diff --git a/contrib/test/integration/ansible.cfg b/contrib/test/integration/ansible.cfg
index 92a13a5f..33adb106 100644
--- a/contrib/test/integration/ansible.cfg
+++ b/contrib/test/integration/ansible.cfg
@@ -57,11 +57,6 @@ gather_subset = network
 #host_key_checking = False
 host_key_checking = False
 
-# change the default callback
-#stdout_callback = skippy
-# enable additional callbacks
-#callback_whitelist = timer, mail
-
 # Determine whether includes in tasks and handlers are "static" by
 # default. As of 2.0, includes are dynamic by default. Setting these
 # values to True will make includes behave more like they did in the
@@ -165,7 +160,6 @@ deprecation_warnings = False
 # instead of shelling out to the git command.
 command_warnings = False
 
-
 # set plugin path directories here, separate with colons
 #action_plugins     = /usr/share/ansible/plugins/action
 #callback_plugins   = /usr/share/ansible/plugins/callback
@@ -219,7 +213,6 @@ nocolor = 0
 # When a playbook fails by default a .retry file will be created in ~/
 # You can disable this feature by setting retry_files_enabled to False
 # and you can change the location of the files by setting retry_files_save_path
-
 #retry_files_enabled = False
 retry_files_enabled = False
 
@@ -248,6 +241,7 @@ no_target_syslog = True
 # worker processes. At the default of 0, no compression
 # is used. This value must be an integer from 0 to 9.
 #var_compression_level = 9
+var_compression_level = 3
 
 # controls what compression method is used for new-style ansible modules when
 # they are sent to the remote system.  The compression types depend on having
@@ -298,6 +292,15 @@ ssh_args = -o ControlMaster=auto -o ControlPersist=60s -o UserKnownHostsFile=/de
 # Example:
 # control_path = %(directory)s/%%h-%%r
 #control_path = %(directory)s/ansible-ssh-%%h-%%p-%%r
+# Using ssh's ControlPersist feature is desireable because of wide
+# compatibility and not needing to mess with /etc/sudoers
+# for pipelining (see below).  Unfortunately, in cloud environments,
+# auto-assigned VM hostnames tend to be rather longs.  Worse, in a CI
+# context, the default home-directory path may also be lengthy.  Fix
+# this to a short name, so Ansible doesn't fall back to opening new
+# connections for every task.
+control_path = /tmp/crio-%%n-%%p
+
 
 # Enabling pipelining reduces the number of SSH operations required to
 # execute a module on the remote server. This can result in a significant
@@ -308,7 +311,6 @@ ssh_args = -o ControlMaster=auto -o ControlPersist=60s -o UserKnownHostsFile=/de
 # sudoers configurations that have requiretty (the default on many distros).
 #
 #pipelining = False
-pipelining=True
 
 # if True, make ansible use scp if the connection type is ssh
 # (default is sftp)