diff --git a/dev-tools/src/main/resources/ant/integration-tests.xml b/dev-tools/src/main/resources/ant/integration-tests.xml
index 9fd89be6110..92f346fed1d 100644
--- a/dev-tools/src/main/resources/ant/integration-tests.xml
+++ b/dev-tools/src/main/resources/ant/integration-tests.xml
@@ -206,10 +206,12 @@
       <mkdir dir="${integ.scratch}/deb-extracted"/>
       <local name="debfile"/>
       <property name="debfile" location="${project.build.directory}/releases/elasticsearch-${project.version}.deb"/>
+      <!-- print some basic package info -->
       <exec executable="dpkg-deb" failonerror="true" taskname="deb-info">
-         <arg value="-W"/>
+         <arg value="-I"/>
          <arg value="${debfile}"/> 
       </exec>
+      <!-- extract contents from .deb package -->
       <exec executable="dpkg-deb" failonerror="true">
          <arg value="-x"/> 
          <arg value="${debfile}"/> 
@@ -222,4 +224,44 @@
     <startup-elasticsearch home="${integ.scratch}/deb-extracted/usr/share/elasticsearch/"/>
   </target>
 
+  <!-- distribution tests: .rpm -->
+  <target name="setup-workspace-rpm" depends="stop-external-cluster" unless="${shouldskip}">
+    <sequential>
+      <delete dir="${integ.scratch}"/>
+      <!-- use full paths with paranoia, we will be doing relocations -->
+      <local name="rpm.file"/>
+      <local name="rpm.database"/>
+      <local name="rpm.extracted"/>
+      <property name="rpm.file" location="${project.build.directory}/releases/elasticsearch-${project.version}.rpm"/>
+      <property name="rpm.database" location="${integ.scratch}/rpm-database"/>
+      <property name="rpm.extracted" location="${integ.scratch}/rpm-extracted"/>
+      <mkdir dir="${rpm.database}"/>
+      <mkdir dir="${rpm.extracted}"/>
+      <!-- print some basic package info -->
+      <exec executable="rpm" failonerror="true" taskname="rpm-info">
+         <arg value="-q"/>
+         <arg value="-i"/>
+         <arg value="-p"/>
+         <arg value="${rpm.file}"/> 
+      </exec>
+      <!-- extract contents from .rpm package -->
+      <exec executable="rpm" failonerror="true" taskname="rpm">
+         <arg value="--dbpath"/>
+         <arg value="${rpm.database}"/>
+         <arg value="--badreloc"/>
+         <arg value="--relocate"/>
+         <arg value="/=${rpm.extracted}"/>
+         <arg value="--nodeps"/> 
+         <arg value="--noscripts"/> 
+         <arg value="--notriggers"/> 
+         <arg value="-i"/>
+         <arg value="${rpm.file}"/> 
+      </exec>
+    </sequential>
+  </target>
+
+  <target name="start-external-cluster-rpm" depends="setup-workspace-rpm" unless="${shouldskip}">
+    <startup-elasticsearch home="${integ.scratch}/rpm-extracted/usr/share/elasticsearch/"/>
+  </target>
+
 </project>
diff --git a/distribution/rpm/pom.xml b/distribution/rpm/pom.xml
index 5a96e3dd717..24074065c32 100644
--- a/distribution/rpm/pom.xml
+++ b/distribution/rpm/pom.xml
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
     <packaging>rpm</packaging>
 
     <properties>
-        <skip.integ.tests>true</skip.integ.tests>
     </properties>
 
     <build>
@@ -332,6 +331,34 @@
                             </target>
                         </configuration>
                     </execution>
+                    <!-- start up external cluster -->
+                    <execution>
+                        <id>integ-setup</id>
+                        <phase>pre-integration-test</phase>
+                        <goals>
+                            <goal>run</goal>
+                        </goals>
+                        <configuration>
+                            <skip>${skip.integ.tests}</skip>
+                            <target>
+                                <ant antfile="${elasticsearch.integ.antfile}" target="start-external-cluster-rpm"/>
+                            </target>
+                        </configuration>
+                    </execution>
+                    <!-- shut down external cluster -->
+                    <execution>
+                        <id>integ-teardown</id>
+                        <phase>post-integration-test</phase>
+                        <goals>
+                            <goal>run</goal>
+                        </goals>
+                        <configuration>
+                            <skip>${skip.integ.tests}</skip>
+                            <target>
+                                <ant antfile="${elasticsearch.integ.antfile}" target="stop-external-cluster"/>
+                            </target>
+                        </configuration>
+                    </execution>
                 </executions>
             </plugin>
         </plugins>
diff --git a/distribution/rpm/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/rest/RestIT.java b/distribution/rpm/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/rest/RestIT.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..167a5f04f92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/distribution/rpm/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/rest/RestIT.java
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.elasticsearch.test.rest;
+
+import com.carrotsearch.randomizedtesting.annotations.ParametersFactory;
+
+import org.elasticsearch.test.rest.parser.RestTestParseException;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+/** Rest integration test. runs against external cluster in 'mvn verify' */
+public class RestIT extends ElasticsearchRestTestCase {
+    public RestIT(RestTestCandidate testCandidate) {
+        super(testCandidate);
+    }
+    // we run them all sequentially: start simple!
+    @ParametersFactory
+    public static Iterable<Object[]> parameters() throws IOException, RestTestParseException {
+        return createParameters(0, 1);
+    }
+}