %s",
+                                dest.str().c_str());
     Test->stop_timeout();
 }
diff --git a/maxscale-system-test/masking_auto_firewall.cpp b/maxscale-system-test/masking_auto_firewall.cpp
index db8f76e92..fcbb50bfa 100644
--- a/maxscale-system-test/masking_auto_firewall.cpp
+++ b/maxscale-system-test/masking_auto_firewall.cpp
@@ -177,6 +177,7 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[])
 
     if (test.maxscales->copy_to_node(0, from.c_str(), to.c_str()) == 0)
     {
+        test.maxscales->ssh_node(0, (std::string("chmod a+r ") + to).c_str(), true);
         if (test.maxscales->start() == 0)
         {
             sleep(2);
diff --git a/maxscale-system-test/masking_mysqltest_driver.sh b/maxscale-system-test/masking_mysqltest_driver.sh
index 08288b378..00b34a0dc 100755
--- a/maxscale-system-test/masking_mysqltest_driver.sh
+++ b/maxscale-system-test/masking_mysqltest_driver.sh
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ target=${maxscale_000_whoami}@${maxscale_000_network}:/home/${maxscale_000_whoam
 
 if [ ${maxscale_000_network} != "127.0.0.1" ] ; then
 	scp -i $maxscale_000_keyfile -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null $source $target
+        ssh -i $maxscale_000_keyfile -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null ${maxscale_000_whoami}@${maxscale_000_network} chmod a+r /home/${maxscale_000_whoami}/masking_rules.json
 else
 	cp $source /home/${maxscale_000_whoami}/masking_rules.json
 fi
diff --git a/maxscale-system-test/mxs1110_16mb.cpp b/maxscale-system-test/mxs1110_16mb.cpp
index 47a5886b4..b8ee8832c 100644
--- a/maxscale-system-test/mxs1110_16mb.cpp
+++ b/maxscale-system-test/mxs1110_16mb.cpp
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[])
 
     Test->maxscales->copy_to_node_legacy(cache_rules.c_str(), "~/", 0);
 
+    Test->maxscales->ssh_node(0, "chmod a+rw *.json", true);
+
     copy_rules(Test, "rules2", fw_rules.c_str());
 
     Test->maxscales->start_maxscale(0);
diff --git a/maxscale-system-test/mxs1719.cpp b/maxscale-system-test/mxs1719.cpp
index fce91f087..3d5769f5e 100644
--- a/maxscale-system-test/mxs1719.cpp
+++ b/maxscale-system-test/mxs1719.cpp
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[])
 
     if (test.maxscales->copy_to_node(0, src.c_str(), dst.c_str()) == 0)
     {
+        test.maxscales->ssh_node(0, (std::string("chmod a+r ") + dst).c_str(), true);
         if (test.maxscales->start() == 0)
         {
             sleep(10);
diff --git a/maxscale-system-test/mxs1731_old_persisted_config.cpp b/maxscale-system-test/mxs1731_old_persisted_config.cpp
index 6612684bd..9e049179c 100644
--- a/maxscale-system-test/mxs1731_old_persisted_config.cpp
+++ b/maxscale-system-test/mxs1731_old_persisted_config.cpp
@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
                                "chown maxscale:maxscale /var/lib/maxscale/maxscale.cnf.d/;"
                                "cp %s /var/lib/maxscale/maxscale.cnf.d/RW-Split-Router.cnf",
                                filename);
+    test.maxscales->ssh_node_f(0,
+                               true,
+                               "chmod a+r /var/lib/maxscale/maxscale.cnf.d/RW-Split-Router.cnf");
 
     test.maxscales->restart();
     test.check_maxscale_alive();
diff --git a/maxscale-system-test/mxs1980_blr_galera_server_ids.cpp b/maxscale-system-test/mxs1980_blr_galera_server_ids.cpp
index 71423f4bc..53cb876d3 100644
--- a/maxscale-system-test/mxs1980_blr_galera_server_ids.cpp
+++ b/maxscale-system-test/mxs1980_blr_galera_server_ids.cpp
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ void insert(TestConnections& test, MYSQL* pMaster)
 
 void select(TestConnections& test, MYSQL* pSlave)
 {
-    int attempts = 5;
+    int attempts = 15;
 
     my_ulonglong nRows = 0;
     unsigned long long nResult_sets;
diff --git a/maxscale-system-test/mxs2057_systemd_watchdog.cpp b/maxscale-system-test/mxs2057_systemd_watchdog.cpp
index b466bc37d..44f10573e 100644
--- a/maxscale-system-test/mxs2057_systemd_watchdog.cpp
+++ b/maxscale-system-test/mxs2057_systemd_watchdog.cpp
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[])
     std::string to = std::string(test.maxscales->access_homedir[0]) + lua_file;
 
     test.maxscales->copy_to_node(0, from.c_str(), to.c_str());
+    test.maxscales->ssh_node(0, (std::string("chmod a+r ") + to).c_str(), true);
     test.maxscales->start();
     sleep(2);
     test.maxscales->wait_for_monitor();
diff --git a/maxscale-system-test/mxs722.cpp b/maxscale-system-test/mxs722.cpp
index 740a2c8ed..b015755db 100644
--- a/maxscale-system-test/mxs722.cpp
+++ b/maxscale-system-test/mxs722.cpp
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[])
 
     /** Copy original config so we can easily reset the testing environment */
     test->maxscales->ssh_node_f(0, true, "cp /etc/maxscale.cnf /tmp/maxscale.cnf");
+    test->maxscales->ssh_node_f(0, true, "chmod a+rw /tmp/maxscale.cnf");
 
     /** Get a baseline result with a good configuration */
     int baseline = test->maxscales->ssh_node_f(0, true, "maxscale -c --user=maxscale -f /tmp/maxscale.cnf");
diff --git a/maxscale-system-test/script.cpp b/maxscale-system-test/script.cpp
index 4a5602824..cee924565 100644
--- a/maxscale-system-test/script.cpp
+++ b/maxscale-system-test/script.cpp
@@ -41,9 +41,9 @@ void test_script_monitor(TestConnections* Test, Mariadb_nodes* nodes, char* expe
     Test->set_timeout(200);
     Test->maxscales->ssh_node_f(0,
                                 true,
-                                "cd %s;"
-                                "truncate -s 0 script_output;"
-                                "chown maxscale:maxscale script_output",
+                                "cd %s; truncate -s 0 script_output; \
+                                chown maxscale:maxscale script_output; \
+                                chmod a+rw script_output",
                                 Test->maxscales->access_homedir[0]);
     sleep(10);