diff --git a/docs/TESTING.md b/docs/TESTING.md
index 2b71c9742f40110065e2710d45ac654670b5d8ad..789397a7f08ad3c5bd167ee72c1bdc401b85e4b6 100644
--- a/docs/TESTING.md
+++ b/docs/TESTING.md
@@ -4,6 +4,13 @@
 
 Developer tests should be run before committing code. There are two test suites.
 
-  # `npm test`
+  - `npm test`
 
-  # Load http://localhost:10002/test/index.html into a world wide web browser
+  - Load http://localhost:10002/test/index.html into a world wide web browser
+
+Note that for mysql, you will need to grant `browserid` privileges to create tables.
+You can then run the mysql suite with, e.g., 
+
+    NODE_ENV=test_mysql MYSQL_USER=browserid MYSQL_PASSWORD=browserid npm test
+
+  
diff --git a/lib/configuration.js b/lib/configuration.js
index 4e576d079f346b009b903fb9b3d4ae66ea0d4959..76a99ccc9042b10c0455d099d0aac7ae504696d8 100644
--- a/lib/configuration.js
+++ b/lib/configuration.js
@@ -93,7 +93,10 @@ var conf = module.exports = convict({
       format: 'string?',
       env: 'DATABASE_NAME'
     },
-    password: 'string?',
+    password: {
+      format: 'string?',
+      env: 'MYSQL_PASSWORD'
+    },
     host: 'string?',
     max_query_time_ms: {
       format: 'integer = 5000',