diff --git a/UnitTests/unittest.js b/UnitTests/unittest.js
index f9ac65873e..3cde66d058 100644
--- a/UnitTests/unittest.js
+++ b/UnitTests/unittest.js
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ function resultsToXml(results, baseName, cluster) {
           }
 
           let xml = buildXml();
-          let failuresFound = "";
+          let failuresFound = 0;
 
           if (current.hasOwnProperty('failed')) {
             failuresFound = current.failed;
@@ -103,8 +103,7 @@ function resultsToXml(results, baseName, cluster) {
           for (let oneTestName in current) {
             if (isSignificant(current, oneTestName)) {
               const oneTest = current[oneTestName];
-              const result = oneTest.status || false;
-              const success = (typeof(result) === 'boolean') ? result : false;
+              const success = (oneTest.status === true);
 
               xml.elem("testcase", {
                 name: clprefix + oneTestName,
@@ -151,15 +150,32 @@ function resultsToXml(results, baseName, cluster) {
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
 function main(argv) {
-  const test = argv[0];
+  start_pretty_print();
+
+  // parse arguments
+  let cases = [];
   let options = {};
 
-  if (argv.length >= 2) {
+  while (argv.length >= 1) {
+    if (argv[0].slice(0, 1) === '{') {
+      break;
+    }
+
+    if (argv[0].slice(0, 1) === '-') {
+      break;
+    }
+
+    cases.push(argv[0]);
+    argv = argv.slice(1);
+  }
+
+  // convert arguments
+  if (argv.length >= 1) {
     try {
-      if (argv[1].slice(0, 1) === '{') {
-        options = JSON.parse(argv[1]);
+      if (argv[0].slice(0, 1) === '{') {
+        options = JSON.parse(argv[0]);
       } else {
-        options = internal.parseArgv(argv, 1);
+        options = internal.parseArgv(argv, 0);
       }
     } catch (x) {
       print("failed to parse the json options: " + x.message);
@@ -167,17 +183,17 @@ function main(argv) {
     }
   }
 
+  // force json reply
   options.jsonReply = true;
 
+  // create output directory
   fs.makeDirectoryRecursive("out");
 
-  start_pretty_print();
-
   // run the test and store the result
   let r = {};
 
   try {
-    r = UnitTest.UnitTest(test, options) || {};
+    r = UnitTest.unitTest(cases, options) || {};
   } catch (x) {
     print("caught exception during test execution!");
 
@@ -204,7 +220,15 @@ function main(argv) {
   fs.write("out/UNITTEST_RESULT_EXECUTIVE_SUMMARY.json", String(r.status));
 
   if (options.writeXmlReport) {
-    fs.write("out/UNITTEST_RESULT.json", inspect(r));
+    let j;
+
+    try {
+      j = JSON.stringify(r);
+    } catch (err) {
+      j = inspect(r);
+    }
+
+    fs.write("out/UNITTEST_RESULT.json", j);
     fs.write("out/UNITTEST_RESULT_CRASHED.json", String(r.crashed));
 
     try {
@@ -214,17 +238,13 @@ function main(argv) {
       print("exception while serializing status xml!");
       print(x.message);
       print(x.stack);
-      print(JSON.stringify(r));
+      print(inspect(r));
     }
   }
 
   UnitTest.unitTestPrettyPrintResults(r);
 
-  if (r.hasOwnProperty("crashed") && r.crashed) {
-    return -1;
-  }
-
-  return 0;
+  return r.crashed ? -1 : 0;
 }
 
 main(ARGUMENTS);
diff --git a/js/client/modules/@arangodb/testing.js b/js/client/modules/@arangodb/testing.js
index 8d9704a2f2..7215444a20 100644
--- a/js/client/modules/@arangodb/testing.js
+++ b/js/client/modules/@arangodb/testing.js
@@ -172,15 +172,28 @@ let cleanupDirectories = [];
 let serverCrashed = false;
 
 const makeResults = function(testname) {
+  const startTime = time();
+
   return function(status, message) {
-    let results = {};
-    results[testname] = {
-      status: status
+    let duration = time() - startTime;
+
+    let results = {
+      status: status,
+      duration: duration
     };
+
+    results[testname] = {
+      status: status,
+      duration: duration
+    };
+
     if (message) {
       results[testname].message = message;
     }
-    return results;
+
+    return {
+      'testing.js': results
+    };
   };
 };
 
@@ -3138,7 +3151,7 @@ testFuncs.replication_static = function(options) {
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
 testFuncs.replication_sync = function(options) {
-  const mr = makeResults('replication_sync');
+  const mr = makeResults('replication');
   let master = startInstance("tcp", options, {}, "master_sync");
 
   if (master === false) {
@@ -3730,7 +3743,7 @@ function unitTestPrettyPrintResults(r) {
 
 function printUsage() {
   print();
-  print("Usage: UnitTest( which, options )");
+  print("Usage: UnitTest([which, ...], options)");
   print();
   print('       where "which" is one of:\n');
 
@@ -3772,14 +3785,14 @@ function printUsage() {
 ///  Empty will give you a complete list.
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
-function unitTest(which, options) {
+function unitTest(cases, options) {
   if (typeof options !== "object") {
     options = {};
   }
 
   _.defaults(options, optionsDefaults);
 
-  if (which === undefined) {
+  if (cases === undefined) {
     printUsage();
 
     print('FATAL: "which" is undefined\n');
@@ -3792,121 +3805,86 @@ function unitTest(which, options) {
   const jsonReply = options.jsonReply;
   delete options.jsonReply;
 
-  let allok = true;
-  let ok = false;
+  // tests to run
+  let caselist = [];
 
+  for (let n = 0; n < cases.length; ++n) {
+    let which = cases[n];
+
+    if (which === "all") {
+      caselist = caselist.conact(allTests);
+    } else if (testFuncs.hasOwnProperty(which)) {
+      caselist.push(which);
+    } else {
+      let line = "Unknown test '" + which + "'\nKnown tests are: ";
+      let sep = "";
+
+      Object.keys(testFuncs).map(function(key) {
+        line += sep + key;
+        sep = ", ";
+      });
+
+      print(line);
+
+      return {
+        status: false
+      };
+    }
+  }
+
+  let globalStatus = true;
   let results = {};
-  let thisReply;
 
   // running all tests
-  if (which === "all") {
-    for (let n = 0; n < allTests.length; n++) {
-      const currentTest = allTests[n];
+  for (let n = 0; n < caselist.length; ++n) {
+    const currentTest = caselist[n];
 
-      print("Executing test", currentTest, "with options", options);
+    print("Executing test", currentTest, "with options", options);
 
-      results[currentTest] = thisReply = testFuncs[currentTest](options);
-      ok = true;
+    let result = testFuncs[currentTest](options);
+    results[currentTest] = result;
 
-      for (let i in thisReply) {
-        if (thisReply.hasOwnProperty(i)) {
-          if (thisReply[i].status !== true) {
-            ok = false;
-          }
-        }
-      }
+    let status = true;
 
-      thisReply.ok = ok;
-
-      if (!ok) {
-        allok = false;
-      }
-    }
-
-    results.status = allok;
-    results.crashed = serverCrashed;
-
-    if (allok) {
-      cleanupDBDirectories(options);
-    } else {
-      print("since some tests weren't successfully, not cleaning up: \n" +
-        yaml.safeDump(cleanupDirectories));
-    }
-
-    yaml.safeDump(results);
-
-    if (jsonReply === true) {
-      return results;
-    } else {
-      return allok;
-    }
-  }
-
-  // unknown test
-  else if (!testFuncs.hasOwnProperty(which)) {
-    let line = "Unknown test '" + which + "'\nKnown tests are: ";
-    let sep = "";
-
-    Object.keys(testFuncs).map(function(key) {
-      line += sep + key;
-      sep = ", ";
-    });
-
-    print(line);
-
-    return {
-      status: false
-    };
-  }
-
-  // test found in testFuncs
-  else {
-    results[which] = thisReply = testFuncs[which](options);
-
-    if (options.extremeVerbosity) {
-      print("Test result:", yaml.safeDump(results));
-    }
-
-    ok = true;
-
-    for (let i in thisReply) {
-      if (thisReply.hasOwnProperty(i)) {
-        if (thisReply[i].status !== true) {
-          ok = false;
+    for (let i in result) {
+      if (result.hasOwnProperty(i)) {
+        if (result[i].status !== true) {
+          status = false;
         }
       }
     }
 
-    thisReply.status = ok;
-    results.status = ok;
-    results.crashed = serverCrashed;
+    result.status = status;
 
-    if (ok) {
-      cleanupDBDirectories(options);
-    } else {
-      print("since some tests weren't successfully, not cleaning up: \n" +
-        yaml.safeDump(cleanupDirectories));
-    }
-
-    yaml.safeDump(results);
-
-    if (jsonReply === true) {
-      return results;
-    } else {
-      return ok;
+    if (!status) {
+      globalStatus = false;
     }
   }
 
-  return {
-    status: false
-  };
+  results.status = globalStatus;
+  results.crashed = serverCrashed;
+
+  if (globalStatus) {
+    cleanupDBDirectories(options);
+  } else {
+    print("since some tests weren't successfully, not cleaning up: \n" +
+      yaml.safeDump(cleanupDirectories));
+  }
+
+  yaml.safeDump(results);
+
+  if (jsonReply === true) {
+    return results;
+  } else {
+    return globalStatus;
+  }
 }
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 /// @brief exports
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
-exports.UnitTest = unitTest;
+exports.unitTest = unitTest;
 
 exports.internalMembers = internalMembers;
 exports.testFuncs = testFuncs;