diff --git a/maxctrl/test/docker-compose.yml b/maxctrl/test/docker-compose.yml
index 7958901f0..d4d4ac410 100644
--- a/maxctrl/test/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/maxctrl/test/docker-compose.yml
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@ services:
     server2:
         image: mariadb:10.1
         network_mode: "host"
-        depends_on:
-            - server1
         environment:
             MYSQL_ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD: Y
         volumes:
@@ -23,8 +21,6 @@ services:
     server3:
         image: mariadb:10.1
         network_mode: "host"
-        depends_on:
-            - server1
         environment:
             MYSQL_ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD: Y
         volumes:
@@ -34,8 +30,6 @@ services:
     server4:
         image: mariadb:10.1
         network_mode: "host"
-        depends_on:
-            - server1
         environment:
             MYSQL_ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD: Y
         volumes:
diff --git a/maxctrl/test/test_rest_api.sh b/maxctrl/test/test_rest_api.sh
index aa7ea8562..c98db21cc 100755
--- a/maxctrl/test/test_rest_api.sh
+++ b/maxctrl/test/test_rest_api.sh
@@ -17,6 +17,11 @@ mkdir -p $testdir && cd $testdir
 
 # Currently all tests that use npm are for the REST API
 cp -t $testdir -r $srcdir/maxctrl/test/*
+
+# Bring MariaDB servers up, this is an asynchronous process
+docker-compose up -d || exit 1
+
+# Install dependencies
 npm install
 
 mkdir -p $maxscaledir && cd $maxscaledir
@@ -56,9 +61,6 @@ cd $testdir
 # This variable is used to start and stop MaxScale before each test
 export MAXSCALE_DIR=$maxscaledir
 
-# Start MariaDB servers
-docker-compose up -d
-
 # Wait until the servers are up
 for node in server1 server2 server3 server4
 do