diff --git a/dd-smoke-tests/dd-smoke-tests.gradle b/dd-smoke-tests/dd-smoke-tests.gradle
index 7c24a1747e..7a3b0098d1 100644
--- a/dd-smoke-tests/dd-smoke-tests.gradle
+++ b/dd-smoke-tests/dd-smoke-tests.gradle
@@ -1,9 +1 @@
-// Set properties before any plugins get loaded
-project.ext {
-  // Execute tests on all JVMs, even rare and outdated ones
-  integrationTests = true
-}
-
-apply from: "${rootDir}/gradle/java.gradle"
-
 description = 'dd-smoke-tests'
diff --git a/dd-smoke-tests/play/play.gradle b/dd-smoke-tests/play/play.gradle
index 8d5ee07134..7ba3e5246b 100644
--- a/dd-smoke-tests/play/play.gradle
+++ b/dd-smoke-tests/play/play.gradle
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ def randomOpenPort() {
 }
 
 task startServer(type: com.github.psxpaul.task.ExecFork) {
+  dependsOn project(':dd-java-agent').shadowJar
   playHttpPort = randomOpenPort()
 
   if (playHttpPort == -1) {
@@ -93,6 +94,7 @@ task startServer(type: com.github.psxpaul.task.ExecFork) {
   workingDir = "${buildDir}/stage/playBinary"
   commandLine = "${workingDir}/bin/playBinary"
   stopAfter = test
+  standardOutput "${buildDir}/reports/server.log"
   // these params tells the ExecFork plugin to block on startServer task until the port is opened or the string is seen in the ouput
   waitForPort = playHttpPort
   waitForOutput = "Listening for HTTP on /127.0.0.1:${playHttpPort}"
@@ -120,7 +122,7 @@ tasks.withType(Test) {
     events "started"
   }
 
-  dependsOn project(':dd-java-agent').shadowJar, startServer
+  dependsOn startServer
 }
 
 // clean up the PID file from the server
diff --git a/dd-smoke-tests/wildfly/wildfly.gradle b/dd-smoke-tests/wildfly/wildfly.gradle
index d6122fe4ce..3e0ded8a2a 100644
--- a/dd-smoke-tests/wildfly/wildfly.gradle
+++ b/dd-smoke-tests/wildfly/wildfly.gradle
@@ -67,6 +67,8 @@ task unzip(type: Copy) {
 }
 
 task startServer(type: com.github.psxpaul.task.ExecFork) {
+  dependsOn project(':dd-java-agent').shadowJar
+
   wildflyHttpPort = randomOpenPort()
   // not used, but to ensure https default port 8443 won't clash
   int httpsPort = randomOpenPort()
@@ -80,6 +82,7 @@ task startServer(type: com.github.psxpaul.task.ExecFork) {
   commandLine = "${workingDir}/bin/standalone.sh"
   // ideally this should be good enough to use to stop wildfly, but wildfly needs to gracefully shutdown from jboss-cli.sh
   // stopAfter = test
+  standardOutput "${buildDir}/reports/server.log"
   // these params tells the ExecFork plugin to block on startServer task until the port is opened or the string is seen in the ouput
   waitForPort = wildflyHttpPort
   waitForOutput = "Undertow HTTP listener default listening on 127.0.0.1:${wildflyHttpPort}"
@@ -112,7 +115,7 @@ tasks.withType(Test) {
     events "started"
   }
 
-  dependsOn project(':dd-java-agent').shadowJar, startServer
+  dependsOn startServer
 }
 
 // ensure that the wildfly server gets shutdown