diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 17974e9..978a549 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 cache: bundler
 sudo: false
 language: ruby
-services:
-  - redis-server
 
 matrix:
   include:
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d8e9bde..3323cca 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ git logs & PR history.
 
 ### Fixed
  - Improve support for configuration via environment variables (POOLER-137)
+ - Support multiple pool backends per alias (POOLER-138)
+ - Remove redis server testing requirement
 
 # [0.3.0](https://github.com/puppetlabs/vmpooler/compare/0.2.2...0.3.0)
 
diff --git a/lib/vmpooler.rb b/lib/vmpooler.rb
index eac072e..a614752 100644
--- a/lib/vmpooler.rb
+++ b/lib/vmpooler.rb
@@ -108,10 +108,11 @@ module Vmpooler
       parsed_config[:pool_names] << pool['name']
       if pool['alias']
         if pool['alias'].is_a?(Array)
-          pool['alias'].each do |a|
+          pool['alias'].each do |pool_alias|
             parsed_config[:alias] ||= {}
-            parsed_config[:alias][a] = pool['name']
-            parsed_config[:pool_names] << a
+            parsed_config[:alias][pool_alias] = [pool['name']] unless parsed_config[:alias].key? pool_alias
+            parsed_config[:alias][pool_alias] << pool['name'] unless parsed_config[:alias][pool_alias].include? pool['name']
+            parsed_config[:pool_names] << pool_alias
           end
         elsif pool['alias'].is_a?(String)
           parsed_config[:alias][pool['alias']] = pool['name']
diff --git a/lib/vmpooler/api/v1.rb b/lib/vmpooler/api/v1.rb
index 00497a1..2efe2cc 100644
--- a/lib/vmpooler/api/v1.rb
+++ b/lib/vmpooler/api/v1.rb
@@ -40,8 +40,8 @@ module Vmpooler
       template_backends = [template]
       aliases = Vmpooler::API.settings.config[:alias]
       if aliases
-        template_backends << aliases[template] if aliases[template]
-
+        template_backends = template_backends + aliases[template] if aliases[template].is_a?(Array)
+        template_backends << aliases[template] if aliases[template].is_a?(String)
         pool_index = pool_index(pools)
         weighted_pools = {}
         template_backends.each do |t|
@@ -61,7 +61,9 @@ module Vmpooler
           template_backends.delete(selection)
           template_backends.unshift(selection)
         else
-          template_backends = template_backends.sample(template_backends.count)
+          first = template_backends.sample
+          template_backends.delete(first)
+          template_backends.unshift(first)
         end
       end
 
diff --git a/spec/helpers.rb b/spec/helpers.rb
index cff93e6..77820f7 100644
--- a/spec/helpers.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
+require 'mock_redis'
+
 def redis
   unless @redis
-    @redis = Redis.new
-    @redis.select(15) # let's use the highest numbered database available in a default install
+    @redis = MockRedis.new
   end
   @redis
 end
diff --git a/spec/integration/api/v1/config_spec.rb b/spec/integration/api/v1/config_spec.rb
index e5136d7..5c3e0ed 100644
--- a/spec/integration/api/v1/config_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/integration/api/v1/config_spec.rb
@@ -32,8 +32,6 @@ describe Vmpooler::API::V1 do
     let(:current_time) { Time.now }
 
     before(:each) do
-      redis.flushdb
-
       app.settings.set :config, config
       app.settings.set :redis, redis
       app.settings.set :metrics, metrics
diff --git a/spec/integration/api/v1/status_spec.rb b/spec/integration/api/v1/status_spec.rb
index 3ec6cfc..553188b 100644
--- a/spec/integration/api/v1/status_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/integration/api/v1/status_spec.rb
@@ -32,8 +32,6 @@ describe Vmpooler::API::V1 do
     let(:current_time) { Time.now }
 
     before(:each) do
-      redis.flushdb
-
       app.settings.set :config, config
       app.settings.set :redis, redis
       app.settings.set :config, auth: false
diff --git a/spec/integration/api/v1/vm_hostname_spec.rb b/spec/integration/api/v1/vm_hostname_spec.rb
index f8ade07..1e6ac19 100644
--- a/spec/integration/api/v1/vm_hostname_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/integration/api/v1/vm_hostname_spec.rb
@@ -32,8 +32,6 @@ describe Vmpooler::API::V1 do
     let(:current_time) { Time.now }
 
     before(:each) do
-      redis.flushdb
-
       app.settings.set :config, config
       app.settings.set :redis, redis
       app.settings.set :config, auth: false
diff --git a/spec/integration/api/v1/vm_spec.rb b/spec/integration/api/v1/vm_spec.rb
index 4615949..8eac59f 100644
--- a/spec/integration/api/v1/vm_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/integration/api/v1/vm_spec.rb
@@ -19,19 +19,17 @@ describe Vmpooler::API::V1 do
         },
         pools: [
           {'name' => 'pool1', 'size' => 5},
-          {'name' => 'pool2', 'size' => 10}
+          {'name' => 'pool2', 'size' => 10},
+          {'name' => 'pool3', 'size' => 10}
         ],
         statsd: { 'prefix' => 'stats_prefix'},
-        alias: { 'poolone' => 'pool1' },
-        pool_names: [ 'pool1', 'pool2', 'poolone' ]
+        alias: { 'poolone' => ['pool1'] },
+        pool_names: [ 'pool1', 'pool2', 'pool3', 'poolone', 'genericpool' ]
       }
     }
-
     let(:current_time) { Time.now }
 
     before(:each) do
-      redis.flushdb
-
       app.settings.set :config, config
       app.settings.set :redis, redis
       app.settings.set :metrics, metrics
@@ -192,6 +190,29 @@ describe Vmpooler::API::V1 do
         expect_json(ok = true, http = 200)
       end
 
+      it 'returns VMs from multiple backend pools requested by an alias' do
+        Vmpooler::API.settings.config[:alias]['genericpool'] = ['pool1', 'pool2', 'pool3']
+
+        create_ready_vm 'pool1', '1abcdefghijklmnop'
+        create_ready_vm 'pool2', '2abcdefghijklmnop'
+        create_ready_vm 'pool3', '1qrstuvwxyz012345'
+
+        post "#{prefix}/vm", '{"genericpool":"3"}'
+
+        expected = {
+          ok: true,
+          genericpool: {
+            hostname: [ '1abcdefghijklmnop', '2abcdefghijklmnop', '1qrstuvwxyz012345' ]
+          }
+        }
+
+        result = JSON.parse(last_response.body)
+        expect(result['ok']).to eq(true)
+        expect(result['genericpool']['hostname']).to include('1abcdefghijklmnop', '2abcdefghijklmnop', '1qrstuvwxyz012345')
+
+        expect_json(ok = true, http = 200)
+      end
+
       it 'fails when not all requested vms can be allocated' do
         create_ready_vm 'pool1', '1abcdefghijklmnop'
 
diff --git a/spec/integration/api/v1/vm_template_spec.rb b/spec/integration/api/v1/vm_template_spec.rb
index 0f71395..73549a5 100644
--- a/spec/integration/api/v1/vm_template_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/integration/api/v1/vm_template_spec.rb
@@ -30,8 +30,6 @@ describe Vmpooler::API::V1 do
     let(:current_time) { Time.now }
 
     before(:each) do
-      redis.flushdb
-
       app.settings.set :config, config
       app.settings.set :redis, redis
       app.settings.set :metrics, metrics
diff --git a/spec/integration/dashboard_spec.rb b/spec/integration/dashboard_spec.rb
index 147ec46..5bb9ac2 100644
--- a/spec/integration/dashboard_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/integration/dashboard_spec.rb
@@ -10,10 +10,6 @@ describe Vmpooler::API do
 
   describe 'Dashboard' do
 
-    before(:each) do
-      redis.flushdb
-    end
-
     context '/' do
       before { get '/' }