diff --git a/src/ioc/db/test/dbChannelTest.c b/src/ioc/db/test/dbChannelTest.c
index 156c7e9bd..ac82f3fdc 100644
--- a/src/ioc/db/test/dbChannelTest.c
+++ b/src/ioc/db/test/dbChannelTest.c
@@ -158,6 +158,8 @@ MAIN(testDbChannel)     /* dbChannelTest is an API routine... */
 
     testPlan(76);
 
+    testdbPrepare();
+
     testdbReadDatabase("dbTestIoc.dbd", NULL, NULL);
 
     dbTestIoc_registerRecordDeviceDriver(pdbbase);