diff --git a/dev-support/test-patch.sh b/dev-support/test-patch.sh
index e6a377a32fd..bb26e959177 100755
--- a/dev-support/test-patch.sh
+++ b/dev-support/test-patch.sh
@@ -707,6 +707,12 @@ checkLineLengths () {
   return 0
 }
 
+zombieCount() {
+  # HBase tests have been flagged with an innocuous '-Dhbase.test' just so they can
+  # be identified as hbase in a process listing.
+  echo `jps -v | grep -e surefirebooter -e '-Dhbase.test' | wc -l`
+}
+
 ###############################################################################
 ### Run the tests
 runTests () {
@@ -720,10 +726,6 @@ runTests () {
   echo ""
   echo ""
 
-
-  ### kill any process remaining from another test, maybe even another project
-  jps | grep surefirebooter | cut -d ' ' -f 1 | xargs kill -9 2>/dev/null
-  
   failed_tests=""
   ### Kill any rogue build processes from the last attempt
   condemnedCount=`$PS auxwww | $GREP ${PROJECT_NAME}PatchProcess | $AWK '{print $2}' | $AWK 'BEGIN {total = 0} {total += 1} END {print total}'`
@@ -748,23 +750,25 @@ runTests () {
     {color:green}+1 core tests{color}.  The patch passed unit tests in $modules."
     BAD=0
   fi
-  ZOMBIE_TESTS_COUNT=`jps | grep surefirebooter | wc -l`
+  ZOMBIE_TESTS_COUNT=`zombieCount`
   if [[ $ZOMBIE_TESTS_COUNT != 0 ]] ; then
     #It seems sometimes the tests are not dying immediately. Let's give them 30s
     echo "Suspicious java process found - waiting 30s to see if there are just slow to stop"
     sleep 30
-    ZOMBIE_TESTS_COUNT=`jps | grep surefirebooter | wc -l`
+    ZOMBIE_TESTS_COUNT=`zombieCount`
     if [[ $ZOMBIE_TESTS_COUNT != 0 ]] ; then
       echo "There are $ZOMBIE_TESTS_COUNT zombie tests, they should have been killed by surefire but survived"
       echo "************ BEGIN zombies jstack extract"
-      ZB_STACK=`jps | grep surefirebooter | cut -d ' ' -f 1 | xargs -n 1 jstack | grep ".test" | grep "\.java"`
-      jps | grep surefirebooter | cut -d ' ' -f 1 | xargs -n 1 jstack
+      # HBase tests have been flagged with an innocuous '-Dhbase.test' just so they can
+      # be identified as hbase in a process listing.
+      ZB_STACK=`jps -v | grep -e surefirebooter -e '-Dhbase.test' | cut -d ' ' -f 1 | xargs -n 1 jstack | grep ".test" | grep "\.java"`
+      jps -v | grep -e surefirebooter -e '-Dhbase.test' | cut -d ' ' -f 1 | xargs -n 1 jstack
       echo "************ END  zombies jstack extract"
       JIRA_COMMENT="$JIRA_COMMENT
 
      {color:red}-1 core zombie tests{color}.  There are ${ZOMBIE_TESTS_COUNT} zombie test(s): ${ZB_STACK}"
       BAD=1
-      jps | grep surefirebooter | cut -d ' ' -f 1 | xargs kill -9
+      jps -v | grep -e surefirebooter -e '-Dhbase.test' | cut -d ' ' -f 1 | xargs kill -9
     else
       echo "We're ok: there is no zombie test, but some tests took some time to stop"
     fi
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 9751762a8b1..8c961775c7f 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -1217,7 +1217,9 @@
     <!-- default Xmx value is 2800m. Use -Dsurefire.Xmx=xxg to run tests with different JVM Xmx value -->
     <surefire.Xmx>2800m</surefire.Xmx>
     <surefire.cygwinXmx>2800m</surefire.cygwinXmx>
-    <hbase-surefire.argLine>-enableassertions -XX:MaxDirectMemorySize=1G -Xmx${surefire.Xmx}
+    <!--Mark our test runs with '-Dhbase.test' so we can identify a surefire test as ours in a process listing
+     -->
+    <hbase-surefire.argLine>-enableassertions -Dhbase.test -Xmx${surefire.Xmx}
       -XX:MaxPermSize=256m -Djava.security.egd=file:/dev/./urandom -Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true
       -Djava.awt.headless=true
     </hbase-surefire.argLine>