diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 82e180c3a3..9010b8e853 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -461,11 +461,14 @@ dev.dbshell:
 
 DB_NAMES_LIST = credentials discovery ecommerce notes registrar xqueue edxapp edxapp_csmh dashboard analytics-api reports reports_v1
 _db_copy8_targets = $(addprefix dev.dbcopy8.,$(DB_NAMES_LIST))
-dev.dbcopyall8: | $(_db_copy8_targets) ## Copy data from old mysql 5.7 containers into new mysql8 dbs
+dev.dbcopyall8: ## Copy data from old mysql 5.7 containers into new mysql8 dbs
+	$(MAKE) dev.up.mysql57+mysql80
+	./wait-ready.sh mysql57 mysql80
+	$(MAKE) $(_db_copy8_targets)
 
 dev.dbcopy8.%: ## Copy data from old mysql 5.7 container into a new 8 db
-	docker compose exec mysql57 bash -c "mysqldump $*" > .dev/$*.sql
-	docker compose exec -T mysql80 bash -c "mysql $*" < .dev/$*.sql
+	docker compose exec mysql57 mysqldump "$*" > .dev/$*.sql
+	docker compose exec -T mysql80 mysql "$*" < .dev/$*.sql
 	rm .dev/$*.sql
 
 dev.dbshell.%: ## Run a SQL shell on the given database.
diff --git a/provision.sh b/provision.sh
index e22c97f670..0f8eb24f05 100755
--- a/provision.sh
+++ b/provision.sh
@@ -130,40 +130,22 @@ fi
 
 # Ensure the MySQL5 server is online and usable
 echo "${GREEN}Waiting for MySQL 5.7.${NC}"
-until docker compose exec -T mysql57 bash -e -c "mysql -uroot -se \"SELECT EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM mysql.user WHERE user = 'root')\"" &> /dev/null
-do
-  printf "."
-  sleep 1
-done
+./wait-ready.sh mysql57
 
 # Ensure the MySQL8 server is online and usable
 echo "${GREEN}Waiting for MySQL 8.0.${NC}"
-until docker compose exec -T mysql80 bash -e -c "mysql -uroot -se \"SELECT EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM mysql.user WHERE user = 'root')\"" &> /dev/null
-do
-  printf "."
-  sleep 1
-done
+./wait-ready.sh mysql80
 
 # In the event of a fresh MySQL container, wait a few seconds for the server to restart
 # See https://github.com/docker-library/mysql/issues/245 for why this is necessary.
 sleep 10
 
 echo "${GREEN}Waiting for MySQL 5.7 to restart.${NC}"
-until docker compose exec -T mysql57 bash -e -c "mysql -uroot -se \"SELECT EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM mysql.user WHERE user = 'root')\"" &> /dev/null
-do
-  printf "."
-  sleep 1
-done
-
+./wait-ready.sh mysql57
 echo -e "${GREEN}MySQL5 ready.${NC}"
 
 echo "${GREEN}Waiting for MySQL 8.0 to restart.${NC}"
-until docker compose exec -T mysql80 bash -e -c "mysql -uroot -se \"SELECT EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM mysql.user WHERE user = 'root')\"" &> /dev/null
-do
-  printf "."
-  sleep 1
-done
-
+./wait-ready.sh mysql80
 echo -e "${GREEN}MySQL8 ready.${NC}"
 
 # Ensure that the MySQL databases and users are created for all IDAs.
diff --git a/wait-ready.sh b/wait-ready.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..1f26c0ef0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/wait-ready.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Wait for the listed services to become ready.
+#
+# This does not start the containers; that should be performed separately
+# via `make dev.up` in order to allow for parallel startup.
+
+set -eu -o pipefail
+
+function print_usage {
+    echo "Usage: $0 service1 service2 ..."
+}
+
+if [[ $# == 0 ]]; then
+    print_usage
+    exit 0
+fi
+
+function wait_db {
+    container_name="$1"
+    mysql_probe="SELECT EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM mysql.user WHERE user = 'root')"
+    until docker compose exec -T "$container_name" mysql -uroot -se "$mysql_probe" &> /dev/null; do
+        printf "." >&2
+        sleep 1
+    done
+    echo >&2 "$container_name is ready"
+}
+
+
+for service_name in "$@"; do
+    case "$service_name" in
+        mysql*)
+            wait_db "$service_name"
+            ;;
+        # TODO: Add other services...
+        *)
+            echo >&2 "Unknown service: $service_name"
+            exit 1
+            ;;
+    esac
+done