diff --git a/tests/modeltests/fixtures/models.py b/tests/modeltests/fixtures/models.py
index 75ff99867a..661a81e5ab 100644
--- a/tests/modeltests/fixtures/models.py
+++ b/tests/modeltests/fixtures/models.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ in the application directory, on in one of the directories named in the
 ``FIXTURE_DIRS`` setting.
 """
 
-from django.db import models
+from django.db import models, DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS
 from django.conf import settings
 
 class Category(models.Model):
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ __test__ = {'API_TESTS': """
 
 # Database flushing does not work on MySQL with the default storage engine
 # because it requires transaction support.
-if settings.DATABASE_ENGINE != 'mysql':
+if settings.DATABASES[DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS]['DATABASE_ENGINE'] != 'mysql':
     __test__['API_TESTS'] += \
 """
 # Reset the database representation of this app. This will delete all data.
diff --git a/tests/modeltests/lookup/models.py b/tests/modeltests/lookup/models.py
index 11e2b079f0..cdd1acc8ca 100644
--- a/tests/modeltests/lookup/models.py
+++ b/tests/modeltests/lookup/models.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 This demonstrates features of the database API.
 """
 
-from django.db import models
+from django.db import models, DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS
 from django.conf import settings
 
 class Article(models.Model):
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ __test__ = {'API_TESTS': r"""
 >>> a7.save()
 """}
 
-if settings.DATABASE_ENGINE in ('postgresql', 'postgresql_pysycopg2'):
+if settings.DATABASES[DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS]['DATABASE_ENGINE'] in ('postgresql', 'postgresql_pysycopg2'):
     __test__['API_TESTS'] += r"""
 # text matching tests for PostgreSQL 8.3
 >>> Article.objects.filter(id__iexact='1')
@@ -391,7 +391,7 @@ FieldError: Join on field 'headline' not permitted. Did you misspell 'starts' fo
 """
 
 
-if settings.DATABASE_ENGINE != 'mysql':
+if settings.DATABASES[DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS]['DATABASE_ENGINE'] != 'mysql':
     __test__['API_TESTS'] += r"""
 # grouping and backreferences
 >>> Article.objects.filter(headline__regex=r'b(.).*b\1')
diff --git a/tests/modeltests/transactions/models.py b/tests/modeltests/transactions/models.py
index 6763144ca5..df63667d02 100644
--- a/tests/modeltests/transactions/models.py
+++ b/tests/modeltests/transactions/models.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ commit-on-success behavior. Alternatively, you can manage the transaction
 manually.
 """
 
-from django.db import models
+from django.db import models, DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS
 
 class Reporter(models.Model):
     first_name = models.CharField(max_length=30)
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ from django.conf import settings
 
 building_docs = getattr(settings, 'BUILDING_DOCS', False)
 
-if building_docs or settings.DATABASE_ENGINE != 'mysql':
+if building_docs or settings.DATABASES[DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS]['DATABASE_ENGINE'] != 'mysql':
     __test__['API_TESTS'] += """
 # the default behavior is to autocommit after each save() action
 >>> def create_a_reporter_then_fail(first, last):
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/aggregation_regress/models.py b/tests/regressiontests/aggregation_regress/models.py
index 4476b86d64..d561106546 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/aggregation_regress/models.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/aggregation_regress/models.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # coding: utf-8
 import pickle
 
-from django.db import connection, models
+from django.db import connection, models, DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS
 from django.conf import settings
 
 try:
@@ -327,7 +327,7 @@ def run_stddev_tests():
     Stddev and Variance are not guaranteed to be available for SQLite, and
     are not available for PostgreSQL before 8.2.
     """
-    if settings.DATABASE_ENGINE == 'sqlite3':
+    if settings.DATABASES[DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS]['DATABASE_ENGINE'] == 'sqlite3':
         return False
 
     class StdDevPop(object):
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/backends/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/backends/tests.py
index aff27369ad..b12239f0c2 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/backends/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/backends/tests.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 # Unit and doctests for specific database backends.
 import unittest
-from django.db import connection
+from django.db import connection, DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS
 from django.db.backends.signals import connection_created
 from django.conf import settings
 
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ class Callproc(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_dbms_session(self):
         # If the backend is Oracle, test that we can call a standard
         # stored procedure through our cursor wrapper.
-        if settings.DATABASE_ENGINE == 'oracle':
+        if settings.DATABASES[DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS]['DATABASE_ENGINE'] == 'oracle':
             cursor = connection.cursor()
             cursor.callproc('DBMS_SESSION.SET_IDENTIFIER',
                             ['_django_testing!',])
@@ -33,6 +33,21 @@ class LongString(unittest.TestCase):
             c.execute('DROP TABLE ltext')
             self.assertEquals(long_str, row[0].read())
 
+class LongString(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def test_long_string(self):
+        # If the backend is Oracle, test that we can save a text longer
+        # than 4000 chars and read it properly
+        if settings.DATABASES[DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS]['DATABASE_ENGINE'] == 'oracle':
+            c = connection.cursor()
+            c.execute('CREATE TABLE ltext ("TEXT" NCLOB)')
+            long_str = ''.join([unicode(x) for x in xrange(4000)])
+            c.execute('INSERT INTO ltext VALUES (%s)',[long_str])
+            c.execute('SELECT text FROM ltext')
+            row = c.fetchone()
+            c.execute('DROP TABLE ltext')
+            self.assertEquals(long_str, row[0].read())
+
 def connection_created_test(sender, **kwargs):
     print 'connection_created signal'
 
@@ -63,7 +78,7 @@ __test__ = {'API_TESTS': """
 # Unfortunately with sqlite3 the in-memory test database cannot be
 # closed, and so it cannot be re-opened during testing, and so we
 # sadly disable this test for now.
-if settings.DATABASE_ENGINE != 'sqlite3':
+if settings.DATABASES[DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS]['DATABASE_ENGINE'] != 'sqlite3':
     __test__['API_TESTS'] += """
 >>> connection_created.connect(connection_created_test)
 >>> connection.close() # Ensure the connection is closed
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/datatypes/models.py b/tests/regressiontests/datatypes/models.py
index 0ad809a45d..633253dd3b 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/datatypes/models.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/datatypes/models.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ This is a basic model to test saving and loading boolean and date-related
 types, which in the past were problematic for some database backends.
 """
 
-from django.db import models
+from django.db import models, DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS
 from django.conf import settings
 
 class Donut(models.Model):
@@ -93,11 +93,11 @@ u'Outstanding'
 
 # Regression test for #8354: the MySQL backend should raise an error if given
 # a timezone-aware datetime object.
-if settings.DATABASE_ENGINE == 'mysql':
+if settings.DATABASES[DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS]['DATABASE_ENGINE'] == 'mysql':
     __test__['API_TESTS'] += """
->>> from django.utils import tzinfo 
->>> dt = datetime.datetime(2008, 8, 31, 16, 20, tzinfo=tzinfo.FixedOffset(0)) 
->>> d = Donut(name='Bear claw', consumed_at=dt) 
+>>> from django.utils import tzinfo
+>>> dt = datetime.datetime(2008, 8, 31, 16, 20, tzinfo=tzinfo.FixedOffset(0))
+>>> d = Donut(name='Bear claw', consumed_at=dt)
 >>> d.save()
 Traceback (most recent call last):
     ....
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/delete_regress/models.py b/tests/regressiontests/delete_regress/models.py
index 93cadc58fa..ffb06b6c8a 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/delete_regress/models.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/delete_regress/models.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 from django.conf import settings
-from django.db import models, backend, connection, transaction
+from django.db import models, backend, connection, transaction, DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS
 from django.db.models import sql, query
 from django.test import TransactionTestCase
 
@@ -8,17 +8,18 @@ class Book(models.Model):
 
 # Can't run this test under SQLite, because you can't
 # get two connections to an in-memory database.
-if settings.DATABASE_ENGINE != 'sqlite3':
+if settings.DATABASES[DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS]['DATABASE_ENGINE'] != 'sqlite3':
     class DeleteLockingTest(TransactionTestCase):
         def setUp(self):
             # Create a second connection to the database
+            conn_settings = settings.DATABASES[DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS]
             self.conn2 = backend.DatabaseWrapper({
-                'DATABASE_HOST': settings.DATABASE_HOST,
-                'DATABASE_NAME': settings.DATABASE_NAME,
-                'DATABASE_OPTIONS': settings.DATABASE_OPTIONS,
-                'DATABASE_PASSWORD': settings.DATABASE_PASSWORD,
-                'DATABASE_PORT': settings.DATABASE_PORT,
-                'DATABASE_USER': settings.DATABASE_USER,
+                'DATABASE_HOST': conn_settings['DATABASE_HOST'],
+                'DATABASE_NAME': conn_settings['DATABASE_NAME'],
+                'DATABASE_OPTIONS': conn_settings['DATABASE_OPTIONS'],
+                'DATABASE_PASSWORD': conn_settings['DATABASE_PASSWORD'],
+                'DATABASE_PORT': conn_settings['DATABASE_PORT'],
+                'DATABASE_USER': conn_settings['DATABASE_USER'],
                 'TIME_ZONE': settings.TIME_ZONE,
             })
 
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/expressions_regress/models.py b/tests/regressiontests/expressions_regress/models.py
index 7c9ca61ccc..fe25ee9922 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/expressions_regress/models.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/expressions_regress/models.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 Spanning tests for all the operations that F() expressions can perform.
 """
 from django.conf import settings
-from django.db import models
+from django.db import models, DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS
 
 #
 # Model for testing arithmetic expressions.
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ Complex expressions of different connection types are possible.
 """}
 
 # Oracle doesn't support the Bitwise OR operator.
-if settings.DATABASE_ENGINE != 'oracle':
+if settings.DATABASES[DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS]['DATABASE_ENGINE'] != 'oracle':
     __test__['API_TESTS'] += """
 
 >>> _ = Number.objects.filter(pk=n.pk).update(integer=42, float=15.5)
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/fixtures_regress/models.py b/tests/regressiontests/fixtures_regress/models.py
index e33471646c..09f12897d6 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/fixtures_regress/models.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/fixtures_regress/models.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-from django.db import models
+from django.db import models, DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS
 from django.contrib.auth.models import User
 from django.conf import settings
 import os
@@ -35,7 +35,8 @@ class Stuff(models.Model):
         # Oracle doesn't distinguish between None and the empty string.
         # This hack makes the test case pass using Oracle.
         name = self.name
-        if settings.DATABASE_ENGINE == 'oracle' and name == u'':
+        if (settings.DATABASES[DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS]['DATABASE_ENGINE'] == 'oracle'
+            and name == u''):
             name = None
         return unicode(name) + u' is owned by ' + unicode(self.owner)
 
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/introspection/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/introspection/tests.py
index 7072dc8e9e..b7cd2404da 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/introspection/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/introspection/tests.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 from django.conf import settings
-from django.db import connection
+from django.db import connection, DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS
 from django.test import TestCase
 from django.utils import functional
 
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ class IntrospectionTests(TestCase):
                           ['IntegerField', 'CharField', 'CharField', 'CharField'])
 
     # Regression test for #9991 - 'real' types in postgres
-    if settings.DATABASE_ENGINE.startswith('postgresql'):
+    if settings.DATABASES[DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS]['DATABASE_ENGINE'].startswith('postgresql'):
         def test_postgresql_real_type(self):
             cursor = connection.cursor()
             cursor.execute("CREATE TABLE django_ixn_real_test_table (number REAL);")
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/serializers_regress/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/serializers_regress/tests.py
index de7ddcc9f7..94d082e56d 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/serializers_regress/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/serializers_regress/tests.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ from cStringIO import StringIO
 
 from django.utils.functional import curry
 from django.core import serializers
-from django.db import transaction
+from django.db import transaction, DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS
 from django.core import management
 from django.conf import settings
 
@@ -260,19 +260,19 @@ The end."""),
     (fk_obj, 452, FKDataToField, None),
 
     (fk_obj, 460, FKDataToO2O, 300),
-        
+
     (im2m_obj, 470, M2MIntermediateData, None),
-    
+
     #testing post- and prereferences and extra fields
     (im_obj, 480, Intermediate, {'right': 300, 'left': 470}),
-    (im_obj, 481, Intermediate, {'right': 300, 'left': 490}), 
-    (im_obj, 482, Intermediate, {'right': 500, 'left': 470}), 
-    (im_obj, 483, Intermediate, {'right': 500, 'left': 490}), 
-    (im_obj, 484, Intermediate, {'right': 300, 'left': 470, 'extra': "extra"}), 
-    (im_obj, 485, Intermediate, {'right': 300, 'left': 490, 'extra': "extra"}), 
-    (im_obj, 486, Intermediate, {'right': 500, 'left': 470, 'extra': "extra"}), 
-    (im_obj, 487, Intermediate, {'right': 500, 'left': 490, 'extra': "extra"}), 
-    
+    (im_obj, 481, Intermediate, {'right': 300, 'left': 490}),
+    (im_obj, 482, Intermediate, {'right': 500, 'left': 470}),
+    (im_obj, 483, Intermediate, {'right': 500, 'left': 490}),
+    (im_obj, 484, Intermediate, {'right': 300, 'left': 470, 'extra': "extra"}),
+    (im_obj, 485, Intermediate, {'right': 300, 'left': 490, 'extra': "extra"}),
+    (im_obj, 486, Intermediate, {'right': 500, 'left': 470, 'extra': "extra"}),
+    (im_obj, 487, Intermediate, {'right': 500, 'left': 490, 'extra': "extra"}),
+
     (im2m_obj, 490, M2MIntermediateData, []),
 
     (data_obj, 500, Anchor, "Anchor 3"),
@@ -326,7 +326,7 @@ The end."""),
 # Because Oracle treats the empty string as NULL, Oracle is expected to fail
 # when field.empty_strings_allowed is True and the value is None; skip these
 # tests.
-if settings.DATABASE_ENGINE == 'oracle':
+if settings.DATABASES[DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS]['DATABASE_ENGINE'] == 'oracle':
     test_data = [data for data in test_data
                  if not (data[0] == data_obj and
                          data[2]._meta.get_field('data').empty_strings_allowed and
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ if settings.DATABASE_ENGINE == 'oracle':
 # Regression test for #8651 -- a FK to an object iwth PK of 0
 # This won't work on MySQL since it won't let you create an object
 # with a primary key of 0,
-if settings.DATABASE_ENGINE != 'mysql':
+if settings.DATABASES[DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS]['DATABASE_ENGINE'] != 'mysql':
     test_data.extend([
         (data_obj, 0, Anchor, "Anchor 0"),
         (fk_obj, 465, FKData, 0),