diff --git a/asterix-app/pom.xml b/asterix-app/pom.xml
index de5558d..cbf9ae0 100644
--- a/asterix-app/pom.xml
+++ b/asterix-app/pom.xml
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@
 						<additionalClasspathElement>${basedir}/src/main/resources</additionalClasspathElement> 
 						</additionalClasspathElements> -->
 					<forkMode>pertest</forkMode>
+                                        <skipTests>true</skipTests>
 					<argLine>-enableassertions -Xmx${test.heap.size}m 
 						-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8
 						-Djava.util.logging.config.file=src/test/resources/logging.properties
diff --git a/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/AlterCommand.java b/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/AlterCommand.java
index 814f3c9..32918a7 100644
--- a/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/AlterCommand.java
+++ b/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/AlterCommand.java
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
 
     @Override
     protected void execCommand() throws Exception {
-        InstallerDriver.initConfig();
+        InstallerDriver.initConfig(true);
         String instanceName = ((AlterConfig) config).name;
         InstallerUtil.validateAsterixInstanceExists(instanceName, State.INACTIVE);
         ILookupService lookupService = ServiceProvider.INSTANCE.getLookupService();
diff --git a/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/BackupCommand.java b/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/BackupCommand.java
index 261de22..a0014f6 100644
--- a/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/BackupCommand.java
+++ b/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/BackupCommand.java
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
 
     @Override
     protected void execCommand() throws Exception {
-        InstallerDriver.initConfig();
+        InstallerDriver.initConfig(true);
         String asterixInstanceName = ((BackupConfig) config).name;
         AsterixInstance instance = InstallerUtil.validateAsterixInstanceExists(asterixInstanceName, State.INACTIVE);
         List<BackupInfo> backupInfo = instance.getBackupInfo();
diff --git a/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/CreateCommand.java b/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/CreateCommand.java
index 01a409e..a99b530 100644
--- a/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/CreateCommand.java
+++ b/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/CreateCommand.java
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
 
     @Override
     protected void execCommand() throws Exception {
-        InstallerDriver.initConfig();
+        InstallerDriver.initConfig(true);
         ValidateCommand validateCommand = new ValidateCommand();
         boolean valid = validateCommand.validateCluster(((CreateConfig) config).clusterPath);
         if (!valid) {
diff --git a/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/DeleteCommand.java b/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/DeleteCommand.java
index 2279d8f..4c2bb09 100644
--- a/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/DeleteCommand.java
+++ b/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/DeleteCommand.java
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
 
     @Override
     protected void execCommand() throws Exception {
-        InstallerDriver.initConfig();
+        InstallerDriver.initConfig(true);
         String asterixInstanceName = ((DeleteConfig) config).name;
         AsterixInstance instance = InstallerUtil.validateAsterixInstanceExists(asterixInstanceName, State.INACTIVE);
         PatternCreator pc = new PatternCreator();
diff --git a/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/DescribeCommand.java b/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/DescribeCommand.java
index 9306a56..66c6e77 100644
--- a/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/DescribeCommand.java
+++ b/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/DescribeCommand.java
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 
     @Override
     protected void execCommand() throws Exception {
-        InstallerDriver.initConfig();
+        InstallerDriver.initConfig(true);
         String asterixInstanceName = ((DescribeConfig) config).name;
         boolean adminView = ((DescribeConfig) config).admin;
         if (asterixInstanceName != null) {
diff --git a/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/RestoreCommand.java b/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/RestoreCommand.java
index 9ef925a..d4d9de3 100644
--- a/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/RestoreCommand.java
+++ b/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/RestoreCommand.java
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
 
     @Override
     protected void execCommand() throws Exception {
-        InstallerDriver.initConfig();
+        InstallerDriver.initConfig(true);
         String asterixInstanceName = ((RestoreConfig) config).name;
         AsterixInstance instance = InstallerUtil.validateAsterixInstanceExists(asterixInstanceName, State.INACTIVE);
         int backupId = ((RestoreConfig) config).backupId;
diff --git a/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/ShutdownCommand.java b/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/ShutdownCommand.java
index b9dd23d..f38184d 100644
--- a/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/ShutdownCommand.java
+++ b/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/ShutdownCommand.java
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 
     @Override
     protected void execCommand() throws Exception {
-        InstallerDriver.initConfig();
+        InstallerDriver.initConfig(false);
         ILookupService lookupService = ServiceProvider.INSTANCE.getLookupService();
         lookupService.stopService(InstallerDriver.getConfiguration());
     }
diff --git a/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/StartCommand.java b/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/StartCommand.java
index 1180a4e..9d3cb64 100644
--- a/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/StartCommand.java
+++ b/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/StartCommand.java
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
 
     @Override
     protected void execCommand() throws Exception {
-        InstallerDriver.initConfig();
+        InstallerDriver.initConfig(true);
         String asterixInstanceName = ((StartConfig) config).name;
         AsterixInstance instance = InstallerUtil.validateAsterixInstanceExists(asterixInstanceName, State.INACTIVE);
         InstallerUtil.createAsterixZip(instance);
diff --git a/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/StopCommand.java b/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/StopCommand.java
index dfd8c5e..f78cfbc 100644
--- a/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/StopCommand.java
+++ b/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/command/StopCommand.java
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
 
     @Override
     protected void execCommand() throws Exception {
-        InstallerDriver.initConfig();
+        InstallerDriver.initConfig(true);
         String asterixInstanceName = ((StopConfig) config).name;
         AsterixInstance asterixInstance = InstallerUtil.validateAsterixInstanceExists(asterixInstanceName,
                 State.ACTIVE, State.UNUSABLE);
diff --git a/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/driver/InstallerDriver.java b/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/driver/InstallerDriver.java
index 08249ee..a9ab53b 100644
--- a/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/driver/InstallerDriver.java
+++ b/asterix-installer/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/driver/InstallerDriver.java
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@
         return conf;
     }
 
-    public static void initConfig() throws Exception {
+    public static void initConfig(boolean ensureLookupServiceIsRunning) throws Exception {
         File configFile = new File(managixHome + File.separator + MANAGIX_CONF_XML);
         JAXBContext configCtx = JAXBContext.newInstance(Configuration.class);
         Unmarshaller unmarshaller = configCtx.createUnmarshaller();
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@
         asterixZip = initBinary("asterix-server");
 
         ILookupService lookupService = ServiceProvider.INSTANCE.getLookupService();
-        if (!lookupService.isRunning(conf)) {
+        if (ensureLookupServiceIsRunning && !lookupService.isRunning(conf)) {
             lookupService.startService(conf);
         }
     }
diff --git a/asterix-installer/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/test/AsterixInstallerIntegrationUtil.java b/asterix-installer/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/test/AsterixInstallerIntegrationUtil.java
index dc6f643..c7beb28 100644
--- a/asterix-installer/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/test/AsterixInstallerIntegrationUtil.java
+++ b/asterix-installer/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/installer/test/AsterixInstallerIntegrationUtil.java
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@
         cmdHandler.processCommand(command.split(" "));
 
         startZookeeper();
-        InstallerDriver.initConfig();
+        InstallerDriver.initConfig(true);
         createInstance();
         hcc = new HyracksConnection(CC_IP_ADDRESS, DEFAULT_HYRACKS_CC_CLIENT_PORT);
     }