diff --git a/tests/p_sysstat/0-install_sysstat.sh b/tests/p_sysstat/0-install_sysstat.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 918a269..0000000
--- a/tests/p_sysstat/0-install_sysstat.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-# Author: Steve Barnes (steve@echo.id.au)
-
-# SysStat Performance Monitoring Tools for Linux
-t_InstallPackage sysstat
diff --git a/tests/p_sysstat/00-install_sysstat.sh b/tests/p_sysstat/00-install_sysstat.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..3da2a5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/p_sysstat/00-install_sysstat.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Author: Steve Barnes (steve@echo.id.au)
+
+# SysStat Performance Monitoring Tools for Linux
+t_InstallPackage sysstat
+
+if [ "$centos_ver" -lt 8 ] ; then
+  t_InstallPackage psmisc
+fi
+
+
diff --git a/tests/p_sysstat/05-iostat-cpu-basic.sh b/tests/p_sysstat/05-iostat-cpu-basic.sh
index c085fb8..bcf8cf6 100755
--- a/tests/p_sysstat/05-iostat-cpu-basic.sh
+++ b/tests/p_sysstat/05-iostat-cpu-basic.sh
@@ -5,34 +5,37 @@
 
 t_Log "Running $0 - a basic iostat test to verify cpu measurement"
 
-# Save our iostat output somewhere
-TMP=/tmp/iostat.cpu.scratch
+# Save our iostat output
+output_file=$(mktemp)
+trap "rm -f ${output_file}" EXIT
 
 # Clear out the pagecache to get an accurate reading
 echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches
 
-# Clean up after ourselves
-trap "[ -e $TMP ] && { /bin/rm -f $TMP; }" EXIT
-
 # Capture a storage device name
-DRIVE=$(fdisk -l|grep -Po -m1 '^/dev/[\D]+')
+drive=$(fdisk -l|grep -Po -m1 '^/dev/[\D]+')
  
 # Run iostat on the cpu
-/usr/bin/iostat -c 1 5 >$TMP &
+/usr/bin/iostat -c 1 5 >${output_file} 2>&1 &
 
-# Let the dust settle
-sleep 4
+# Time for iostat booting
+sleep 1
 
 # Give the CPU something to chew on
-/bin/dd if=$DRIVE bs=4k count=25000 2>/dev/null|sha1sum -b - &>/dev/null
+/bin/dd if=$drive bs=4k count=25000 2>/dev/null|sha1sum -b - &>/dev/null
 
 # Give iostat a chance to log our task
 sleep 6
 
 # Extract the CPU utilisation (user field, percentage)
-CPU_USER_PCENT=$(awk '$1 ~ /[0-9]/ {$1>a ? a=$1 : $1} END {print int(a)}' $TMP)
+cpu_user_percent=$(awk '$1 ~ /[0-9]/ {$1>a ? a=$1 : $1} END {print int(a)}' ${output_file})
 
 # Confirm the CPU registered some level of user activity
-[ "$CPU_USER_PCENT" -gt 3 ] || { t_Log "iostat didn't log any CPU activity?!...that ain't good"; }
 
-t_CheckExitStatus $?
+if [ "$cpu_user_percent" -eq 0 ]; then
+  t_Log "FAIL: ${0}: no cpu activity registered"
+  cat ${output_file}
+  t_CheckExitStatus 1
+fi
+
+t_CheckExitStatus 0
diff --git a/tests/p_sysstat/10-iostat-disk-basic.sh b/tests/p_sysstat/10-iostat-disk-basic.sh
index a29a36c..6146e62 100755
--- a/tests/p_sysstat/10-iostat-disk-basic.sh
+++ b/tests/p_sysstat/10-iostat-disk-basic.sh
@@ -5,40 +5,41 @@
 
 t_Log "Running $0 - a basic iostat test to verify disk measurement"
 
-# Save our iostat output somewhere
-TMP=/tmp/iostat.disk.scratch
+output_file=$(mktemp)
+trap "rm -f ${output_file}" EXIT
 
 # dd options
-BS=4196
-COUNT=10100
-SUM=$(expr $BS \* $COUNT / 1024)
+bs=4196
+count=10100
+sum=$(expr $bs \* $count / 1024)
 
-# Clean up after ourselves
-trap "[ -e $TMP ] && { /bin/rm -f $TMP; }" EXIT
 
 # Clear out the pagecache to get an accurate reading
 echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches
 
 # Capture a storage device name
-DRIVE=$(fdisk -l|grep -Po -m1 '^/dev/[\D]+')
+drive=$(fdisk -l|grep -Po -m1 '^/dev/[\D]+')
 
 # Run iostat on the device
-/usr/bin/iostat -dkx 1 5 $DRIVE >$TMP &
+/usr/bin/iostat -d 1 5 $drive >${output_file} 2>&1 &
 
-# Let the dust settle
-sleep 4
+# Time for iostat booting
+sleep 1
 
 # Generate some read traffic
-/bin/dd if=$DRIVE of=/dev/null bs=$BS count=$COUNT &>/dev/null
+/bin/dd if=$drive of=/dev/null bs=$bs count=$count &>/dev/null
 
 # Give iostat a chance to log our traffic
 sleep 6
 
 # Confirm our read bytes are >0, excluding the first 
 # line since that's the average since boot.
-BYTES_READ=$(awk '$6 ~ /[0-9]/ {NR>1 && sum+=$6} END {print int(sum)}' $TMP)
+kbytes_read=$(awk '$6 ~ /[0-9]/ {NR>1 && sum+=$6} END {print int(sum)}' ${output_file})
 
-# Check we read at least as much as requested
-[ "$BYTES_READ" -ge "$SUM" ] || { t_Log "iostat didn't log as much traffic as we generated?!...that ain't good"; }
+if [ "$kbytes_read" -eq 0 ]; then
+  t_Log "FAIL: ${0}: no io activity registered"
+  cat ${output_file}
+  t_CheckExitStatus 1
+fi
 
-t_CheckExitStatus $?
+t_CheckExitStatus 0
diff --git a/tests/p_sysstat/15-mpstat-basic.sh b/tests/p_sysstat/15-mpstat-basic.sh
index 78a1bb6..bedcaaa 100755
--- a/tests/p_sysstat/15-mpstat-basic.sh
+++ b/tests/p_sysstat/15-mpstat-basic.sh
@@ -5,29 +5,36 @@
 
 t_Log "Running $0 - a simple mpstat test to verify cpu load is being measured"
 
-# Save our iostat output somewhere
-TMP=/tmp/mpstat.scratch
+output_file=$(mktemp)
+trap "rm -f ${output_file}" EXIT
 
-# Clean up after ourselves
-trap "[ -e $TMP ] && { /bin/rm -f $TMP; }" EXIT
+n_cpu=$(nproc)
+load=$((${n_cpu}/2))
+if [ "${load}" -eq 0 ]; then
+ load=1
+fi
 
-# Run iostat on the first CPU
-/usr/bin/mpstat -P 0 1 5 >$TMP &
+/usr/bin/mpstat 1 5 >${output_file} 2>&1 &
 
-# Let the dust settle
-sleep 4
+# Time for iostat booting
+sleep 1
 
 # Give the CPU something to chew on
-/bin/dd if=/dev/urandom bs=1k count=10000 2>/dev/null|sha1sum -b - &>/dev/null
+for i in $(seq 1 ${load}); do 
+  sha1sum /dev/zero &
+done
 
 # Give mpstat a chance to log our task
 sleep 6
 
-# Confirm our read bytes are >0, excluding the first 
-# line since that's the average since boot.
-CPU_SYS_PCENT=$(awk '$6 ~ /[0-9]\./ {$6>a ? a=$6 : $6} END {print int(a)}' $TMP)
+killall sha1sum
 
-# Check mpstat registered some level of cpu activity
-[ "$CPU_SYS_PCENT" -gt 5 ] || { t_Log "mpstat didn't log any CPU activity?!...that ain't good"; }
+cpu_user_percent=$(awk '$4 ~ /[0-9]\./ {$4>a ? a=$4 : $4} END {print int(a)}' ${output_file})
 
-t_CheckExitStatus $?
+if [ "$cpu_user_percent" -eq 0 ]; then
+  t_Log "FAIL: ${0}: no cpu activity registered"
+  cat ${output_file}
+  t_CheckExitStatus 1
+fi
+
+t_CheckExitStatus 0