diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 3d83ee62d2..bd9ab80274 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -38,7 +38,6 @@
     <property name="build.src.resources" value="${basedir}/src/resources"/>
     <property name="build.src.gen-java" value="${basedir}/src/gen-java"/>
     <property name="build.lib" value="${basedir}/lib"/>
-    <property name="build.tools.lib" value="${basedir}/tools/lib"/>
     <property name="build.dir" value="${basedir}/build"/>
     <property name="build.dir.lib" value="${basedir}/build/lib"/>
     <property name="build.test.dir" value="${build.dir}/test"/>
@@ -785,9 +784,6 @@
                     <fileset dir="${build.lib}">
                         <include name="**/*.jar" />
                     </fileset>
-                    <fileset dir="${build.tools.lib}">
-                        <include name="**/*.jar" />
-                    </fileset>
                 </path>
             </classpath>
         </javac>
@@ -1012,9 +1008,6 @@
         <fileset dir="${build.dir}/tools/lib/">
             <include name="*.jar" />
         </fileset>
-        <fileset dir="${build.tools.lib}">
-            <include name="*.jar" />
-        </fileset>
       </copy>
       <artifact:writepom pomRefId="dist-pom" 
             file="${build.dir}/${final.name}-dist.pom"/>
diff --git a/tools/lib/netty-3.9.0.Final.jar b/tools/lib/netty-3.9.0.Final.jar
deleted file mode 100644
index 872340ed73..0000000000
Binary files a/tools/lib/netty-3.9.0.Final.jar and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/util/JavaDriverClient.java b/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/util/JavaDriverClient.java
index fa04dbc5d3..d82ebfd499 100644
--- a/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/util/JavaDriverClient.java
+++ b/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/util/JavaDriverClient.java
@@ -89,9 +89,13 @@ public class JavaDriverClient
 
     public void connect(ProtocolOptions.Compression compression) throws Exception
     {
+        PoolingOptions poolingOpts = new PoolingOptions();
+        poolingOpts.setCoreConnectionsPerHost(HostDistance.LOCAL, 8);
         Cluster.Builder clusterBuilder = Cluster.builder()
                                                 .addContactPoint(host)
                                                 .withPort(port)
+                                                .withPoolingOptions(poolingOpts)
+                                                .withProtocolVersion(ProtocolVersion.V2)
                                                 .withoutMetrics(); // The driver uses metrics 3 with conflict with our version
         if (whitelist != null)
             clusterBuilder.withLoadBalancingPolicy(whitelist);