diff --git a/appengine_war.gradle b/appengine_war.gradle
index 09828a4bc..61ede80e2 100644
--- a/appengine_war.gradle
+++ b/appengine_war.gradle
@@ -25,14 +25,19 @@ project.convention.plugins['war'].webAppDirName =
 
 apply plugin: 'com.google.cloud.tools.appengine'
 
+def coreResourcesDir = "${rootDir}/core/build/resources/main"
+
 // Get the web.xml file for the service.
 war {
     webInf {
         from "../../core/src/main/java/google/registry/env/common/${project.name}/WEB-INF"
+
+        from("${coreResourcesDir}/META-INF/persistence.xml") {
+            into "classes/META-INF"
+        }
     }
 }
 
-def coreResourcesDir = "${rootDir}/core/build/resources/main"
 war {
     from("${coreResourcesDir}/google/registry/ui/html") {
         include "*.html"
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/google/registry/model/transaction/TransactionManagerFactory.java b/core/src/main/java/google/registry/model/transaction/TransactionManagerFactory.java
index 77ddcf9d8..2f412c46d 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/google/registry/model/transaction/TransactionManagerFactory.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/google/registry/model/transaction/TransactionManagerFactory.java
@@ -14,11 +14,8 @@
 
 package google.registry.model.transaction;
 
-import com.google.appengine.api.utils.SystemProperty;
-import com.google.appengine.api.utils.SystemProperty.Environment.Value;
 import com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
 import google.registry.model.ofy.DatastoreTransactionManager;
-import google.registry.persistence.DaggerPersistenceComponent;
 
 /** Factory class to create {@link TransactionManager} instance. */
 // TODO: Rename this to PersistenceFactory and move to persistence package.
@@ -30,11 +27,13 @@ public class TransactionManagerFactory {
   private TransactionManagerFactory() {}
 
   private static JpaTransactionManager createJpaTransactionManager() {
-    if (SystemProperty.environment.value() == Value.Production) {
-      return DaggerPersistenceComponent.create().jpaTransactionManager();
-    } else {
-      return DummyJpaTransactionManager.create();
-    }
+    // TODO(shicong): There is currently no environment where we want to create a real JPA
+    // transaction manager here.  The unit tests that require one are all set up using
+    // JpaTransactionManagerRule which launches its own PostgreSQL instance.  When we actually have
+    // PostgreSQL tables in production, ensure that all of the test environments are set up
+    // correctly and restore the code that creates a JpaTransactionManager when
+    // RegistryEnvironment.get() != UNITTEST.
+    return DummyJpaTransactionManager.create();
   }
 
   private static TransactionManager createTransactionManager() {