diff --git a/spring-cloud-spring-service-connector/src/test/java/org/springframework/cloud/service/relational/PooledDataSourceCreatorsTest.java b/spring-cloud-spring-service-connector/src/test/java/org/springframework/cloud/service/relational/PooledDataSourceCreatorsTest.java
index 076402e..0ea45fe 100644
--- a/spring-cloud-spring-service-connector/src/test/java/org/springframework/cloud/service/relational/PooledDataSourceCreatorsTest.java
+++ b/spring-cloud-spring-service-connector/src/test/java/org/springframework/cloud/service/relational/PooledDataSourceCreatorsTest.java
@@ -10,9 +10,11 @@ import org.springframework.cloud.ReflectionUtils;
 import org.springframework.cloud.service.PooledServiceConnectorConfig.PoolConfig;
 import org.springframework.cloud.service.ServiceConnectorConfig;
 import org.springframework.cloud.service.common.MysqlServiceInfo;
+import org.springframework.cloud.service.relational.DataSourceConfig.ConnectionConfig;
 
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Properties;
 
 import static org.hamcrest.core.IsInstanceOf.instanceOf;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
@@ -28,11 +30,17 @@ import static org.springframework.cloud.service.relational.TomcatDbcpPooledDataS
 import static org.springframework.cloud.service.relational.TomcatJdbcPooledDataSourceCreator.TOMCAT_JDBC_DATASOURCE;
 
 public class PooledDataSourceCreatorsTest {
-	public static final int MIN_POOL_SIZE = 100;
-	public static final int MAX_POOL_SIZE = 200;
-	public static final int MAX_WAIT_TIME = 5;
+	private static final int MIN_POOL_SIZE = 100;
+	private static final int MAX_POOL_SIZE = 200;
+	private static final int MAX_WAIT_TIME = 5;
+	private static final String CONNECTION_PROPERTIES_STRING = "useUnicode=true;characterEncoding=UTF-8";
+	private static final Properties CONNECTION_PROPERTIES = new Properties() {{
+		setProperty("useUnicode", "true");
+		setProperty("characterEncoding", "UTF-8");
+	}};
 
-	@Mock private MysqlServiceInfo mockMysqlServiceInfo;
+	@Mock
+	private MysqlServiceInfo mockMysqlServiceInfo;
 
 	// Just to grab driver class name and validation query string 
 	private MysqlDataSourceCreator mysqlDataSourceCreator = new MysqlDataSourceCreator();
@@ -46,7 +54,8 @@ public class PooledDataSourceCreatorsTest {
 	@Test
 	public void pooledDataSourceCreationDefault() throws Exception {
 		PoolConfig poolConfig = new PoolConfig(MIN_POOL_SIZE, MAX_POOL_SIZE, MAX_WAIT_TIME);
-		DataSourceConfig config = new DataSourceConfig(poolConfig, null);
+		ConnectionConfig connectionConfig = new ConnectionConfig(CONNECTION_PROPERTIES_STRING);
+		DataSourceConfig config = new DataSourceConfig(poolConfig, connectionConfig);
 		DataSource ds = createMysqlDataSource(config);
 		assertTomcatJdbcDataSource(ds);
 	}
@@ -97,7 +106,8 @@ public class PooledDataSourceCreatorsTest {
 		List<String> dataSourceNames = Collections.singletonList(pooledDataSourceName);
 		PoolConfig poolConfig =
 				new PoolConfig(MIN_POOL_SIZE, MAX_POOL_SIZE, MAX_WAIT_TIME);
-		DataSourceConfig config = new DataSourceConfig(poolConfig, null, dataSourceNames);
+		ConnectionConfig connectionConfig = new ConnectionConfig(CONNECTION_PROPERTIES_STRING);
+		DataSourceConfig config = new DataSourceConfig(poolConfig, connectionConfig, dataSourceNames);
 		return createMysqlDataSource(config);
 	}
 
@@ -111,16 +121,18 @@ public class PooledDataSourceCreatorsTest {
 		if (hasClass(DBCP2_BASIC_DATASOURCE)) {
 			assertThat(ds, instanceOf(Class.forName(DBCP2_BASIC_DATASOURCE)));
 
-			assertEquals(MIN_POOL_SIZE, getValue(ds, "minIdle"));
-			assertEquals(MAX_POOL_SIZE, getValue(ds, "maxTotal"));
-			assertEquals(MAX_WAIT_TIME, getValue(ds, "maxWaitMillis"));
+			assertEquals(MIN_POOL_SIZE, getIntValue(ds, "minIdle"));
+			assertEquals(MAX_POOL_SIZE, getIntValue(ds, "maxTotal"));
+			assertEquals(MAX_WAIT_TIME, getIntValue(ds, "maxWaitMillis"));
+			assertEquals(CONNECTION_PROPERTIES, getPropertiesValue(ds, "connectionProperties"));
 		}
 		if (hasClass(DBCP_BASIC_DATASOURCE) && !hasClass(DBCP2_BASIC_DATASOURCE)) {
 			assertThat(ds, instanceOf(Class.forName(DBCP_BASIC_DATASOURCE)));
 
-			assertEquals(MIN_POOL_SIZE, getValue(ds, "minIdle"));
-			assertEquals(MAX_POOL_SIZE, getValue(ds, "maxActive"));
-			assertEquals(MAX_WAIT_TIME, getValue(ds, "maxWait"));
+			assertEquals(MIN_POOL_SIZE, getIntValue(ds, "minIdle"));
+			assertEquals(MAX_POOL_SIZE, getIntValue(ds, "maxActive"));
+			assertEquals(MAX_WAIT_TIME, getIntValue(ds, "maxWait"));
+			assertEquals(CONNECTION_PROPERTIES, getPropertiesValue(ds, "connectionProperties"));
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -130,37 +142,53 @@ public class PooledDataSourceCreatorsTest {
 		if (hasClass(TOMCAT_7_DBCP)) {
 			assertThat(ds, instanceOf(Class.forName(TOMCAT_7_DBCP)));
 
-			assertEquals(MIN_POOL_SIZE, getValue(ds, "minIdle"));
-			assertEquals(MAX_WAIT_TIME, getValue(ds, "maxWait"));
+			assertEquals(MIN_POOL_SIZE, getIntValue(ds, "minIdle"));
+			assertEquals(MAX_WAIT_TIME, getIntValue(ds, "maxWait"));
+			assertEquals(CONNECTION_PROPERTIES, getPropertiesValue(ds, "connectionProperties"));
 		}
 		if (hasClass(TOMCAT_8_DBCP)) {
 			assertThat(ds, instanceOf(Class.forName(TOMCAT_8_DBCP)));
 
-			assertEquals(MIN_POOL_SIZE, getValue(ds, "minIdle"));
-			assertEquals(MAX_POOL_SIZE, getValue(ds, "maxTotal"));
-			assertEquals(MAX_WAIT_TIME, getValue(ds, "maxWaitMillis"));
+			assertEquals(MIN_POOL_SIZE, getIntValue(ds, "minIdle"));
+			assertEquals(MAX_POOL_SIZE, getIntValue(ds, "maxTotal"));
+			assertEquals(MAX_WAIT_TIME, getIntValue(ds, "maxWaitMillis"));
+			assertEquals(CONNECTION_PROPERTIES, getPropertiesValue(ds, "connectionProperties"));
 		}
 	}
 
 	private void assertTomcatJdbcDataSource(DataSource ds) throws ClassNotFoundException {
 		assertThat(ds, instanceOf(Class.forName(TOMCAT_JDBC_DATASOURCE)));
 
-		assertEquals(MIN_POOL_SIZE, getValue(ds, "minIdle"));
-		assertEquals(MAX_WAIT_TIME, getValue(ds, "maxWait"));
+		assertEquals(MIN_POOL_SIZE, getIntValue(ds, "minIdle"));
+		assertEquals(MAX_WAIT_TIME, getIntValue(ds, "maxWait"));
+		// the results of setConnectionProperties are reflected by getDbProperties, not getConnectionProperties
+		assertEquals(CONNECTION_PROPERTIES, getPropertiesValue(ds, "dbProperties"));
 	}
 
 	private void assertHikariDataSource(DataSource ds) throws ClassNotFoundException {
 		assertThat(ds, instanceOf(Class.forName(HIKARI_DATASOURCE)));
 
-		assertEquals(MIN_POOL_SIZE, getValue(ds, "minimumIdle"));
-		assertEquals(MAX_POOL_SIZE, getValue(ds, "maximumPoolSize"));
+		assertEquals(MIN_POOL_SIZE, getIntValue(ds, "minimumIdle"));
+		assertEquals(MAX_POOL_SIZE, getIntValue(ds, "maximumPoolSize"));
 	}
 
-	private int getValue(Object target, String fieldName) {
+	private int getIntValue(Object target, String fieldName) {
+		return Integer.valueOf(getStringValue(target, fieldName));
+	}
+
+	private String getStringValue(Object target, String fieldName) {
+		return getValue(target, fieldName).toString();
+	}
+
+	private Properties getPropertiesValue(Object target, String fieldName) {
+		return (Properties) getValue(target, fieldName);
+	}
+
+	private Object getValue(Object target, String fieldName) {
 		Object value = ReflectionUtils.getValue(target, fieldName);
 		if (value == null) {
 			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Bad field name " + fieldName + " for target object " + target);
 		}
-		return Integer.valueOf(value.toString());
+		return value;
 	}
 }