diff --git a/doc/RunningTests b/doc/RunningTests
index a9b145a..f873730 100644
--- a/doc/RunningTests
+++ b/doc/RunningTests
@@ -1,2 +1,5 @@
-To run these tests on your local machine, set SKIP_QA_HARNESS=1 in the bash environment before calling runtests.sh. eg:
-SKIP_QA_HARNESS=1 ./runtests.sh
+To run these tests on your local machine :
+./runtests.sh
+
+To only run a specific test ( eg. p_openssh ) : 
+./runtests.sh p_openssh
diff --git a/runtests.sh b/runtests.sh
index cc592b0..fc9d92b 100755
--- a/runtests.sh
+++ b/runtests.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@
 
 echo -e "\n[+] `date` -> CentOS QA $0 starting."
 
+host repo.centos.org > /dev/null
+SKIP_QA_HARNESS=$?
+
 LIB_FUNCTIONS='./tests/0_lib/functions.sh'
 
 [ -f $LIB_FUNCTIONS ] && source $LIB_FUNCTIONS || { echo -e "\n[+] `date` -> Unable to source functions library. Cannot continue\n"; exit $FAIL; }
diff --git a/tests/0_common/00_qa_repo_config.sh b/tests/0_common/00_qa_repo_config.sh
index 06f6d70..6e15ad6 100755
--- a/tests/0_common/00_qa_repo_config.sh
+++ b/tests/0_common/00_qa_repo_config.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
 t_Log "Running $0 - modifying yum repositories for QA purposes."
-if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS ]; then
+if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS -eq 0 ]; then
   echo 'Skip..'
   exit 0
 fi
diff --git a/tests/0_common/30_dns_works.sh b/tests/0_common/30_dns_works.sh
index 1c40650..55510b6 100755
--- a/tests/0_common/30_dns_works.sh
+++ b/tests/0_common/30_dns_works.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
 t_Log "Running $0 - testing to see if DNS works"
-if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS ]; then 
+if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS -eq 1 ]; then 
   HOST=wiki.centos.org 
 else
   HOST=repo.centos.qa
diff --git a/tests/p_audit/auditd_running.sh b/tests/p_audit/auditd_running.sh
index 182a0c8..bb050cd 100755
--- a/tests/p_audit/auditd_running.sh
+++ b/tests/p_audit/auditd_running.sh
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 t_Log "Running $0 -  check if auditd is running."
 
-if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS ]; then
+if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS -eq 1 ]; then
     echo "Skipping this test ..."
 else
     service auditd status > /dev/null 2>&1
diff --git a/tests/p_curl/curl_test.sh b/tests/p_curl/curl_test.sh
index 84e8dab..1ed35d0 100755
--- a/tests/p_curl/curl_test.sh
+++ b/tests/p_curl/curl_test.sh
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 t_Log "Running $0 - curl can access http-host and retrieve index.html."
 
 
-if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS ]; then
+if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS -eq 1 ]; then
   CHECK_FOR="CentOS Wiki"
   URL="http://wiki.centos.org/"
 else
diff --git a/tests/p_iptables/iptables_default_rules.sh b/tests/p_iptables/iptables_default_rules.sh
index dbb0964..c76b64d 100755
--- a/tests/p_iptables/iptables_default_rules.sh
+++ b/tests/p_iptables/iptables_default_rules.sh
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 t_Log "Running $0 - check iptables default rules"
 
-if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS ]; then
+if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS -eq 1 ]; then
   echo "Skip, No standard firewall config ..."
 else
 
diff --git a/tests/p_lftp/10_lftp_http_test.sh b/tests/p_lftp/10_lftp_http_test.sh
index 3727c8b..0cb8a2f 100755
--- a/tests/p_lftp/10_lftp_http_test.sh
+++ b/tests/p_lftp/10_lftp_http_test.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 # 	  Christoph Galuschka <christoph.galuschka@chello.at>
 
 t_Log "Running $0 - lftp: HTTP test"
-if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS ]; then
+if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS -eq 1 ]; then
   CHECK_FOR="UTC"
   URL="http://mirror.centos.org/"
   FILE="timestamp.txt"
diff --git a/tests/p_lynx/lynx_dump_page_test.sh b/tests/p_lynx/lynx_dump_page_test.sh
index e6f5c45..ddafa67 100755
--- a/tests/p_lynx/lynx_dump_page_test.sh
+++ b/tests/p_lynx/lynx_dump_page_test.sh
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 t_Log "Running $0 - check that lynx can dump remote page."
 
-if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS ]; then
+if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS -eq 1 ]; then
   HOST=wiki.centos.org
   CHECK_FOR="Page templates"
 else
diff --git a/tests/p_procinfo/5-test_procinfo.sh b/tests/p_procinfo/5-test_procinfo.sh
index c011bd7..ed545f0 100755
--- a/tests/p_procinfo/5-test_procinfo.sh
+++ b/tests/p_procinfo/5-test_procinfo.sh
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ then
    t_Log "It seems to be a CentOS 6.x system, this test will be disabled"
    exit 0
 else
-    if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS ]; then
+    if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS  -eq 1 ]; then
       t_Log "Skip, seems to fail on CI ..."
     else
 
diff --git a/tests/p_selinux/selinux_enforce.sh b/tests/p_selinux/selinux_enforce.sh
index fe5e2af..38fbb49 100755
--- a/tests/p_selinux/selinux_enforce.sh
+++ b/tests/p_selinux/selinux_enforce.sh
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 t_Log "Running $0 - check if SELinux is in enforcing mode"
 
-if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS ]; then
+if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS -eq 1 ]; then
     echo "Skipping this test ..."
 else
     cat /selinux/enforce | grep 1  > /dev/null 2>&1
diff --git a/tests/p_squid/squid_test.sh b/tests/p_squid/squid_test.sh
index b640248..17bb214 100755
--- a/tests/p_squid/squid_test.sh
+++ b/tests/p_squid/squid_test.sh
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 t_Log "Running $0 - Squid test."
 
-if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS ]; then
+if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS -eq 1 ]; then
   HOST=wiki.centos.org
   CHECK_FOR="Page templates"
 else
diff --git a/tests/p_tcpdump/tcpdump_eth0.sh b/tests/p_tcpdump/tcpdump_eth0.sh
index c412651..673b514 100755
--- a/tests/p_tcpdump/tcpdump_eth0.sh
+++ b/tests/p_tcpdump/tcpdump_eth0.sh
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ if [[ $IP =~ $regex ]]
   sleep 1
   # reading from file, for each ping we should see two pakets
   WORKING=$( tcpdump -r $FILE | grep -ci icmp )
-  if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS ]
+  if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS -eq 1 ]
     then
     # treat qa-harness and non qa-harness differently,
     # the script will always succeed outside qa, but will log results
diff --git a/tests/p_traceroute/traceroute_test.sh b/tests/p_traceroute/traceroute_test.sh
index 49c104b..c96025c 100755
--- a/tests/p_traceroute/traceroute_test.sh
+++ b/tests/p_traceroute/traceroute_test.sh
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 t_Log "Running $0 - running traceroute to webhost"
 
 # Testing availability of network
-if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS ]; then
+if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS -eq 1 ]; then
   HOST="www.centos.org"
 else
   HOST="repo.centos.qa"
diff --git a/tests/p_wget/wget_test.sh b/tests/p_wget/wget_test.sh
index 3e0a24f..1806ac0 100755
--- a/tests/p_wget/wget_test.sh
+++ b/tests/p_wget/wget_test.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ t_Log "Running $0 - wget can access http-host and download index.html."
 FILE=/var/tmp/index.html
 
 
-if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS ]; then
+if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS -eq 1 ]; then
   CHECK_FOR="CentOS"
   URL="http://wiki.centos.org/"
 else
diff --git a/tests/z_repoclosure/repoclosure_test.sh b/tests/z_repoclosure/repoclosure_test.sh
index 84ca4fd..37fc2ef 100755
--- a/tests/z_repoclosure/repoclosure_test.sh
+++ b/tests/z_repoclosure/repoclosure_test.sh
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 t_Log "Running $0 -  repoclosure test ."
 
-if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS ]; then
+if [ $SKIP_QA_HARNESS -eq 1 ]; then
     t_Log "Skip this test in non QA harness environment"
 else