diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 4f6e33b02d..adbbe6d0a4 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ group :development do
   gem "puppet-module-win-default-r#{minor_version}", '~> 0.4',   require: false, platforms: [:mswin, :mingw, :x64_mingw]
   gem "puppet-module-win-dev-r#{minor_version}", '~> 0.4',       require: false, platforms: [:mswin, :mingw, :x64_mingw]
   gem "github_changelog_generator",                              require: false, git: 'https://github.com/skywinder/github-changelog-generator', ref: '20ee04ba1234e9e83eb2ffb5056e23d641c7a018' if Gem::Version.new(RUBY_VERSION.dup) >= Gem::Version.new('2.2.2')
+  gem 'ed25519', '>= 1.2', '< 2.0'
+  gem 'bcrypt_pbkdf', '>= 1.0', '< 2.0'
 end
 
 puppet_version = ENV['PUPPET_GEM_VERSION']
diff --git a/provision.yaml b/provision.yaml
index 1a3951d975..372e26bcac 100644
--- a/provision.yaml
+++ b/provision.yaml
@@ -18,5 +18,5 @@ travis_el7:
   provisioner: docker
   images: ['litmusimage/centos:7', 'litmusimage/oraclelinux:7', 'litmusimage/scientificlinux:7']
 release_checks:
-  provisioner: vmpooler
+  provisioner: abs
   images: ['redhat-6-x86_64', 'redhat-7-x86_64', 'redhat-8-x86_64', 'centos-6-x86_64', 'centos-7-x86_64',  'centos-8-x86_64', 'oracle-6-x86_64', 'oracle-7-x86_64', 'scientific-6-x86_64', 'scientific-7-x86_64', 'debian-8-x86_64', 'debian-9-x86_64',  'debian-10-x86_64', 'ubuntu-1404-x86_64', 'ubuntu-1604-x86_64', 'ubuntu-1804-x86_64', 'sles-11-x86_64', 'sles-12-x86_64', 'sles-15-x86_64']
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper_acceptance.rb b/spec/spec_helper_acceptance.rb
index aabeb0b80d..4ac8d7e0f6 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper_acceptance.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper_acceptance.rb
@@ -1,82 +1,6 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-require 'serverspec'
 require 'puppet_litmus'
 require 'spec_helper_acceptance_local' if File.file?(File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'spec_helper_acceptance_local.rb'))
-include PuppetLitmus
 
-if ENV['TARGET_HOST'].nil? || ENV['TARGET_HOST'] == 'localhost'
-  puts 'Running tests against this machine !'
-  if Gem.win_platform?
-    set :backend, :cmd
-  else
-    set :backend, :exec
-  end
-else
-  # load inventory
-  inventory_hash = inventory_hash_from_inventory_file
-  node_config = config_from_node(inventory_hash, ENV['TARGET_HOST'])
-
-  if target_in_group(inventory_hash, ENV['TARGET_HOST'], 'docker_nodes')
-    host = ENV['TARGET_HOST']
-    set :backend, :docker
-    set :docker_container, host
-  elsif target_in_group(inventory_hash, ENV['TARGET_HOST'], 'ssh_nodes')
-    set :backend, :ssh
-    options = Net::SSH::Config.for(host)
-    options[:user] = node_config.dig('ssh', 'user') unless node_config.dig('ssh', 'user').nil?
-    options[:port] = node_config.dig('ssh', 'port') unless node_config.dig('ssh', 'port').nil?
-    options[:keys] = node_config.dig('ssh', 'private-key') unless node_config.dig('ssh', 'private-key').nil?
-    options[:password] = node_config.dig('ssh', 'password') unless node_config.dig('ssh', 'password').nil?
-    # Support both net-ssh 4 and 5.
-    # rubocop:disable Metrics/BlockNesting
-    options[:verify_host_key] = if node_config.dig('ssh', 'host-key-check').nil?
-                                  # Fall back to SSH behavior. This variable will only be set in net-ssh 5.3+.
-                                  if @strict_host_key_checking.nil? || @strict_host_key_checking
-                                    Net::SSH::Verifiers::Always.new
-                                  else
-                                    # SSH's behavior with StrictHostKeyChecking=no: adds new keys to known_hosts.
-                                    # If known_hosts points to /dev/null, then equivalent to :never where it
-                                    # accepts any key beacuse they're all new.
-                                    Net::SSH::Verifiers::AcceptNewOrLocalTunnel.new
-                                  end
-                                elsif node_config.dig('ssh', 'host-key-check')
-                                  if defined?(Net::SSH::Verifiers::Always)
-                                    Net::SSH::Verifiers::Always.new
-                                  else
-                                    Net::SSH::Verifiers::Secure.new
-                                  end
-                                elsif defined?(Net::SSH::Verifiers::Never)
-                                  Net::SSH::Verifiers::Never.new
-                                else
-                                  Net::SSH::Verifiers::Null.new
-                                end
-    # rubocop:enable Metrics/BlockNesting
-    host = if ENV['TARGET_HOST'].include?(':')
-             ENV['TARGET_HOST'].split(':').first
-           else
-             ENV['TARGET_HOST']
-           end
-    set :host,        options[:host_name] || host
-    set :ssh_options, options
-    set :request_pty, true
-  elsif target_in_group(inventory_hash, ENV['TARGET_HOST'], 'winrm_nodes')
-    require 'winrm'
-
-    set :backend, :winrm
-    set :os, family: 'windows'
-    user = node_config.dig('winrm', 'user') unless node_config.dig('winrm', 'user').nil?
-    pass = node_config.dig('winrm', 'password') unless node_config.dig('winrm', 'password').nil?
-    endpoint = "http://#{ENV['TARGET_HOST']}:5985/wsman"
-
-    opts = {
-      user: user,
-      password: pass,
-      endpoint: endpoint,
-      operation_timeout: 300,
-    }
-
-    winrm = WinRM::Connection.new opts
-    Specinfra.configuration.winrm = winrm
-  end
-end
+PuppetLitmus.configure!
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper_acceptance_local.rb b/spec/spec_helper_acceptance_local.rb
index b6eca89aa0..f991fdef04 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper_acceptance_local.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper_acceptance_local.rb
@@ -1,12 +1,19 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
+require 'singleton'
+
+class LitmusHelper
+  include Singleton
+  include PuppetLitmus
+end
+
 RSpec.configure do |c|
   # IPv6 is not enabled by default in the new travis-ci Trusty environment (see https://github.com/travis-ci/travis-ci/issues/8891 )
   if ENV['CI'] == 'true'
     c.filter_run_excluding ipv6: true
   end
   c.before :suite do
-    run_shell('puppet module install stahnma/epel')
+    LitmusHelper.instance.run_shell('puppet module install stahnma/epel')
     pp = <<-PUPPETCODE
     # needed by tests
     package { 'curl':
@@ -41,10 +48,10 @@ class { 'epel': }
       }
     }
     PUPPETCODE
-    apply_manifest(pp)
+    LitmusHelper.instance.apply_manifest(pp)
 
     # Make sure selinux is disabled so the tests work.
-    run_shell('setenforce 0', expect_failures: true) if os[:family] =~ %r{redhat|oracle}
+    LitmusHelper.instance.run_shell('setenforce 0', expect_failures: true) if os[:family] =~ %r{redhat|oracle}
   end
 end