diff --git a/hbase-client/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestAsyncProcess.java b/hbase-client/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestAsyncProcess.java
index 685d218468d..3d76fad60a5 100644
--- a/hbase-client/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestAsyncProcess.java
+++ b/hbase-client/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestAsyncProcess.java
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ package org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.CategoryBasedTimeout;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.Cell;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.RegionLocations;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.TableName;
@@ -43,7 +42,7 @@ import org.junit.BeforeClass;
 import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
-import org.junit.rules.TestRule;
+import org.junit.rules.Timeout;
 import org.mockito.Mockito;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -67,8 +66,6 @@ import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicLong;
 
 @Category(MediumTests.class)
 public class TestAsyncProcess {
-  @Rule public final TestRule timeout = CategoryBasedTimeout.builder().withTimeout(this.getClass()).
-      withLookingForStuckThread(true).build();
   private final static Log LOG = LogFactory.getLog(TestAsyncProcess.class);
   private static final TableName DUMMY_TABLE =
       TableName.valueOf("DUMMY_TABLE");
@@ -415,6 +412,9 @@ public class TestAsyncProcess {
     }
   }
 
+  @Rule
+  public Timeout timeout = Timeout.millis(10000); // 10 seconds max per method tested
+
   @Test
   public void testSubmit() throws Exception {
     ClusterConnection hc = createHConnection();
diff --git a/hbase-hadoop-compat/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/TestMetricsMasterSourceFactory.java b/hbase-hadoop-compat/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/TestMetricsMasterSourceFactory.java
index 3f97bb3f035..91efd393ad4 100644
--- a/hbase-hadoop-compat/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/TestMetricsMasterSourceFactory.java
+++ b/hbase-hadoop-compat/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/TestMetricsMasterSourceFactory.java
@@ -19,8 +19,9 @@
 package org.apache.hadoop.hbase.master;
 
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.CompatibilitySingletonFactory;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.MetricsTests;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.master.MetricsMasterSource;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.SmallTests;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.MetricsTests;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
 
@@ -34,5 +35,6 @@ public class TestMetricsMasterSourceFactory {
   public void testGetInstanceNoHadoopCompat() throws Exception {
     //This should throw an exception because there is no compat lib on the class path.
     CompatibilitySingletonFactory.getInstance(MetricsMasterSourceFactory.class);
+
   }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/hbase-procedure/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/procedure2/util/TestTimeoutBlockingQueue.java b/hbase-procedure/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/procedure2/util/TestTimeoutBlockingQueue.java
index ddf0275bc86..688e23a9299 100644
--- a/hbase-procedure/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/procedure2/util/TestTimeoutBlockingQueue.java
+++ b/hbase-procedure/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/procedure2/util/TestTimeoutBlockingQueue.java
@@ -22,23 +22,24 @@ package org.apache.hadoop.hbase.procedure2.util;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 
+import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.procedure2.util.TimeoutBlockingQueue.TimeoutRetriever;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.SmallTests;
 
-import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
-import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
-
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.CategoryBasedTimeout;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.MediumTests;
-import org.junit.Rule;
-import org.junit.rules.TestRule;
+import org.junit.Assert;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
 
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
 
-@Category({MediumTests.class})
+@Category(SmallTests.class)
 public class TestTimeoutBlockingQueue {
-  @Rule public final TestRule timeout = CategoryBasedTimeout.builder().withTimeout(this.getClass()).
-     withLookingForStuckThread(true).build();
+  private static final Log LOG = LogFactory.getLog(TestTimeoutBlockingQueue.class);
+
   static class TestObject {
     private long timeout;
     private int seqId;
diff --git a/hbase-server/pom.xml b/hbase-server/pom.xml
index 14d033f031d..00520ac16d5 100644
--- a/hbase-server/pom.xml
+++ b/hbase-server/pom.xml
@@ -344,6 +344,15 @@
             </lifecycleMappingMetadata>
           </configuration>
         </plugin>
+        <plugin>
+          <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
+          <version>${surefire.version}</version>
+          <configuration>
+            <!-- Have to set the groups here because we only do
+            split tests in this package, so groups on live in this module -->
+            <groups>${surefire.firstPartGroups}</groups>
+          </configuration>
+        </plugin>
       </plugins>
     </pluginManagement>
   </build>
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/ipc/TestRpcClientLeaks.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/ipc/TestRpcClientLeaks.java
index d3e5767e735..596b8ab5b49 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/ipc/TestRpcClientLeaks.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/ipc/TestRpcClientLeaks.java
@@ -17,18 +17,15 @@
  */
 package org.apache.hadoop.hbase.ipc;
 
-import static org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseTestingUtility.fam1;
-import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
-
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.Socket;
 import java.net.SocketAddress;
 import java.util.List;
 
+import com.google.common.collect.Lists;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.CategoryBasedTimeout;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseTestingUtility;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HConstants;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.TableName;
@@ -39,7 +36,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.MetricsConnection;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.RetriesExhaustedException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Table;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.codec.Codec;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.MediumTests;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.SmallTests;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.CompressionCodec;
 import org.junit.AfterClass;
 import org.junit.BeforeClass;
@@ -47,14 +44,12 @@ import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
 import org.junit.rules.ExpectedException;
-import org.junit.rules.TestRule;
 
-import com.google.common.collect.Lists;
+import static org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseTestingUtility.fam1;
+import static org.junit.Assert.*;
 
-@Category(MediumTests.class)
+@Category(SmallTests.class)
 public class TestRpcClientLeaks {
-  @Rule public final TestRule timeout = CategoryBasedTimeout.builder().withTimeout(this.getClass()).
-      withLookingForStuckThread(true).build();
 
   public static class MyRpcClientImpl extends RpcClientImpl {
     public static List<Socket> savedSockets = Lists.newArrayList();
@@ -118,4 +113,5 @@ public class TestRpcClientLeaks {
       assertTrue("Socket + " +  socket + " is not closed", socket.isClosed());
     }
   }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
+
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/ipc/TestSimpleRpcScheduler.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/ipc/TestSimpleRpcScheduler.java
index 61f5000d5e3..fa0727a1152 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/ipc/TestSimpleRpcScheduler.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/ipc/TestSimpleRpcScheduler.java
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import com.google.protobuf.Message;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.CategoryBasedTimeout;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseConfiguration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HConstants;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Put;
@@ -40,10 +39,8 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.protobuf.generated.ClientProtos.ScanRequest;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Threads;
 import org.junit.Before;
-import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
-import org.junit.rules.TestRule;
 import org.mockito.invocation.InvocationOnMock;
 import org.mockito.stubbing.Answer;
 
@@ -67,8 +64,6 @@ import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
 
 @Category(SmallTests.class)
 public class TestSimpleRpcScheduler {
-  @Rule public final TestRule timeout = CategoryBasedTimeout.builder().withTimeout(this.getClass()).
-      withLookingForStuckThread(true).build();
   private static final Log LOG = LogFactory.getLog(TestSimpleRpcScheduler.class);
 
   private final RpcScheduler.Context CONTEXT = new RpcScheduler.Context() {
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/cleaner/TestHFileLinkCleaner.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/cleaner/TestHFileLinkCleaner.java
index a825d271801..a8726796cf1 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/cleaner/TestHFileLinkCleaner.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/cleaner/TestHFileLinkCleaner.java
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileStatus;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileSystem;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.CategoryBasedTimeout;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.ChoreService;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.CoordinatedStateManager;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseTestingUtility;
@@ -37,13 +36,11 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.ServerName;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.TableName;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.ClusterConnection;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.io.HFileLink;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.MediumTests;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.SmallTests;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.FSUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.HFileArchiveUtil;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.zookeeper.MetaTableLocator;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.zookeeper.ZooKeeperWatcher;
-import org.junit.Rule;
-import org.junit.rules.TestRule;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
 
@@ -51,10 +48,8 @@ import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
  * Test the HFileLink Cleaner.
  * HFiles with links cannot be deleted until a link is present.
  */
-@Category({MediumTests.class})
+@Category(SmallTests.class)
 public class TestHFileLinkCleaner {
-  @Rule public final TestRule timeout = CategoryBasedTimeout.builder().withTimeout(this.getClass()).
-      withLookingForStuckThread(true).build();
 
   private final static HBaseTestingUtility TEST_UTIL = new HBaseTestingUtility();
 
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestColumnSeeking.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestColumnSeeking.java
index fa76e043754..7f026c48796 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestColumnSeeking.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestColumnSeeking.java
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ import java.util.Set;
 
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.CategoryBasedTimeout;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.Cell;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseTestingUtility;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HColumnDescriptor;
@@ -44,19 +43,16 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.TableName;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Durability;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Put;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Scan;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.SmallTests;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
 import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
 import org.junit.rules.TestName;
-import org.junit.rules.TestRule;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.MediumTests;
 
-@Category({MediumTests.class})
+@Category(SmallTests.class)
 public class TestColumnSeeking {
   @Rule public TestName name = new TestName();
-  @Rule public final TestRule timeout = CategoryBasedTimeout.builder().withTimeout(this.getClass()).
-      withLookingForStuckThread(true).build();
 
   private final static HBaseTestingUtility TEST_UTIL = HBaseTestingUtility.createLocalHTU();
 
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestMultiVersionConcurrencyControl.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestMultiVersionConcurrencyControl.java
index d48ecb2cefa..3413d44f735 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestMultiVersionConcurrencyControl.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestMultiVersionConcurrencyControl.java
@@ -17,10 +17,10 @@
  */
 package org.apache.hadoop.hbase.regionserver;
 
-
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.MediumTests;
-import org.junit.Assert;
+import junit.framework.TestCase;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.SmallTests;
 import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
+
 import java.util.Random;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicLong;
@@ -29,8 +29,8 @@ import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicLong;
  * This is a hammer test that verifies MultiVersionConcurrencyControl in a
  * multiple writer single reader scenario.
  */
-@Category({MediumTests.class})
-public class TestMultiVersionConcurrencyControl {
+@Category(SmallTests.class)
+public class TestMultiVersionConcurrencyControl extends TestCase {
   static class Writer implements Runnable {
     final AtomicBoolean finished;
     final MultiVersionConcurrencyControl mvcc;
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ public class TestMultiVersionConcurrencyControl {
     public boolean failed = false;
 
     public void run() {
+      AtomicLong startPoint = new AtomicLong();
       while (!finished.get()) {
         MultiVersionConcurrencyControl.WriteEntry e =
             mvcc.begin();
@@ -123,9 +124,9 @@ public class TestMultiVersionConcurrencyControl {
     }
 
     // check failure.
-    Assert.assertFalse(readerFailed.get());
+    assertFalse(readerFailed.get());
     for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i) {
-      Assert.assertTrue(statuses[i].get());
+      assertTrue(statuses[i].get());
     }
   }
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/TestLogRollingNoCluster.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/TestLogRollingNoCluster.java
index 58569a15718..7ce3615658d 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/TestLogRollingNoCluster.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/TestLogRollingNoCluster.java
@@ -25,8 +25,6 @@ import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.MediumTests;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.CategoryBasedTimeout;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseTestingUtility;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HConstants;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HRegionInfo;
@@ -34,6 +32,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HTableDescriptor;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.KeyValue;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.TableName;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.regionserver.MultiVersionConcurrencyControl;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.SmallTests;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.FSTableDescriptors;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.FSUtils;
@@ -41,17 +40,13 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.wal.WAL;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.wal.WALFactory;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.wal.WALKey;
 import org.junit.Test;
-import org.junit.Rule;
-import org.junit.rules.TestRule;
 import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
 
 /**
  * Test many concurrent appenders to an WAL while rolling the log.
  */
-@Category({MediumTests.class})
+@Category(SmallTests.class)
 public class TestLogRollingNoCluster {
-  @Rule public final TestRule timeout = CategoryBasedTimeout.builder().withTimeout(this.getClass()).
-      withLookingForStuckThread(true).build();
   private final static HBaseTestingUtility TEST_UTIL = new HBaseTestingUtility();
   private final static byte [] EMPTY_1K_ARRAY = new byte[1024];
   private static final int THREAD_COUNT = 100; // Spin up this many threads
@@ -71,7 +66,7 @@ public class TestLogRollingNoCluster {
     FSUtils.setRootDir(conf, dir);
     final WALFactory wals = new WALFactory(conf, null, TestLogRollingNoCluster.class.getName());
     final WAL wal = wals.getWAL(new byte[]{}, null);
-
+    
     Appender [] appenders = null;
 
     final int count = THREAD_COUNT;
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index fd878c281fd..ba542ea222f 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -487,7 +487,6 @@
           </dependencies>
           <!-- Generic testing configuration for all packages -->
           <configuration>
-            <groups>${surefire.firstPartGroups}</groups>
             <failIfNoTests>false</failIfNoTests>
             <skip>${surefire.skipFirstPart}</skip>
             <forkCount>${surefire.firstPartForkCount}</forkCount>
@@ -1181,8 +1180,7 @@
     <surefire.skipFirstPart>false</surefire.skipFirstPart>
     <surefire.skipSecondPart>false</surefire.skipSecondPart>
     <surefire.firstPartForkCount>1</surefire.firstPartForkCount>
-    <!--'C' in means multiply by the CPU count-->
-    <surefire.secondPartForkCount>1C</surefire.secondPartForkCount>
+    <surefire.secondPartForkCount>2</surefire.secondPartForkCount>
     <surefire.firstPartGroups>org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.SmallTests</surefire.firstPartGroups>
     <surefire.secondPartGroups>org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.MediumTests</surefire.secondPartGroups>
     <surefire.testFailureIgnore>false</surefire.testFailureIgnore>
@@ -2206,7 +2204,27 @@
          See as well the properties of the project for the values
          when no profile is active.     -->
     <profile>
-      <!-- Use it to launch all tests in the same JVM  -->
+      <!-- Use it to launch the tests without parallelisation -->
+      <id>nonParallelTests</id>
+      <activation>
+        <activeByDefault>false</activeByDefault>
+      </activation>
+      <properties>
+        <surefire.firstPartForkCount>1</surefire.firstPartForkCount>
+      </properties>
+    </profile>
+    <profile>
+      <!-- Use it to launch the tests in parallel in the same JVM  -->
+      <id>parallelTests</id>
+      <activation>
+        <activeByDefault>false</activeByDefault>
+      </activation>
+      <properties>
+        <surefire.firstPartForkCount>1</surefire.firstPartForkCount>
+      </properties>
+    </profile>
+    <profile>
+      <!-- Use it to launch the tests in the same JVM  -->
       <id>singleJVMTests</id>
       <activation>
         <activeByDefault>false</activeByDefault>
@@ -2280,7 +2298,7 @@
       </activation>
       <properties>
         <surefire.firstPartForkCount>1</surefire.firstPartForkCount>
-        <surefire.secondPartForkCount>1C</surefire.secondPartForkCount>
+        <surefire.secondPartForkCount>5</surefire.secondPartForkCount>
         <surefire.skipFirstPart>false</surefire.skipFirstPart>
         <surefire.skipSecondPart>false</surefire.skipSecondPart>
         <surefire.firstPartGroups>org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.SmallTests</surefire.firstPartGroups>