diff --git a/docker_db.sh b/docker_db.sh
index 6317b5c875..00849f0edd 100755
--- a/docker_db.sh
+++ b/docker_db.sh
@@ -476,16 +476,29 @@ hana() {
 
 cockroachdb() {
   $CONTAINER_CLI rm -f cockroach || true
-  $CONTAINER_CLI run -d --name=cockroach -p 26257:26257 -p 8080:8080 docker.io/cockroachdb/cockroach:v20.2.4 start-single-node --insecure
+  $CONTAINER_CLI run -d --name=cockroach -p 26257:26257 -p 8080:8080 docker.io/cockroachdb/cockroach:v21.2.10 start-single-node \
+    --insecure --store=type=mem,size=0.25 --advertise-addr=localhost
   OUTPUT=
   while [[ $OUTPUT != *"CockroachDB node starting"* ]]; do
         echo "Waiting for CockroachDB to start..."
         sleep 10
-        OUTPUT=$($CONTAINER_CLI logs cockroach)
+        # Note we need to redirect stderr to stdout to capture the logs
+        OUTPUT=$($CONTAINER_CLI logs cockroach 2>&1)
   done
-  echo "Enabling experimental box2d operators"
+  echo "Enabling experimental box2d operators and some ptimized settings for running the tests"
+  #settings documented in https://www.cockroachlabs.com/docs/v21.2/local-testing.html#use-a-local-single-node-cluster-with-in-memory-storage
   $CONTAINER_CLI exec -it cockroach bash -c "cat <<EOF | ./cockroach sql --insecure
 SET CLUSTER SETTING sql.spatial.experimental_box2d_comparison_operators.enabled = on;
+SET CLUSTER SETTING kv.raft_log.disable_synchronization_unsafe = true;
+SET CLUSTER SETTING kv.range_merge.queue_interval = '50ms';
+SET CLUSTER SETTING jobs.registry.interval.gc = '30s';
+SET CLUSTER SETTING jobs.registry.interval.cancel = '180s';
+SET CLUSTER SETTING jobs.retention_time = '15s';
+SET CLUSTER SETTING schemachanger.backfiller.buffer_increment = '128 KiB';
+SET CLUSTER SETTING sql.stats.automatic_collection.enabled = false;
+SET CLUSTER SETTING kv.range_split.by_load_merge_delay = '5s';
+ALTER RANGE default CONFIGURE ZONE USING "gc.ttlseconds" = 5;
+ALTER DATABASE system CONFIGURE ZONE USING "gc.ttlseconds" = 5;
 quit
 EOF
 "