diff --git a/awx/main/tasks/jobs.py b/awx/main/tasks/jobs.py
index c52e8c7fff..6907f2fc8f 100644
--- a/awx/main/tasks/jobs.py
+++ b/awx/main/tasks/jobs.py
@@ -290,13 +290,6 @@ class BaseTask(object):
             content = safe_dump(vars, safe_dict)
         return self.write_private_data_file(private_data_dir, 'extravars', content, sub_dir='env')
 
-    def add_awx_venv(self, env):
-        env['VIRTUAL_ENV'] = settings.AWX_VENV_PATH
-        if 'PATH' in env:
-            env['PATH'] = os.path.join(settings.AWX_VENV_PATH, "bin") + ":" + env['PATH']
-        else:
-            env['PATH'] = os.path.join(settings.AWX_VENV_PATH, "bin")
-
     def build_env(self, instance, private_data_dir, private_data_files=None):
         """
         Build environment dictionary for ansible-playbook.
diff --git a/awx/settings/defaults.py b/awx/settings/defaults.py
index ca13f2d8b2..674d7c6892 100644
--- a/awx/settings/defaults.py
+++ b/awx/settings/defaults.py
@@ -114,9 +114,6 @@ JOBOUTPUT_ROOT = '/var/lib/awx/job_status/'
 # Absolute filesystem path to the directory to store logs
 LOG_ROOT = '/var/log/tower/'
 
-# The heartbeat file for the scheduler
-SCHEDULE_METADATA_LOCATION = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, '.tower_cycle')
-
 # Django gettext files path: locale/<lang-code>/LC_MESSAGES/django.po, django.mo
 LOCALE_PATHS = (os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'locale'),)
 
@@ -788,8 +785,6 @@ INSIGHTS_AGENT_MIME = 'application/example'
 INSIGHTS_SYSTEM_ID_FILE = '/etc/redhat-access-insights/machine-id'
 INSIGHTS_CERT_PATH = "/etc/pki/ca-trust/extracted/pem/tls-ca-bundle.pem"
 
-TOWER_SETTINGS_MANIFEST = {}
-
 # Settings related to external logger configuration
 LOG_AGGREGATOR_ENABLED = False
 LOG_AGGREGATOR_TCP_TIMEOUT = 5
@@ -801,11 +796,6 @@ LOG_AGGREGATOR_RSYSLOGD_DEBUG = False
 LOG_AGGREGATOR_RSYSLOGD_ERROR_LOG_FILE = '/var/log/tower/rsyslog.err'
 API_400_ERROR_LOG_FORMAT = 'status {status_code} received by user {user_name} attempting to access {url_path} from {remote_addr}'
 
-# The number of retry attempts for websocket session establishment
-# If you're encountering issues establishing websockets in a cluster,
-# raising this value can help
-CHANNEL_LAYER_RECEIVE_MAX_RETRY = 10
-
 ASGI_APPLICATION = "awx.main.routing.application"
 
 CHANNEL_LAYERS = {
@@ -955,7 +945,8 @@ AWX_CLEANUP_PATHS = True
 # Allow ansible-runner to store env folder (may contain sensitive information)
 AWX_RUNNER_OMIT_ENV_FILES = True
 
-# Allow ansible-runner to save ansible output (may cause performance issues)
+# Allow ansible-runner to save ansible output
+# (changing to False may cause performance issues)
 AWX_RUNNER_SUPPRESS_OUTPUT_FILE = True
 
 # https://github.com/ansible/ansible-runner/pull/1191/files
diff --git a/awx/settings/development.py b/awx/settings/development.py
index 3966cc7dbc..b5a2ba0a95 100644
--- a/awx/settings/development.py
+++ b/awx/settings/development.py
@@ -61,8 +61,9 @@ DEBUG_TOOLBAR_CONFIG = {'ENABLE_STACKTRACES': True}
 SYSTEM_UUID = '00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000'
 INSTALL_UUID = '00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000'
 
-BASE_VENV_PATH = "/var/lib/awx/venv/"
-AWX_VENV_PATH = os.path.join(BASE_VENV_PATH, "awx")
+# Ansible base virtualenv paths and enablement
+# only used for deprecated fields and management commands for them
+BASE_VENV_PATH = os.path.realpath("/var/lib/awx/venv")
 
 CLUSTER_HOST_ID = socket.gethostname()
 
diff --git a/awx/settings/production.py b/awx/settings/production.py
index 97d7abbe10..fa74bc7fb7 100644
--- a/awx/settings/production.py
+++ b/awx/settings/production.py
@@ -30,15 +30,10 @@ SECRET_KEY = None
 # See https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/ref/settings/#allowed-hosts
 ALLOWED_HOSTS = []
 
-# The heartbeat file for the scheduler
-SCHEDULE_METADATA_LOCATION = '/var/lib/awx/.tower_cycle'
-
 # Ansible base virtualenv paths and enablement
+# only used for deprecated fields and management commands for them
 BASE_VENV_PATH = os.path.realpath("/var/lib/awx/venv")
 
-# Base virtualenv paths and enablement
-AWX_VENV_PATH = os.path.join(BASE_VENV_PATH, "awx")
-
 # Very important that this is editable (not read_only) in the API
 AWX_ISOLATION_SHOW_PATHS = [
     '/etc/pki/ca-trust:/etc/pki/ca-trust:O',