diff --git a/spring-boot-ops/pom.xml b/spring-boot-ops/pom.xml
index 625b2ad188..6c49351820 100644
--- a/spring-boot-ops/pom.xml
+++ b/spring-boot-ops/pom.xml
@@ -110,6 +110,29 @@
                     </execution>
                 </executions>
             </plugin>
+            <plugin>
+				<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+				<artifactId>maven-failsafe-plugin</artifactId>
+				<version>2.18</version>
+				<executions>
+					<!-- Invokes both the integration-test and the verify goals of the Failsafe 
+						Maven plugin -->
+					<execution>
+						<id>integration-tests</id>
+						<goals>
+							<goal>integration-test</goal>
+							<goal>verify</goal>
+						</goals>
+						<configuration>
+							<!-- Skips integration tests if the value of skip.integration.tests 
+								property is true -->
+								<includes>
+										<include>**/ExternalPropertyFileLoaderIntegrationTest.java</include>
+									</includes>
+						</configuration>
+					</execution>
+				</executions>
+			</plugin>
         </plugins>
     </build>
 
diff --git a/spring-boot-ops/src/main/java/com/baeldung/properties/ConfProperties.java b/spring-boot-ops/src/main/java/com/baeldung/properties/ConfProperties.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0b6041bb06
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-boot-ops/src/main/java/com/baeldung/properties/ConfProperties.java
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+package com.baeldung.properties;
+
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Value;
+import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;
+
+@Component
+public class ConfProperties {
+
+    @Value("${url}")
+    private String url;
+    
+    @Value("${username}")
+    private String username;
+    
+    @Value("${password}")
+    private String password;
+
+    public String getUrl() {
+        return url;
+    }
+
+    public void setUrl(String url) {
+        this.url = url;
+    }
+
+    public String getUsername() {
+        return username;
+    }
+
+    public void setUsername(String username) {
+        this.username = username;
+    }
+
+    public String getPassword() {
+        return password;
+    }
+
+    public void setPassword(String password) {
+        this.password = password;
+    }
+
+    
+}
diff --git a/spring-boot-ops/src/main/java/com/baeldung/properties/ExternalPropertyConfigurer.java b/spring-boot-ops/src/main/java/com/baeldung/properties/ExternalPropertyConfigurer.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..67890d717a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-boot-ops/src/main/java/com/baeldung/properties/ExternalPropertyConfigurer.java
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+package com.baeldung.properties;
+
+import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
+import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
+import org.springframework.context.support.PropertySourcesPlaceholderConfigurer;
+import org.springframework.core.io.FileSystemResource;
+
+@Configuration
+public class ExternalPropertyConfigurer {
+
+    @Bean
+    public PropertySourcesPlaceholderConfigurer propertySourcesPlaceholderConfigurer() {
+        PropertySourcesPlaceholderConfigurer properties = new PropertySourcesPlaceholderConfigurer();
+        properties.setLocation(new FileSystemResource("src/test/resources/external/conf.properties"));
+        properties.setIgnoreResourceNotFound(false);
+        return properties;
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/spring-boot-ops/src/main/java/com/baeldung/properties/ExternalPropertyFileLoader.java b/spring-boot-ops/src/main/java/com/baeldung/properties/ExternalPropertyFileLoader.java
index 233ddc0195..dc5e14549b 100644
--- a/spring-boot-ops/src/main/java/com/baeldung/properties/ExternalPropertyFileLoader.java
+++ b/spring-boot-ops/src/main/java/com/baeldung/properties/ExternalPropertyFileLoader.java
@@ -1,17 +1,18 @@
 package com.baeldung.properties;
 
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
 import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;
 import org.springframework.boot.builder.SpringApplicationBuilder;
-import org.springframework.context.ConfigurableApplicationContext;
-import org.springframework.core.env.ConfigurableEnvironment;
 
 @SpringBootApplication
 public class ExternalPropertyFileLoader {
+
+    @Autowired
+    ConfProperties prop;
+
     public static void main(String[] args) {
-        ConfigurableApplicationContext applicationContext = new SpringApplicationBuilder(ExternalPropertyFileLoader.class).properties("spring.config.name:conf", "spring.config.location:file:src/main/resources/external/")
-            .build()
-            .run(args);
-        ConfigurableEnvironment environment = applicationContext.getEnvironment();
-        environment.getProperty("username");
+        new SpringApplicationBuilder(ExternalPropertyFileLoader.class).build()
+        .run(args);
     }
+
 }
diff --git a/spring-boot-ops/src/main/resources/external/conf.properties b/spring-boot-ops/src/main/resources/external/conf.properties
deleted file mode 100644
index a724b878b4..0000000000
--- a/spring-boot-ops/src/main/resources/external/conf.properties
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-url=jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/
-username=admin
-password=root
-spring.main.allow-bean-definition-overriding=true
diff --git a/spring-boot-ops/src/test/java/com/baeldung/properties/ExternalPropertyFileLoaderIntegrationTest.java b/spring-boot-ops/src/test/java/com/baeldung/properties/ExternalPropertyFileLoaderIntegrationTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2001db57d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-boot-ops/src/test/java/com/baeldung/properties/ExternalPropertyFileLoaderIntegrationTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+package com.baeldung.properties;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
+import org.springframework.boot.test.context.SpringBootTest;
+import org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner;
+
+@RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
+@SpringBootTest(classes = ExternalPropertyFileLoader.class)
+public class ExternalPropertyFileLoaderIntegrationTest {
+
+    @Autowired
+    ConfProperties props;
+
+    @Test
+    public void whenExternalisedPropertiesLoaded_thenReadValues() throws IOException {
+        assertEquals("jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/", props.getUrl());
+        assertEquals("admin", props.getUsername());
+        assertEquals("root", props.getPassword());
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/spring-boot-ops/src/test/java/com/baeldung/properties/ExternalPropertyFileLoaderUnitTest.java b/spring-boot-ops/src/test/java/com/baeldung/properties/ExternalPropertyFileLoaderUnitTest.java
deleted file mode 100644
index 656d8561ec..0000000000
--- a/spring-boot-ops/src/test/java/com/baeldung/properties/ExternalPropertyFileLoaderUnitTest.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,25 +0,0 @@
-package com.baeldung.properties;
-
-import org.junit.Assert;
-import org.junit.Test;
-import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
-import org.springframework.boot.builder.SpringApplicationBuilder;
-import org.springframework.context.ConfigurableApplicationContext;
-import org.springframework.core.env.ConfigurableEnvironment;
-import org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner;
-
-@RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
-public class ExternalPropertyFileLoaderUnitTest {
-
-    @Test
-    public void whenExternalisedPropertiesLoaded_thenReadValues() {
-        ConfigurableApplicationContext applicationContext = new SpringApplicationBuilder(ExternalPropertyFileLoader.class).properties("spring.config.name:conf", "spring.config.location:file:src/main/resources/external/")
-            .build()
-            .run();
-        ConfigurableEnvironment environment = applicationContext.getEnvironment();
-        Assert.assertEquals(environment.getProperty("url"), "jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/");
-        Assert.assertEquals(environment.getProperty("username"), "admin");
-        Assert.assertEquals(environment.getProperty("password"), "root");
-    }
-
-}
diff --git a/spring-boot-ops/src/test/resources/external/conf.properties b/spring-boot-ops/src/test/resources/external/conf.properties
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..da9533fe1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-boot-ops/src/test/resources/external/conf.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+url=jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/
+username=admin
+password=root
\ No newline at end of file