diff --git a/lib/resources/postgres_session.rb b/lib/resources/postgres_session.rb
index 989918f93..1749bc3e5 100644
--- a/lib/resources/postgres_session.rb
+++ b/lib/resources/postgres_session.rb
@@ -5,17 +5,15 @@
 # license: All rights reserved
 
 class Lines
+  attr_reader :output
+
   def initialize(raw, desc)
-    @raw = raw
+    @output = raw
     @desc = desc
   end
 
-  def output
-    @raw
-  end
-
   def lines
-    @raw.split("\n")
+    output.split("\n")
   end
 
   def to_s
@@ -39,29 +37,26 @@ class PostgresSession < Inspec.resource(1)
     @pass = pass
   end
 
-  def query(query, db = [], &block)
+  def query(query, db = [])
     dbs = db.map { |x| "-d #{x}" }.join(' ')
     # TODO: simple escape, must be handled by a library
     # that does this securely
     escaped_query = query.gsub(/\\/, '\\\\').gsub(/"/, '\\"').gsub(/\$/, '\\$')
     # run the query
-    cmd = inspec.command("PGPASSWORD='#{@pass}' psql -U #{@user} #{dbs} -c \"#{escaped_query}\"")
+    cmd = inspec.command("PGPASSWORD='#{@pass}' psql -U #{@user} #{dbs} -h localhost -c \"#{escaped_query}\"")
     out = cmd.stdout + "\n" + cmd.stderr
-    if out =~ /could not connect to .*/ or
+    if cmd.exit_status != 0 or
+       out =~ /could not connect to .*/ or
        out.downcase =~ /^error/
       # skip this test if the server can't run the query
-      RSpec.describe(cmd) do
-        it 'is skipped', skip: out do
-        end
-      end
+      skip_resource "Can't read run query #{query.inspect} on postgres_session: #{out}"
     else
       # remove the whole header (i.e. up to the first ^-----+------+------$)
       # remove the tail
       lines = cmd.stdout
                  .sub(/(.*\n)+([-]+[+])*[-]+\n/, '')
                  .sub(/\n[^\n]*\n\n$/, '')
-      l = Lines.new(lines.strip, "PostgreSQL query: #{query}")
-      RSpec.__send__('describe', l, &block)
+      Lines.new(lines.strip, "PostgreSQL query: #{query}")
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/test/integration/cookbooks/os_prepare/metadata.rb b/test/integration/cookbooks/os_prepare/metadata.rb
index c19012faa..462bbe770 100644
--- a/test/integration/cookbooks/os_prepare/metadata.rb
+++ b/test/integration/cookbooks/os_prepare/metadata.rb
@@ -7,3 +7,4 @@ version '1.0.0'
 depends 'apt'
 depends 'yum'
 depends 'runit'
+depends 'postgresql'
diff --git a/test/integration/cookbooks/os_prepare/recipes/default.rb b/test/integration/cookbooks/os_prepare/recipes/default.rb
index a1afa035c..329be0e4a 100644
--- a/test/integration/cookbooks/os_prepare/recipes/default.rb
+++ b/test/integration/cookbooks/os_prepare/recipes/default.rb
@@ -11,3 +11,4 @@ include_recipe('os_prepare::json_yaml_csv_ini')
 include_recipe('os_prepare::package')
 include_recipe('os_prepare::registry_key')
 include_recipe('os_prepare::service')
+include_recipe('os_prepare::postgres')
diff --git a/test/integration/cookbooks/os_prepare/recipes/postgres.rb b/test/integration/cookbooks/os_prepare/recipes/postgres.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..858fd1ace
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/cookbooks/os_prepare/recipes/postgres.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# encoding: utf-8
+# author: Stephan Renatus
+#
+# installs everyting for the postgres tests
+
+# hw-cookbooks/postgresql is tested on these platforms
+case node['platform']
+when 'ubuntu', 'centos'
+  node.default['postgresql']['config']['listen_addresses'] = 'localhost'
+  node.default['postgresql']['password']['postgres'] = 'md506be11be01439cb4abd537e454df34ea' # "inspec"
+  include_recipe 'postgresql::server'
+end
diff --git a/test/integration/test/integration/default/postgres_session_spec.rb b/test/integration/test/integration/default/postgres_session_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7f2b881e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/test/integration/default/postgres_session_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# encoding: utf-8
+
+# postgres-server is installed on these platforms
+if ['ubuntu', 'centos'].include? os['family']
+  postgres = postgres_session('postgres', 'inspec')
+  describe postgres.query('show ssl;') do
+    its('output') { should eq 'on' }
+  end
+end