diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 7b6182800958b725793890f3474bda018b644e3a..3808aba783eb7f62b3eb6fe4f68753ad46bbbd12 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ stages:
   - deploy
 
 # Trigger building of server image and integration tests
-trigger_build:
+.trigger_build:
   tags: [ docker ]
   stage: deploy
   script:
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ unittests:
   tags: [ docker ]
   stage: test
   script:
+    - systemctl --no-pager status mysqld.service || echo "failed"
     - cp config.defaults .config
     - echo "MYSQL_USER_PASSWORD=caosdb1234" >> .config
     - . .config || echo "failed"
@@ -57,7 +58,7 @@ unittests:
     - ./make_db test --fresh
 
 # Build a docker image in which tests for this repository can run
-build-testenv:
+.build-testenv:
   tags: [ cached-dind ]
   image: docker:19.03
   stage: setup