diff --git a/dev-support/test-patch.sh b/dev-support/test-patch.sh
index a1390b71a18..46927e9a0ab 100644
--- a/dev-support/test-patch.sh
+++ b/dev-support/test-patch.sh
@@ -567,9 +567,9 @@ runTests () {
   failed_tests=""
   ### Kill any rogue build processes from the last attempt
   $PS auxwww | $GREP ${PROJECT_NAME}PatchProcess | $AWK '{print $2}' | /usr/bin/xargs -t -I {} /bin/kill -9 {} > /dev/null
-  echo "$MVN clean test -D${PROJECT_NAME}PatchProcess"
+  echo "$MVN clean test -P runAllTests -D${PROJECT_NAME}PatchProcess -Dsurefire.secondPartThreadCount=4"
   ulimit -a
-  $MVN clean test -P runAllTests -D${PROJECT_NAME}PatchProcess
+  $MVN clean test -P runAllTests -D${PROJECT_NAME}PatchProcess -Dsurefire.secondPartThreadCount=4
   if [[ $? != 0 ]] ; then
      ### Find and format names of failed tests
      failed_tests=`find . -name 'TEST*.xml' | xargs $GREP  -l -E "<failure|<error" | sed -e "s|.*target/surefire-reports/TEST-|                  |g" | sed -e "s|\.xml||g"`
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index bf8f1b506c1..9a28b689d04 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -627,6 +627,7 @@
                 <parallel>${surefire.firstPartParallel}</parallel>
                 <perCoreThreadCount>false</perCoreThreadCount>
                 <threadCount>${surefire.firstPartThreadCount}</threadCount>
+                <parallel>classes</parallel><!-- surefire hack, if not we're using method parallelisation class !-->
                 <groups>${surefire.firstPartGroups}</groups>
                 <testFailureIgnore>false</testFailureIgnore>
         </configuration>
@@ -638,8 +639,10 @@
             <configuration>
               <skip>${surefire.skipSecondPart}</skip>
               <testFailureIgnore>false</testFailureIgnore>
-              <forkMode>always</forkMode>
-              <parallel>none</parallel>
+              <forkMode>perThread</forkMode>
+              <perCoreThreadCount>false</perCoreThreadCount>
+              <threadCount>${surefire.secondPartThreadCount}</threadCount>
+              <parallel>classes</parallel><!-- surefire hack, if not we're using method parallelisation class !-->
               <groups>${surefire.secondPartGroups}</groups>
             </configuration>
           </execution>
@@ -901,16 +904,17 @@
     <unittest.include>**/Test*.java</unittest.include>
     <integrationtest.include>**/IntegrationTest*.java</integrationtest.include>
 
-    <surefire.version>2.11-TRUNK-HBASE-2</surefire.version>
+    <surefire.version>2.12-TRUNK-HBASE-2</surefire.version>
     <surefire.provider>surefire-junit47</surefire.provider>
 
-    <!-- default: run small & medium -->
+    <!-- default: run small & medium, medium with 2 threads -->
     <surefire.skipFirstPart>false</surefire.skipFirstPart>
     <surefire.skipSecondPart>false</surefire.skipSecondPart>
 
     <surefire.firstPartForkMode>once</surefire.firstPartForkMode>
-    <surefire.firstPartParallel>none</surefire.firstPartParallel>
+    <surefire.firstPartParallel>classes</surefire.firstPartParallel>
     <surefire.firstPartThreadCount>1</surefire.firstPartThreadCount>
+    <surefire.secondPartThreadCount>2</surefire.secondPartThreadCount>
 
     <surefire.firstPartGroups>org.apache.hadoop.hbase.SmallTests</surefire.firstPartGroups>
     <surefire.secondPartGroups>org.apache.hadoop.hbase.MediumTests</surefire.secondPartGroups>
@@ -2000,6 +2004,7 @@
         <surefire.firstPartForkMode>once</surefire.firstPartForkMode>
         <surefire.firstPartParallel>none</surefire.firstPartParallel>
         <surefire.firstPartThreadCount>1</surefire.firstPartThreadCount>
+        <surefire.secondPartThreadCount>2</surefire.secondPartThreadCount>
 
         <surefire.skipFirstPart>false</surefire.skipFirstPart>
         <surefire.skipSecondPart>false</surefire.skipSecondPart>
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseTestingUtility.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseTestingUtility.java
index bb620a6fcd3..b2a563452b1 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseTestingUtility.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseTestingUtility.java
@@ -262,6 +262,11 @@ public class HBaseTestingUtility {
    * instances -- another instance could grab the temporary
    * value unintentionally -- but not anything can do about it at moment;
    * single instance only is how the minidfscluster works.
+   *
+   * We also create the underlying directory for
+   *  hadoop.log.dir, mapred.local.dir and hadoop.tmp.dir, and set the values
+   *  in the conf, and as a system property for hadoop.tmp.dir
+   *
    * @return The calculated data test build directory.
    */
   private void setupDataTestDir() {
@@ -272,13 +277,62 @@ public class HBaseTestingUtility {
     }
 
     String randomStr = UUID.randomUUID().toString();
-    Path testPath= new Path(
-      getBaseTestDir(),
-      randomStr
-    );
+    Path testPath= new Path(getBaseTestDir(), randomStr);
 
     dataTestDir = new File(testPath.toString()).getAbsoluteFile();
     dataTestDir.deleteOnExit();
+
+    createSubDirAndSystemProperty(
+      "hadoop.log.dir",
+      testPath, "hadoop-log-dir");
+
+    // This is defaulted in core-default.xml to /tmp/hadoop-${user.name}, but
+    //  we want our own value to ensure uniqueness on the same machine
+    createSubDirAndSystemProperty(
+      "hadoop.tmp.dir",
+      testPath, "hadoop-tmp-dir");
+
+    // Read and modified in org.apache.hadoop.mapred.MiniMRCluster
+    createSubDir(
+      "mapred.local.dir",
+      testPath, "mapred-local-dir");
+
+    createSubDirAndSystemProperty(
+      "mapred.working.dir",
+      testPath, "mapred-working-dir");
+  }
+
+  private void createSubDir(String propertyName, Path parent, String subDirName){
+    Path newPath= new Path(parent, subDirName);
+    File newDir = new File(newPath.toString()).getAbsoluteFile();
+    newDir.deleteOnExit();
+    conf.set(propertyName, newDir.getAbsolutePath());
+  }
+
+  private void createSubDirAndSystemProperty(
+    String propertyName, Path parent, String subDirName){
+
+    String sysValue = System.getProperty(propertyName);
+
+    if (sysValue != null) {
+      // There is already a value set. So we do nothing but hope
+      //  that there will be no conflicts
+      LOG.info("System.getProperty(\""+propertyName+"\") already set to: "+
+        sysValue + " so I do NOT create it in "+dataTestDir.getAbsolutePath());
+      String confValue = conf.get(propertyName);
+      if (confValue != null && !confValue.endsWith(sysValue)){
+       LOG.warn(
+         propertyName + " property value differs in configuration and system: "+
+         "Configuration="+confValue+" while System="+sysValue+
+         " Erasing configuration value by system value."
+       );
+      }
+      conf.set(propertyName, sysValue);
+    } else {
+      // Ok, it's not set, so we create it as a subdirectory
+      createSubDir(propertyName, parent, subDirName);
+      System.setProperty(propertyName, conf.get(propertyName));
+    }
   }
 
   /**
@@ -1215,13 +1269,11 @@ public class HBaseTestingUtility {
   public void startMiniMapReduceCluster(final int servers) throws IOException {
     LOG.info("Starting mini mapreduce cluster...");
     // These are needed for the new and improved Map/Reduce framework
-    Configuration c = getConfiguration();
-    System.setProperty("hadoop.log.dir", c.get("hadoop.log.dir"));
-    c.set("mapred.output.dir", c.get("hadoop.tmp.dir"));
+    conf.set("mapred.output.dir", conf.get("hadoop.tmp.dir"));
     mrCluster = new MiniMRCluster(servers,
-      FileSystem.get(c).getUri().toString(), 1);
+      FileSystem.get(conf).getUri().toString(), 1);
     LOG.info("Mini mapreduce cluster started");
-    c.set("mapred.job.tracker",
+    conf.set("mapred.job.tracker",
         mrCluster.createJobConf().get("mapred.job.tracker"));
   }
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TestTimeRangeMapRed.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TestTimeRangeMapRed.java
index 6e3bdc240a6..74ea4ec35fb 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TestTimeRangeMapRed.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TestTimeRangeMapRed.java
@@ -80,10 +80,6 @@ public class TestTimeRangeMapRed {
 
   @BeforeClass
   public static void beforeClass() throws Exception {
-    System.setProperty("hadoop.log.dir",
-      UTIL.getConfiguration().get("hadoop.log.dir"));
-    UTIL.getConfiguration().set("mapred.output.dir",
-      UTIL.getConfiguration().get("hadoop.tmp.dir"));
     UTIL.startMiniCluster();
   }
 
diff --git a/src/test/resources/hbase-site.xml b/src/test/resources/hbase-site.xml
index 2a9ab29f359..84b56126592 100644
--- a/src/test/resources/hbase-site.xml
+++ b/src/test/resources/hbase-site.xml
@@ -122,10 +122,6 @@
     Keep the maximum filesize small so we split more often in tests.
     </description>
   </property>
-  <property>
-    <name>hadoop.log.dir</name>
-    <value>${user.dir}/../logs</value>
-  </property>
   <property>
     <name>hbase.zookeeper.property.clientPort</name>
     <value>21818</value>