diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 2b097a271a..789e2c6942 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -9,9 +9,7 @@ usedevelop = True
 whitelist_externals = bash
                       find
                       rm
-install_command =
-                  constraints: {[testenv:common-constraints]install_command}
-                  pip install -U --force-reinstall {opts} {packages}
+install_command = pip install -c{env:UPPER_CONSTRAINTS_FILE:https://git.openstack.org/cgit/openstack/requirements/plain/upper-constraints.txt} {opts} {packages}
 setenv = VIRTUAL_ENV={envdir}
          OS_TEST_PATH=./nova/tests/unit
          LANGUAGE=en_US
@@ -27,9 +25,6 @@ passenv = http_proxy HTTP_PROXY https_proxy HTTPS_PROXY no_proxy NO_PROXY
 # there is also secret magic in pretty_tox.sh which lets you run in a fail only
 # mode. To do this define the TRACE_FAILONLY environmental variable.
 
-[testenv:common-constraints]
-install_command = pip install -c{env:UPPER_CONSTRAINTS_FILE:https://git.openstack.org/cgit/openstack/requirements/plain/upper-constraints.txt} {opts} {packages}
-
 [testenv:pep8]
 basepython = python2.7
 commands =
@@ -38,11 +33,6 @@ commands =
   bash -c "find nova -type f -regex '.*\.pot?' -print0| \
            xargs -0 -n 1 msgfmt --check-format -o /dev/null"
 
-[testenv:pep8-constraints]
-install_command = {[testenv:common-constraints]install_command}
-commands =
-  bash tools/flake8wrap.sh {posargs}
-
 [testenv:py34]
 # NOTE(mriedem): If py34 fails with "db type could not be determined", delete
 # .testrepository and try again. Running py34 before py27 is OK, but not the
@@ -52,16 +42,8 @@ commands =
   find . -type f -name "*.pyc" -delete
   ostestr --blacklist_file tests-py3.txt
 
-[testenv:py34-constraints]
-install_command = {[testenv:common-constraints]install_command}
-setenv = {[testenv]setenv}
-deps = -r{toxinidir}/requirements.txt
-       -r{toxinidir}/test-requirements.txt
-commands = {[testenv:py34]commands}
-
 [testenv:functional]
 usedevelop = True
-install_command = pip install -U --force-reinstall {opts} {packages}
 setenv = VIRTUAL_ENV={envdir}
        OS_TEST_PATH=./nova/tests/functional
        LANGUAGE=en_US
@@ -71,7 +53,6 @@ commands =
 
 [testenv:api-samples]
 usedevelop = True
-install_command = pip install -U --force-reinstall {opts} {packages}
 setenv = VIRTUAL_ENV={envdir}
        GENERATE_SAMPLES=True
        PYTHONHASHSEED=0
@@ -81,31 +62,16 @@ commands =
   find . -type f -name "*.pyc" -delete
   bash tools/pretty_tox.sh '{posargs}'
 
-[testenv:functional-constraints]
-usedevelop = {[testenv:functional]usedevelop}
-install_command = {[testenv:common-constraints]install_command}
-setenv = {[testenv:functional]setenv}
-commands =
-  find . -type f -name "*.pyc" -delete
-  bash tools/pretty_tox.sh '{posargs}'
-
 [testenv:genconfig]
 commands = oslo-config-generator --config-file=etc/nova/nova-config-generator.conf
 
 [testenv:cover]
 # Also do not run test_coverage_ext tests while gathering coverage as those
 # tests conflict with coverage.
-commands =
-  coverage erase
-  python setup.py testr --coverage \
-    --testr-args='{posargs}'
-  coverage combine
-  coverage html --include='nova/*' --omit='nova/openstack/common/*' -d covhtml -i
-
-[testenv:cover-constraints]
-install_command = {[testenv:common-constraints]install_command}
-# Also do not run test_coverage_ext tests while gathering coverage as those
-# tests conflict with coverage.
+# NOTE(sdague): this target does not use constraints because
+# upstream infra does not yet support it. Once that's fixed, we can
+# drop the install_command.
+install_command = pip install -U --force-reinstall {opts} {packages}
 commands =
   coverage erase
   python setup.py testr --coverage \
@@ -116,10 +82,6 @@ commands =
 [testenv:venv]
 commands = {posargs}
 
-[testenv:venv-constraints]
-install_command = {[testenv:common-constraints]install_command}
-commands = {posargs}
-
 [testenv:docs]
 commands =
   rm -rf doc/source/api doc/build api-guide/build
@@ -131,17 +93,21 @@ commands =
 [testenv:api-guide]
 # This environment is called from CI scripts to test and publish
 # the API Guide to developer.openstack.org.
+# NOTE(sdague): this target does not use constraints because
+# upstream infra does not yet support it. Once that's fixed, we can
+# drop the install_command.
+install_command = pip install -U --force-reinstall {opts} {packages}
 commands =
   sphinx-build -b html -d api-guide/build/doctrees api-guide/source api-guide/build/html
 
-[testenv:docs-constraints]
-install_command = {[testenv:common-constraints]install_command}
-commands = {[testenv:docs]commands}
-
 [testenv:bandit]
 commands = bandit -c bandit.yaml -r nova -n 5 -ll
 
 [testenv:releasenotes]
+# NOTE(sdague): this target does not use constraints because
+# upstream infra does not yet support it. Once that's fixed, we can
+# drop the install_command.
+install_command = pip install -U --force-reinstall {opts} {packages}
 commands =
   rm -rf releasenotes/build
   sphinx-build -a -E -W -d releasenotes/build/doctrees -b html releasenotes/source releasenotes/build/html