diff --git a/builtin/providers/consul/data_source_consul_agent_self_test.go b/builtin/providers/consul/data_source_consul_agent_self_test.go
index 341a89c9c3..16d6a9ead6 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/consul/data_source_consul_agent_self_test.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/consul/data_source_consul_agent_self_test.go
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ import (
 
 func TestAccDataConsulAgentSelf_basic(t *testing.T) {
 	resource.Test(t, resource.TestCase{
-		PreCheck:  func() { testAccPreCheck(t) },
 		Providers: testAccProviders,
 		Steps: []resource.TestStep{
 			resource.TestStep{
@@ -25,7 +24,8 @@ func TestAccDataConsulAgentSelf_basic(t *testing.T) {
 					testAccCheckDataSourceValue("data.consul_agent_self.read", "advertise_addr", "<any>"),
 					testAccCheckDataSourceValue("data.consul_agent_self.read", "bind_addr", "<any>"),
 					testAccCheckDataSourceValue("data.consul_agent_self.read", "bootstrap_expect", "<all>"),
-					testAccCheckDataSourceValue("data.consul_agent_self.read", "bootstrap_mode", "false"),
+					// the local test server is bootstrapped
+					testAccCheckDataSourceValue("data.consul_agent_self.read", "bootstrap_mode", "true"),
 					testAccCheckDataSourceValue("data.consul_agent_self.read", "client_addr", "<any>"),
 					testAccCheckDataSourceValue("data.consul_agent_self.read", "datacenter", "<any>"),
 					testAccCheckDataSourceValue("data.consul_agent_self.read", "dev_mode", "<any>"),
diff --git a/builtin/providers/consul/data_source_consul_catalog_nodes_test.go b/builtin/providers/consul/data_source_consul_catalog_nodes_test.go
index 94cea160d4..8912950443 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/consul/data_source_consul_catalog_nodes_test.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/consul/data_source_consul_catalog_nodes_test.go
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ import (
 
 func TestAccDataConsulCatalogNodes_basic(t *testing.T) {
 	resource.Test(t, resource.TestCase{
-		PreCheck:  func() { testAccPreCheck(t) },
 		Providers: testAccProviders,
 		Steps: []resource.TestStep{
 			resource.TestStep{
diff --git a/builtin/providers/consul/data_source_consul_catalog_service_test.go b/builtin/providers/consul/data_source_consul_catalog_service_test.go
index 0ef7d1ab0a..b5901c4c5a 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/consul/data_source_consul_catalog_service_test.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/consul/data_source_consul_catalog_service_test.go
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ import (
 
 func TestAccDataConsulCatalogService_basic(t *testing.T) {
 	resource.Test(t, resource.TestCase{
-		PreCheck:  func() { testAccPreCheck(t) },
 		Providers: testAccProviders,
 		Steps: []resource.TestStep{
 			resource.TestStep{
diff --git a/builtin/providers/consul/data_source_consul_catalog_services_test.go b/builtin/providers/consul/data_source_consul_catalog_services_test.go
index 1087073f7d..8617fc205c 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/consul/data_source_consul_catalog_services_test.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/consul/data_source_consul_catalog_services_test.go
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ import (
 
 func TestAccDataConsulCatalogServices_basic(t *testing.T) {
 	resource.Test(t, resource.TestCase{
-		PreCheck:  func() { testAccPreCheck(t) },
 		Providers: testAccProviders,
 		Steps: []resource.TestStep{
 			resource.TestStep{
diff --git a/builtin/providers/consul/data_source_consul_keys_test.go b/builtin/providers/consul/data_source_consul_keys_test.go
index 09f62a927c..ef9baafd6e 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/consul/data_source_consul_keys_test.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/consul/data_source_consul_keys_test.go
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ import (
 
 func TestAccDataConsulKeys_basic(t *testing.T) {
 	resource.Test(t, resource.TestCase{
-		PreCheck:  func() { testAccPreCheck(t) },
 		Providers: testAccProviders,
 		Steps: []resource.TestStep{
 			resource.TestStep{
diff --git a/builtin/providers/consul/resource_consul_key_prefix_test.go b/builtin/providers/consul/resource_consul_key_prefix_test.go
index e33fb13da5..141ddf4466 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/consul/resource_consul_key_prefix_test.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/consul/resource_consul_key_prefix_test.go
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ import (
 
 func TestAccConsulKeyPrefix_basic(t *testing.T) {
 	resource.Test(t, resource.TestCase{
-		PreCheck:  func() { testAccPreCheck(t) },
 		Providers: testAccProviders,
 		CheckDestroy: resource.ComposeTestCheckFunc(
 			testAccCheckConsulKeyPrefixKeyAbsent("species"),
diff --git a/builtin/providers/consul/resource_consul_keys_test.go b/builtin/providers/consul/resource_consul_keys_test.go
index f6045658eb..f24c294edc 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/consul/resource_consul_keys_test.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/consul/resource_consul_keys_test.go
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ import (
 
 func TestAccConsulKeys_basic(t *testing.T) {
 	resource.Test(t, resource.TestCase{
-		PreCheck:     func() { testAccPreCheck(t) },
 		Providers:    testAccProviders,
 		CheckDestroy: testAccCheckConsulKeysDestroy,
 		Steps: []resource.TestStep{
diff --git a/builtin/providers/consul/resource_consul_prepared_query_test.go b/builtin/providers/consul/resource_consul_prepared_query_test.go
index 6b08adaa86..12501c235a 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/consul/resource_consul_prepared_query_test.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/consul/resource_consul_prepared_query_test.go
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ import (
 
 func TestAccConsulPreparedQuery_basic(t *testing.T) {
 	resource.Test(t, resource.TestCase{
-		PreCheck:     func() { testAccPreCheck(t) },
 		Providers:    testAccProviders,
 		CheckDestroy: testAccCheckConsulPreparedQueryDestroy,
 		Steps: []resource.TestStep{
diff --git a/builtin/providers/consul/resource_provider_test.go b/builtin/providers/consul/resource_provider_test.go
index df8fe1b85d..9c964adb89 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/consul/resource_provider_test.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/consul/resource_provider_test.go
@@ -1,24 +1,64 @@
 package consul
 
 import (
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"log"
 	"os"
 	"testing"
 
+	"github.com/hashicorp/consul/testutil"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/config"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/helper/schema"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/terraform"
+	"github.com/mitchellh/mapstructure"
 )
 
 var testAccProviders map[string]terraform.ResourceProvider
 var testAccProvider *schema.Provider
+var testConsulHTTPAddr string
 
 func init() {
 	testAccProvider = Provider().(*schema.Provider)
+	testAccProvider.ConfigureFunc = testProviderConfigure
+
 	testAccProviders = map[string]terraform.ResourceProvider{
 		"consul": testAccProvider,
 	}
 }
 
+// we need to overrride the configured address for the tests
+func testProviderConfigure(d *schema.ResourceData) (interface{}, error) {
+	var config Config
+	configRaw := d.Get("").(map[string]interface{})
+	if err := mapstructure.Decode(configRaw, &config); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	config.Address = testConsulHTTPAddr
+
+	log.Printf("[INFO] Initializing Consul test client")
+	return config.Client()
+}
+
+func TestMain(m *testing.M) {
+	t := struct {
+		testutil.TestingT
+	}{}
+
+	// start and stop the test consul server once for all tests
+	srv := testutil.NewTestServerConfig(t, func(c *testutil.TestServerConfig) {
+		c.LogLevel = "warn"
+		c.Stdout = ioutil.Discard
+		c.Stderr = ioutil.Discard
+	})
+
+	testConsulHTTPAddr = srv.HTTPAddr
+
+	ret := m.Run()
+
+	srv.Stop()
+	os.Exit(ret)
+}
+
 func TestResourceProvider(t *testing.T) {
 	if err := Provider().(*schema.Provider).InternalValidate(); err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
@@ -32,8 +72,9 @@ func TestResourceProvider_impl(t *testing.T) {
 func TestResourceProvider_Configure(t *testing.T) {
 	rp := Provider()
 
+	// these configuration tests don't require an running server
 	raw := map[string]interface{}{
-		"address":    "demo.consul.io:80",
+		"address":    "example.com:8500",
 		"datacenter": "nyc3",
 		"scheme":     "https",
 	}
@@ -53,7 +94,7 @@ func TestResourceProvider_ConfigureTLS(t *testing.T) {
 	rp := Provider()
 
 	raw := map[string]interface{}{
-		"address":    "demo.consul.io:80",
+		"address":    "example.com:8943",
 		"ca_file":    "test-fixtures/cacert.pem",
 		"cert_file":  "test-fixtures/usercert.pem",
 		"datacenter": "nyc3",
@@ -71,13 +112,3 @@ func TestResourceProvider_ConfigureTLS(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
 	}
 }
-
-func testAccPreCheck(t *testing.T) {
-	if v := os.Getenv("CONSUL_HTTP_ADDR"); v != "" {
-		return
-	}
-	if v := os.Getenv("CONSUL_ADDRESS"); v != "" {
-		return
-	}
-	t.Fatal("Either CONSUL_ADDRESS or CONSUL_HTTP_ADDR must be set for acceptance tests")
-}