diff --git a/spring-cloud-sleuth-samples/README.adoc b/spring-cloud-sleuth-samples/README.adoc
index 602959205..3dc8573a0 100644
--- a/spring-cloud-sleuth-samples/README.adoc
+++ b/spring-cloud-sleuth-samples/README.adoc
@@ -35,9 +35,10 @@ image::https://raw.githubusercontent.com/spring-cloud/spring-cloud-sleuth/master
 
 Instead of POSTing trace data directly to a Zipkin server, you can export them over https://raw.githubusercontent.com/spring-cloud/spring-cloud-stream[Spring Cloud Stream].
 
-1. Build the Zipkin Stream sample with Maven and run it via its `docker-compose.yml` (which also starts the required middleware and the Zipkin UI).
+1. Run the RabbitMQ middleware for Zipkin (you can use `docker-compose.yml`).
+2. Build the Zipkin Stream sample with Maven and run it.
 7. Run the `spring-cloud-sleuth-sample-stream` app and interact with it in a browser, just like the vanilla sample. If you are using a VM to run docker you might need to tunnel port 5672 to localhost, or change the `spring.rabbbitmq.host`.
-9. Go to `http://localhost:9411` for Zipkin's UI (if you are using boot2docker the host will be different)
+9. Go to `http://localhost:9411` for Zipkin's UI
 
 The UI should look more or less like this:
 
diff --git a/spring-cloud-sleuth-samples/spring-cloud-sleuth-sample-zipkin-stream/Dockerfile b/spring-cloud-sleuth-samples/spring-cloud-sleuth-sample-zipkin-stream/Dockerfile
deleted file mode 100644
index 840422f69..000000000
--- a/spring-cloud-sleuth-samples/spring-cloud-sleuth-sample-zipkin-stream/Dockerfile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
-FROM springio/java8
-RUN chmod 777 -R /tmp
-VOLUME /tmp
-VOLUME /app
-EXPOSE 9411 8000
-RUN groupadd -g 1000 spring
-RUN useradd -u 1000 -g 1000 -ms /bin/bash spring
-VOLUME /home/spring
-ENV HOME /home/spring
-USER spring
-WORKDIR /app/spring-cloud-sleuth-samples/spring-cloud-sleuth-sample-zipkin-stream
-CMD ["../../mvnw", "spring-boot:run"]
diff --git a/spring-cloud-sleuth-samples/spring-cloud-sleuth-sample-zipkin-stream/README.md b/spring-cloud-sleuth-samples/spring-cloud-sleuth-sample-zipkin-stream/README.md
index c708acf8c..d91373fcb 100644
--- a/spring-cloud-sleuth-samples/spring-cloud-sleuth-sample-zipkin-stream/README.md
+++ b/spring-cloud-sleuth-samples/spring-cloud-sleuth-sample-zipkin-stream/README.md
@@ -1,15 +1,26 @@
 # Running a Zipkin Server
 
-There are 3 parts to Zipkin: the instrumented client apps, the backend database and the Zipkin server. The database for this implementation is MySQL.
+There are 3 parts to Zipkin: 
+
+- the instrumented client apps
+- the backend database (defaults to in-memory db)
+- the Zipkin server
 
 ## Zipkin Services
 
-Run this app using the docker-compose provided.
+Run the Zipkin (remember to have RabbitMQ running) by 
+
+either running Spring Boot Maven plugin:
 
 ```
-$ docker-compose build zipkin
-$ docker-compose up
-...
+./mvnw spring-boot:run --projects spring-cloud-sleuth-samples/spring-cloud-sleuth-sample-zipkin-stream
+```
+
+or running the packaged app from the root:
+
+```
+./mvnw package --projects spring-cloud-sleuth-samples/spring-cloud-sleuth-sample-zipkin-stream
+java -jar spring-cloud-sleuth-samples/spring-cloud-sleuth-sample-zipkin-stream/target/spring-cloud-sleuth-sample-zipkin-stream-1.0.0.BUILD-SNAPSHOT-exec.jar
 ```
 
 and test it
@@ -19,12 +30,10 @@ $ curl localhost:9411/api/v1/services
 ["zipkin-query"]
 ```
 
-The app might fail to start if mysql is not available when it needs it. If that happens you can just start it separately: just keep running `docker-compose up` until it works.
-
-
 ## Instrumenting Apps
 
-Depend on [Spring Cloud Sleuth Stream](https://github.com/spring-cloud-spring-cloud-sleuth) and the rabbit binder (`spring-cloud-starter-stream-rabbit`).
+Depend on [Spring Cloud Sleuth Stream](https://github.com/spring-cloud-spring-cloud-sleuth) and the 
+rabbit binder (`spring-cloud-starter-stream-rabbit`).
 
 Once the apps start publishing spans they will appear in the span store as well.
 
@@ -33,5 +42,5 @@ Once the apps start publishing spans they will appear in the span store as well.
 You can run this app in an IDE and still use docker-compose to create the middleware:
 
 ```
-$ docker-compose up rabbitmq mysql
+$ docker-compose up rabbitmq
 ```
diff --git a/spring-cloud-sleuth-samples/spring-cloud-sleuth-sample-zipkin-stream/docker-compose.yml b/spring-cloud-sleuth-samples/spring-cloud-sleuth-sample-zipkin-stream/docker-compose.yml
index 9fbbd6072..ed5568055 100644
--- a/spring-cloud-sleuth-samples/spring-cloud-sleuth-sample-zipkin-stream/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/spring-cloud-sleuth-samples/spring-cloud-sleuth-sample-zipkin-stream/docker-compose.yml
@@ -1,31 +1,7 @@
-mysql:
-  image: mysql
-  ports:
-    - 3306:3306
-  environment:
-    - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=root
-    - MYSQL_DATABASE=test
 rabbitmq:
   image: rabbitmq:management
   expose:
     - 5672
   ports:
     - 5672:5672
-    - 15672:15672
-zipkin:
-  build: .
-  volumes:
-    - ../..:/app
-    - ~:/home/spring
-  environment:
-    - MYSQL_HOST=mysql
-    - RABBIT_HOST=rabbitmq
-    # - JAVA_OPTS=your jvm params here
-  ports:
-    # Historical port used for the Zipkin HTTP Api
-    - 9411:9411
-    # Zipkin UI used to be on a separate process listening on port 8080
-    - 8080:9411
-  links:
-    - mysql
-    - rabbitmq
+    - 15672:15672
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/spring-cloud-sleuth-samples/spring-cloud-sleuth-sample-zipkin/docker-compose.yml b/spring-cloud-sleuth-samples/spring-cloud-sleuth-sample-zipkin/docker-compose.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 9b9419f40..000000000
--- a/spring-cloud-sleuth-samples/spring-cloud-sleuth-sample-zipkin/docker-compose.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,22 +0,0 @@
-version: '2'
-
-services:
-  storage:
-    image: openzipkin/zipkin-mysql:1.39.3
-    container_name: mysql
-    ports:
-      - 3306:3306
-  query:
-    image: openzipkin/zipkin-java:0.11.0
-    environment:
-      - STORAGE_TYPE=mysql
-      - MYSQL_HOST=mysql
-    ports:
-      # Listen port for the Scribe transport
-      - 9410:9410
-      # Historical port used for the Zipkin HTTP Api
-      - 9411:9411
-      # Zipkin UI used to be on a separate process listening on port 8080
-      - 8080:9411
-    depends_on:
-      - storage
diff --git a/spring-cloud-sleuth-zipkin/docker-compose.yml b/spring-cloud-sleuth-zipkin/docker-compose.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 9b9419f40..000000000
--- a/spring-cloud-sleuth-zipkin/docker-compose.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,22 +0,0 @@
-version: '2'
-
-services:
-  storage:
-    image: openzipkin/zipkin-mysql:1.39.3
-    container_name: mysql
-    ports:
-      - 3306:3306
-  query:
-    image: openzipkin/zipkin-java:0.11.0
-    environment:
-      - STORAGE_TYPE=mysql
-      - MYSQL_HOST=mysql
-    ports:
-      # Listen port for the Scribe transport
-      - 9410:9410
-      # Historical port used for the Zipkin HTTP Api
-      - 9411:9411
-      # Zipkin UI used to be on a separate process listening on port 8080
-      - 8080:9411
-    depends_on:
-      - storage