diff --git a/test_elasticsearch/test_server/__init__.py b/test_elasticsearch/test_server/__init__.py
index cf1b4ffc..0d8932b0 100644
--- a/test_elasticsearch/test_server/__init__.py
+++ b/test_elasticsearch/test_server/__init__.py
@@ -29,9 +29,21 @@ CMD = """
 server = None
 pidfile = tempfile.mktemp()
 
+from os import environ
+from os.path import join, dirname, pardir, exists
+
+YAML_DIR = environ.get(
+    'YAML_TEST_DIR',
+    join(
+        dirname(__file__),
+        pardir, pardir, pardir,
+        'elasticsearch-rest-api-spec', 'test'
+    )
+)
+
 def setup():
     # no integration tests, skip starting the server
-    if 'YAML_TEST_DIR' not in os.environ:
+    if not exists(YAML_DIR):
         raise SkipTest('')
     global server
 
diff --git a/test_elasticsearch/test_server/test_common.py b/test_elasticsearch/test_server/test_common.py
index 474720b8..69cb90d5 100644
--- a/test_elasticsearch/test_server/test_common.py
+++ b/test_elasticsearch/test_server/test_common.py
@@ -4,12 +4,14 @@ some integration tests. These files are shared among all official Elasticsearch
 clients.
 """
 from os import walk, environ
-from os.path import join
+from os.path import exists, join
 import yaml
 from unittest import TestCase, SkipTest
 
 from elasticsearch import Elasticsearch
 
+from test_elasticsearch.test_server import YAML_DIR
+
 # some params had to be changed in python, keep track of them so we can rename
 # those in the tests accordingly
 PARAMS_RENAMES = {
@@ -189,16 +191,15 @@ def construct_case(filename, name):
     return type(name, (YamlTestCase, ), attrs)
 
 
-yaml_dir = environ.get('YAML_TEST_DIR', None)
 
-if yaml_dir:
+if exists(YAML_DIR):
 # find all the test definitions in yaml files ...
-    for (path, dirs, files) in walk(yaml_dir):
+    for (path, dirs, files) in walk(YAML_DIR):
         for filename in files:
             if not filename.endswith('.yaml'):
                 continue
             # ... parse them
-            name = ('Test' + ''.join(s.title() for s in path[len(yaml_dir) + 1:].split('/')) + filename.rsplit('.', 1)[0].title()).replace('_', '').replace('.', '')
+            name = ('Test' + ''.join(s.title() for s in path[len(YAML_DIR) + 1:].split('/')) + filename.rsplit('.', 1)[0].title()).replace('_', '').replace('.', '')
             # and insert them into locals for test runner to find them
             locals()[name] = construct_case(join(path, filename), name)