diff --git a/app/controllers/application_controller.rb b/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
index 2a0de88ec..f53327966 100644
--- a/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ def close
 end
 
 class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
-  include DuaMixin
   include Encoder
   include ErrorMixin
   include NumberMixin
diff --git a/app/controllers/dua_controller.rb b/app/controllers/dua_controller.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index a6122d6e9..000000000
--- a/app/controllers/dua_controller.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,60 +0,0 @@
-# TODO: remove this, then remove it from exclude list in top-level .rubocop.yml
-class DuaController < ApplicationController
-  before_action :require_user
-
-  #:nocov:
-  def index
-    object = InvObject.where('inv_objects.ark = ?', params_u(:object)).first
-    dua_hash = with_fetched_tempfile(object.dua_uri) { |f| Dua.parse_file(f) }
-    if params['commit'] == 'Accept'
-      (flash[:message] = 'You must check that you accept the terms.') && return if params[:accept].blank?
-      if params[:name].blank? || params[:affiliation].blank? || params[:user_agent_email].blank?
-        (flash[:message] = 'Please enter the required fields') && return
-      end
-      (flash[:message] = 'You must fill in a valid return email address.') && return unless params[:user_agent_email] =~ /^.+@.+$/
-
-      group = object.group
-      DuaMailer.dua_email(to: params[:user_agent_email],
-                          cc: APP_CONFIG['dua_email_to'] + [dua_hash['Notification'] || ''],
-                          reply_to: dua_hash['Notification'],
-                          title: dua_hash['Title'],
-                          name: params[:name],
-                          affiliation: params[:affiliation],
-                          object: params_u(:object),
-                          collection: group.description,
-                          terms: dua_hash['Terms']).deliver
-      # user accepted DUA, go ahead and process file/object/version download
-      session[:collection_acceptance][group.id] = (dua_hash['Persistence'] || 'single')
-      redirect_to mk_merritt_url('d', params[:object], params[:version], params[:file])
-    elsif params[:commit] == 'Do Not Accept'
-      redirect_to mk_merritt_url('m', params[:object], params[:version])
-    else
-      @title = dua_hash['Title']
-      @terms = dua_hash['Terms']
-    end
-  end
-  #:nocov:
-
-  # TODO: is this only used for DUAs? if so, let's remove it
-  # rubocop:disable Security/Open
-  def with_fetched_tempfile(*args)
-    require 'open-uri'
-    require 'fileutils'
-    # TODO: figure out what we really mean to be opening here, & use more specific methods
-    open(*args) do |data|
-      tmp_file = Tempfile.new('mrt_http')
-      begin
-        until (buff = data.read(4096)).nil?
-          tmp_file << buff
-        end
-        tmp_file.rewind
-        yield(tmp_file)
-      ensure
-        tmp_file.close
-        tmp_file.delete
-      end
-    end
-  end
-  # rubocop:enable Security/Open
-
-end
diff --git a/app/controllers/file_controller.rb b/app/controllers/file_controller.rb
index 6ad861f8a..5a9fabb94 100644
--- a/app/controllers/file_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/file_controller.rb
@@ -62,7 +62,6 @@ def check_download
   def check_version
     version = @file.inv_version
     obj = version.inv_object
-    check_dua(obj, { object: obj, version: version, file: @file })
   end
 
   def not_found_obj
diff --git a/app/controllers/help_controller.rb b/app/controllers/help_controller.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 840accc29..000000000
--- a/app/controllers/help_controller.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-# :nocov:
-class HelpController < ApplicationController
-end
-# :nocov:
diff --git a/app/controllers/object_controller.rb b/app/controllers/object_controller.rb
index 527c65f98..8984872c9 100644
--- a/app/controllers/object_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/object_controller.rb
@@ -16,10 +16,6 @@ class ObjectController < ApplicationController
     end
   end
 
-  before_action(only: %i[download download_user presign]) do
-    check_dua(@object, { object: @object })
-  end
-
   before_action(only: %i[ingest mint update]) do
     if current_user
       render(status: 404, plain: '') unless current_user.groups('write').any? { |g| g.submission_profile == params[:profile] }
diff --git a/app/controllers/version_controller.rb b/app/controllers/version_controller.rb
index 932e3a374..aed64d043 100644
--- a/app/controllers/version_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/version_controller.rb
@@ -10,11 +10,6 @@ class VersionController < ApplicationController
     end
   end
 
-  before_action(only: %i[download download_user presign]) do
-    obj = @version.inv_object
-    check_dua(obj, { object: obj, version: @version })
-  end
-
   before_action(only: %i[download download_user]) do
     if @version.exceeds_download_size?
       render file: "#{Rails.root}/public/403.html", status: 403, layout: false
diff --git a/app/helpers/dua_helper.rb b/app/helpers/dua_helper.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 3ace72e99..000000000
--- a/app/helpers/dua_helper.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-module DuaHelper
-
-end
diff --git a/app/lib/dua_mixin.rb b/app/lib/dua_mixin.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index ebdaf4114..000000000
--- a/app/lib/dua_mixin.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,40 +0,0 @@
-# TODO: remove this, then remove it from exclude list in top-level .rubocop.yml
-module DuaMixin
-
-  # :nocov:
-  # returns the response of the HTTP request for the DUA URI
-  def process_dua_request(uri)
-    http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
-    uri_response = http.request(Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri.request_uri))
-    uri_response.instance_of?(Net::HTTPOK)
-  end
-  # :nocov:
-
-  # :nocov:
-  # rubocop:disable Metrics/AbcSize, Metrics/CyclomaticComplexity, Metrics/PerceivedComplexity
-  def check_dua(object, redirect_args)
-    # bypass DUA processing for python scripts - indicated by special param
-    return if params[:blue]
-
-    puts 333
-    puts session
-    puts 444
-    puts session.keys
-    puts 555
-    puts redirect_args
-
-    session[:collection_acceptance] ||= Hash.new(false)
-    # check if user already saw DUA and accepted: if so, return
-    if session[:collection_acceptance][object.group.id]
-      # clear out acceptance if it does not have session persistence
-      session[:collection_acceptance].delete(object.group.id) if session[:collection_acceptance][object.group.id] != 'session'
-      nil
-    elsif object.dua_exists? && process_dua_request(object.dua_uri)
-      # if the DUA for this collection exists, display DUA to user for acceptance before displaying file
-      puts 666
-      redirect_to({ controller: 'dua', action: 'index' }.merge(redirect_args)) && return
-    end
-  end
-  # rubocop:enable Metrics/AbcSize, Metrics/CyclomaticComplexity, Metrics/PerceivedComplexity
-  # :nocov:
-end
diff --git a/app/mailers/dua_mailer.rb b/app/mailers/dua_mailer.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 83f73ec92..000000000
--- a/app/mailers/dua_mailer.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-# :nocov:
-class DuaMailer < ActionMailer::Base
-  default from: APP_CONFIG['dua_email_from']
-
-  def dua_email(args)
-    @to = args[:to]
-    @title = args[:title]
-    @name = args[:name]
-    @affiliation = args[:affiliation]
-    @collection = args[:collection]
-    @object = args[:object]
-    @terms = args[:terms]
-    mail(to: @to, cc: args[:cc], subject: "Merritt DUA acceptance: #{@title}", reply_to: args[:reply_to])
-  end
-end
-# :nocov:
diff --git a/app/models/dua.rb b/app/models/dua.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 057bce87c..000000000
--- a/app/models/dua.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
-# :nocov:
-class Dua
-  def self.parse_file(dua_file)
-    # regex to capture match of name:value and put them into a hash
-    rx = /(\w+)\s*:\s*(.+)/
-    a = []
-    File.open(dua_file.path) do |f|
-      while (line = f.gets)
-        unless rx.match(line).nil?
-          a << $LAST_MATCH_INFO.captures.map(&:strip) # clean up the entries
-        end
-      end
-      a.to_h
-    end
-  end
-end
-# :nocov:
diff --git a/app/models/inv_duas.rb b/app/models/inv_duas.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 77fe68a89..000000000
--- a/app/models/inv_duas.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-class InvDuas < ApplicationRecord
-  belongs_to :inv_object
-  has_one :sha_duas, foreign_key: 'id', inverse_of: :inv_duas
-end
diff --git a/app/models/inv_object.rb b/app/models/inv_object.rb
index 4dfad04fa..d88462cac 100644
--- a/app/models/inv_object.rb
+++ b/app/models/inv_object.rb
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ class InvObject < ApplicationRecord
   has_many :inv_files, through: :inv_versions
 
   has_many :inv_dublinkernels
-  has_one :inv_duas
   has_one :inv_embargo
 
   has_many :inv_collections_inv_objects
@@ -57,19 +56,6 @@ def bytestream_uri3
     URI.parse("#{APP_CONFIG['uri_3']}#{node_number}/#{to_param}")
   end
 
-  def dua_exists?
-    merritt_retry_block do
-      !inv_duas.blank?
-    end
-  end
-
-  # :nocov:
-  def dua_uri
-    URI.parse("#{APP_CONFIG['uri_1']}#{node_number}/#{inv_collection.to_param}/0/#{urlencode(APP_CONFIG['mrt_dua_file'])}")
-  end
-
-  # :nocov:
-
   def node_number
     inv_nodes.where('inv_nodes_inv_objects.role' => 'primary').select('inv_nodes.number').map(&:number).first
   end
diff --git a/config/database.yml b/config/database.yml
index 633d22d30..95721a13a 100644
--- a/config/database.yml
+++ b/config/database.yml
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@ default: &default
   encoding: utf8mb4
   host: "{!SSM: inv/db-host}"
   database: "{!SSM: inv/db-name}"
-  pool: 20
+  pool: 25
+  idle_timeout: 0
   port: 3306
   username: "{!SSM: inv/readwrite/db-user}"
   password: "{!SSM: inv/readwrite/db-password}"
@@ -34,4 +35,4 @@ docker: &docker
   username: user
   password: password
   encoding: utf8mb4   
-  
+  idle_timeout: 0
diff --git a/spec/controllers/dua_controller_spec.rb b/spec/controllers/dua_controller_spec.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 814750b3d..000000000
--- a/spec/controllers/dua_controller_spec.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,51 +0,0 @@
-require 'rails_helper'
-
-class Openable
-  def initialize(data)
-    @data = data
-  end
-
-  def open(*_rest)
-    io = StringIO.new(@data, 'r')
-    return io unless block_given?
-
-    yield io
-  end
-end
-
-describe DuaController do
-  describe ':with_fetched_tempfile' do
-    attr_reader :data
-
-    before(:each) do
-      # We don't really care what the data is so long as we can read/write it in text mode
-      @data = SecureRandom.hex(5000).freeze
-    end
-
-    skip it 'copies an arbitrary openable to a tempfile' do
-      contents = nil
-
-      controller.send(:with_fetched_tempfile, Openable.new(data)) do |tmp_file|
-        contents = tmp_file.read
-      end
-      expect(contents).to eq(data)
-    end
-
-    it 'copies a file to a tempfile' do
-      bytes_file = Tempfile.new(%w[foo bin])
-      bytes_file.write(data)
-      bytes_file.close
-      bytes_file_path = File.expand_path(bytes_file.path)
-
-      begin
-        contents = nil
-        controller.send(:with_fetched_tempfile, bytes_file_path) do |tmp_file|
-          contents = tmp_file.read
-        end
-        expect(contents).to eq(data)
-      ensure
-        File.delete(bytes_file_path)
-      end
-    end
-  end
-end
diff --git a/spec/controllers/file_controller_spec.rb b/spec/controllers/file_controller_spec.rb
index 17ae421a1..2386c735e 100644
--- a/spec/controllers/file_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/controllers/file_controller_spec.rb
@@ -198,20 +198,6 @@ def my_presign_wrapper
       end.to raise_error(MerrittRetryMixin::RetryException)
     end
 
-    it 'redirects to presign url for the file - retry dua check' do
-      mock_permissions_all(user_id, collection_id)
-
-      request.session.merge!({ uid: user_id })
-      allow_any_instance_of(InvObject)
-        .to receive(:inv_duas)
-        .with(any_args)
-        .and_raise(Mysql2::Error::ConnectionError.new('Simulate Failure'))
-
-      expect do
-        get(:presign, params: params)
-      end.to raise_error(MerrittRetryMixin::RetryException)
-    end
-
     it 'test ark encoding recovery' do
       mock_permissions_all(user_id, collection_id)